Simons' Says

Scrooge was Still a Good Guy

2011-12-07T16:26:00.008-07:00

If you ask Rebecca, she would probably label me a scrooge. I, however, disagree completely with her accusations. I love Christmas. I love Christmastime. Sure, I am a bit of a stickler about waiting until 5 pm on Thanksgiving night to start playing Christmas tunes, but that is just out of reverence for the forgotten Holiday. I did a whole post about Thanksgiving Once. As Christmas approaches, I wanted to do a break down of some of my favorite and not so favorite traditions.

When I was growing up, it was a tradition for Grandpa Ames to take us kids out to get a Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving while the women shopped Black Friday. We haven't really continued that tradition on that day, but I do like to get a tree fairly early. One year we even went and cut down our own tree. This year, however, we kind of got hosed. Rebecca did this living social coupon thing. (Like Group On with a different name.) We paid 19 bucks for a 38 dollar voucher. The lot was cool, it had reindeer, Santa, and a hot-tub. (No, not all at once, though that would have made it more interesting.) So we walked around and finally found the tree we wanted. We carry it up to the cashier to pay and find out its another 50 bucks, after the coupon. The sticker shock left me speechless as I mindlessly handed over the money. It didn't hit us until we were driving home. So I love getting a tree, I do not like paying two months salary to get one though.

I like time spent with family over the holidays. It is nice to hang out with family at Christmastime. I don't like having to drive all over the valley to do it though. We finally figured it out a few years ago. We have a strict rotation. One house for Christmas Eve, one for Christmas Day, and we rotate. We actually rotate most of the main holidays, including Groundhogs Day.

I love having a white Christmas, and generally love the snow. I do not like shoveling snow. Especially living on a corner lot. Shoveling snow is second only to my hatred of raking leaves, in the hierarchy list of home ownership hatreds. I could go on, and if I did, painting would be on the list too.

I love the foods we eat at Christmas time. So many variations of pig that Homer Simpson would be proud. I love Christmas specials on TV, especially Its A Wonderful Life. Actually, it seems like this classic is played less and less, but I still love to watch it at Christmastime. Definitely one of my top 5 movies of all time. In fact, my top 5 list would be, counting down:
#5: Gross Pointe Blank. I know its a bit irreverent, but I love this show.
#4: Groundhog Day. This movie rotates positions on my list depending on the time of year.
#3: Karate Kid (Original, and only the 1st one, we can pretend the others just don't exist)
#2: It's a Wonderful Life

#1: Star Wars original trilogy. You can't separate them, you can't!

I love that I can do most of my shopping from the comfort of my own couch. I really do not like venturing into stores any time of year, especially not Christmas time. The internet as created by Al Gore is amazing for holiday shopping. You could not drag me out to rub elbows with the Black Fridayers. No way. Rebecca actually convinced me to go with her to Valley Ghetto Fair Mall this week. I remember back in Jr High when my friends and I would catch the bus or a ride from parents to go hang out there for the day. Of course, this was back when you had to go places to buy music and movies, and clothes. I could not believe the dump it has become. Besides that, no more Becky Sues Buns! No more Suncoast movies. Deseret Book even bailed on the place. So sad.

So that's my post. Oh, we are not doing Christmas cards this year, so if you don't get one from us, don't feel bad, no one did. Maybe Rebecca will do a Christmas Family Blog Post for us.

Yeah, we've been doing stuff!

2011-11-18T19:05:00.000-07:00

Just not much to blog to the world about. Of course I am implying that the world consists of the 4 of you that read these posts.

Halloween came and went, as I am certain you already know, but what you don't know is what we looked like on Halloween! So here's a photo. I went as white trash, Rebecca went as a pirate wench, Tierra was a robot, Eli a mummy, and Haylee a witch. The kids decided upon their own costumes, and Rebecca built them. I love free candy.

A few weeks ago, I had to make my own cereal with a banana cut up into it. For years I have wanted to try my cherrios with a banana, and I asked Rebecca to make it for me again and again. She never would. Well, I had had enough, it was time to try this cereal configuration and Rebecca's lack of wanting to make it for me was not going to stop me any longer. So I made it. It was good. I hope for one of two things now: that Rebecca decides to make it for me regularly, or that I break down and do it for myself again sometime.

It has been a while since we have done a "news" post for the friends and family that care, so here we go. As a family we went and got family pictures taken. It was a project. Neither me or the kids can smile on command. Our patient photographer did the best she could, so we will have to see how they turn out.

Rebecca ran the Disney half marathon again. Doing something like that one time can be excused as a lapse of judgement, but when you do it twice, you know something is wrong in the head! Good job Rebecca. She went to Disneyland without any other family member, which is another unfair part of our recent past, but had a good time. She beat last years time, and met her goal time. She had fun in Disneyland too, making Eli and me jealous because she met Boba Fett!

Tierra turned 8 this past September and hence was baptized. She was so excited to do so and loved having family and friends support her in her big day. She loves going to second grade and enjoys spending time with her friends. She is such a good student, and very smart...just like her dad.

Eli is obsessed with anything electronic. He rotates from Wii to Xbox to Iphones if we let him. Hopefully this turns into something financially amazing with him in the future so he can take care of his parents in the future. Eli: when you read this, remember that I always let you play on my phone. You can reward me with a Jag. He really got into the mummy costume too. Until I told him Mummy's didn't have electronics.

Haylee is growing up too fast. She is a stay at home 2.5 year old and has started watching the Simpsons with me. She also echos some of the lines from the cartoon and laughs. Some people would suggest that the Simpsons are not the best cartoon for an almost three year old to watch, but we cancel out the bad of the Simpsons by letting her watch endless hours of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse as well.

I am excited for winter only because I am hoping that the sooner it gets here, the sooner it will end. Hope all is well for each of you.

College Football

2011-10-01T12:30:00.004-06:00

I had a conflicted childhood. My parents were season ticket holders to BYU. My Grandpa Simons was a season ticket holder at the U. I spent equal time at both. Circa 1985 I was a BYU fan. Mark Belini gave me his chinstrap after a game and I wore it all through little league football. Looking back, that is a disgusting thing to have done. In 1988 the Utes were more my team. Grandpa joined the Crimson Club early on, heck, he probably formed the Crimson Club. He took me to many games, trying to sway my allegiance. In 90, again I cheered on the Y. I was there when Ty Detmer upset Miami. I made a paper airplane out of the program that made it all the way to the field. That was a sweet accomplishment for a 15 year old. I bought the Ty Detmer Tysman Rap, found here: http://youtu.be/30Px-z8LFac (seriously you have to watch this)

Sometime in the early 90’s, I made the complete transition to becoming a fan of the Utes. Grandpa was taking me to every game, I liked Jamal Anderson who had gone on to play for the Atlanta Falcons, I was a huge Detroit Lions fan, and Scott Mitchell was playing QB for that team, a distant cousin (Mike Anglesey) was playing great for Utah, so all the stars were lining up for me to be a fan. Besides that, I felt I had to pick a side. Utah it was, Utah it is.

When it came time to go to college, I really wanted to attend the U of U, but I also wanted to get out on my own, away from home. I knew that attending the "U" that I would be too tempted to save money and live at home, so I went to Utah State. I loved it at Utah State, but even there I cheered for the Utes. The Aggies won my secondary loyalty. It was U of U all the way.

Which is what makes lasts nights adventure all the more interesting. I went to Lavell’s house and watched the BYU versus Utah State football game. Great game. I would have liked to see USU come away with the win, but that didn’t happen. What did happen was two middle aged men rushing the field after the BYU win. Curtis Hawker and I. And my boy Eli, and a neighbor Connor. And about 15 thousand of the 60 thousand attendees. Curtis is a die hard Cougar. He told us he was going to the field and that no-one was stopping him. So there we were, celebrating the Cougar win with the rest of the 19 year old mom’s and their RM spouses and three kids. Thanks Curtis, we had a blast. Go Utes.

South East Again

2011-08-16T16:50:00.004-06:00

For whatever reason beyond my control, my job requires that I choose my vacation days each December for the coming year. This is sometimes a challenge because, as you all know, plans change frequently. It is hard to plan days off for the entire year.

So, (Provide your own noise that indicates you rewinding to last December), there I was last December, getting ready to pick my vacation days with the rest of the firefighters. Rebecca and I had planned a trip to Tampa. We coordinated with some friends of ours, the Robinson's, to get away from the kids and responsibilities. I mention all of this vacation preplanning stuff just to point out that as it turns out, I have pretty much spent my entire summer in the South East United States. Fortunately this past week was sweet, relaxing, unmolested vacation. The four of us flew to Tampa, and spent a week without kids. Clearwater, Florida to be more specific. I won't bore you with the details, but we laid on the beach, went to an amusement park, snuck in a baseball game to get another one off my list done, and hung out with dolphins. If anyone is a fan of the old sitcom "Wings," you may remember Lowell (More commonly known as Thomas Haden Church) We took a boat ride to go snorkeling and see dolphins and our tour guide was a near cut out of Lowell. I loved it.

The kids had a blast while we were gone, staying two days with my parents and two days with Rebecca's mom. They really don't care if we are gone as long as we bring them back some surprise. Five dollars goes a long way in providing surprises too. I typically get them in the airport gift stores.

So now we are back, and summer is as good as over, and I don't currently have my next baseball trip specifically planned. For the last 5 years or so I have had the next trip planned. I guess technically we have a vacation set, but it is 15 months away. (We are saving up for a Disney World Exodus and Extravaganza. Yes. I said Extravaganza.)

The other day I was watching an old Family Ties episode and realized that there just isn't programming like that on TV anymore. Remember all the shows we came home from school to watch? ALF, Growing Pains, Family Ties, Night Court, Saved By The Bell, Perfect Strangers, Small Wonder, Wings, The Wonder Years, Mork and Mindy, Baywatch (was that just me?). Will there ever be a day when I watch DVD episodes of The Bachelor Pad? TV just isn't what it used to be...which reminds me: I am calling out all available Hexes on Netflix. For so many years Netflix has been awesome. I have caught up on many of the above mentioned TV shows. Now they have jacked up their prices and make you choose between streaming and renting, or pay huge prices for both. I am so disappointed. We cancelled ours. We were faithful customers for so long, and what do they do? They spit in our faces. That's what they do.

To end on a good note: Dolphins...hopefully. (this is my first attempt at video uploads)

Honey Prairie and Stuff

2011-08-01T18:53:00.007-06:00

More of the same? Perhaps.

Summer continues to speed by, but in a "fun fun fun till daddy takes the Tbird away" fashion. I got shipped out again shortly after the last post. I went to Fargo, Georgia. Don't feel bad if you have never heard of it, the population was pushing three or four. The forest service called me and told me on the phone that they needed me to go to the Okefenokee Swamp to help with the Honey Prairie fire. I thought it was a prank call, but sure enough, there is such a thing as the Okefenokee Swamp. I can now say I have been there. I blog this only because of the uniqueness of the ecosystem this place was. The region is home to deer, black bear, alligators, turtles, wild turkeys, armadillos, possums, all kinds of varmints for that matter, and wild pigs. I saw all of the above except for wild pigs while there. I have included a picture of the foliage, and then a picture after the fire whipped through to give you an idea of the intensity. I had a blast, and like always, its good pay.

As of today, I have slept in my own bed 17 times since June 1st. I am ready to slow it down and stay home for a while now, after a short vacation for Rebecca and I that is.

While I was away, (and a little bit while I was home), Rebecca ran a couple of 10K's to keep her on track for her half marathon preparation. She ran the Farmington and Deseret News races. She also held down the fort while I was away. She also holds down the fort while I am not away. Not sure how she does it. And she proved me wrong after I wrote last month about how we don't get into the dressing up part of movies or large events, by going with the "girls" to the latest Harry Potter movie.

Tierra also ran this summer. She ran in the Farmington 5 K. She loved it. (Again, not my genes.) She did very well amongst those in her age group. Tierra is also fascinated with Zombies. So when the world falls apart and the zombies start to take over, we will have a resident expert.

Eli has a one track mind: Star Wars. I keep meaning to ask my parents if I was this obsessed as a kid. I remember loving Star Wars, but Eli honestly does little else, talks about nothing else, and wakes up to start it all over again. Ok, make that 90 percent, the other 10 percent he is asking to play games on my phone. He is an awesome helper around the house though. He loves to do some chores.

When I called home each night, Haylee told me the same thing every conversation: That she watched Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, likes Small World, Pirates, and Disneyland. And that she went to school lunch.

I come home after 16 days away and it seems like the kids had all aged years. I am sure you have all experienced similar situations.

I missed out on the Triple A All-star game. We had won tickets, so Rebecca took the kids and had a blast. They liked the home-run derby more than the game itself. The kids also got to go a baseball camp put on by some of the Bees players, and loved that. Oh yeah, I did save a Turtle in the Okefenokee swamp. Yep, I think that makes me an honorary member of the Sierra club now.

Summer Summer Summertime

2011-07-02T19:27:00.006-06:00

Finally, summer has arrived. Now I can’t believe it is half gone. Yes, I am a half empty kind of guy when it comes to summer. This is probably one of the most anticipated summers in my life. Now you are expecting a big event announcement right? Well, nothing big here, I was just so sick of winter, rain, cold gloom filled days. I was tired of shoveling snow. I was tired of Jack Frost. I was slightly irritated that Punxsutawney Phil missed the call.

But now its here, and like I said, already half gone.

Everyone knows that we are huge Disney fans, and anyone that knows me fairly well knows my love for Star Wars. Star Wars defined my childhood. I was obsessed. Some may say I still am. With these two prominent aspects of my life, it was only fitting that we traveled to Anaheim to be in Disneyland for the opening of the all new Star Tours Ride. It was EPIC. Yes, E. P. I. C. EPIC! I should clarify that we are not the type of fans that dress up for these types of events, at least not in authentic Chewbacca costumes or anything like that, but we did coordinate the entire family into star wars type T shirts. I was sporting my Boba Fett T, Rebecca glistened in her newly purchased Princess Leia shirt, Tierra fancied a Boba Fett shirt also, and Eli sported the Stormtrooper wear. Haylee opted out. She just doesn’t get it yet. The ride was awesome. I highly recommend adding it to your bucket lists. I am not going to outline our Disney trip (your welcome Unca Lin), but I will mention that this was our last trip for quite some time. We are saving up for a family exodus to Disney World in late 2012. We are anticipating extreme withdrawals, but have already lined up counselors that deal with these types of problems.

Upon returning from the Mouse’s House, I was sent to Florida to help fight wildfires. I had never been that far, but have always been curious what and how things burn down there in the swamps. Now I have seen it with my own eyes, but still I have a hard time believing it. It just goes against everything I know, or thought I knew about fire behavior. I mention this experience only because it was just that, an experience. Never-mind the fire hazards, I had to watch out for gators. It was awesome to see gators in the wild, even if they did want to sample my calf muscles. We were fighting fires on a Panther refuge, and were suppose to be protecting known Panther dens. Also a first for me.

Another cool thing is that I was able to sneak in a baseball game while there. A huge rainstorm moved into the area one night, so they pulled us off the line early and sent us to our hotels to “rehab.” Well, the Marlins were in town, playing my Angels no less, so my rehab consisted of driving to Miami, eating a hot dog, drinking a Sierra Mist, and watching the Angels kick some Marlin butt. Sweet it was, indeed. I feel bad for the Marlins because they play in the same stadium as the Dolphins, and there is absolutely nothing that indicates that the Marlins even exist. Everything is Dolphins. I experienced my first rain delay, which made for a late night and an early morning the next day on the fire line. I got back to the hotel about 1 am and fire line shifts start at 530 am. Totally worth it.

So that brings us to now. Heat wave and all. The only thing I am not liking about summer is that we do not have central air. Give up one trip to Disneyland to get it you say? No.

The kids are loving the summer, though they love school too. Tierra is “training” to run a 5k this weekend in Farmington. I am not sure where she got the running gene, because it sure is not part of my DNA. Eli is excited to turn 6 because he gets a “friend” party. I can’t wait until he is old enough to have sleep overs so I can take him toilet papering. Haylee loves having her siblings home all day long so she can torment them as she pleases. That is definitely a prominent gene of mine.

We hope your summer is going awesome too.

Rejooovenated

2011-04-02T09:13:00.004-06:00

These last two days of warm weather have sure been nice, even though I know its Faux Spring just to tease us. It was a pleasant surprise, however, to wake up to such a nice day. Winter has really dragged, and my productivity has surged downward faster than Vanilla Ice's career. This small taste of Spring though, really kicked things up again. I made the same face that Brockbank junior high school made collectively as the first few beats of "The Electric Slide" started to play at the after school dances. That face that captures utmost excitement and realized anticipation of awesomeness. (Tell me I'm wrong, tell me you were not excited to do the electric slide. I dare you.) New Years should be in the Spring. I bet resolutions would last longer.

I am not sure how you got through the winter this year, but I barely made it by watching all 4 seasons of Chuck on DVD. I had never watched the show prior to 3-4 weeks ago, and now I am hooked. It helps that the female lead is gorgeous, but I am also "all-in" on the story too. I should really ski all winter again.

What else have we been doing? Here it goes:

Haylee: Turned 2 years old last month. Definite "Daddy's girl." She lights up whenever I come home, sometimes even if it was only a trip to the mailbox. I am sure this is not our fault at all, but she loves everything Winnie the Pooh. In a related-yet weird-story, she gets very excited when Pete (a less known Disney Bull) shows up on the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. She also loves to wedge in behind me on the couch and says, "Smash Dad." This means she wants me to lay back and smash her between me and the couch. When I do it, she grunts and fights for a second before beginning to squeal, and then when I stop asks me to do it again.

Eli: Its all about electronics for Eli. First thing in the morning, barely awake, he wanders in and asks to play either my Iphone, or the Wii. If I say "no" to one, he asks for the other. If we do not allow either of these then he wants to listen to my Ipod. He is on the verge of out of control. We often take away all electronics privileges and it about kills the kid. He was "grounded" for the week from them this week, when Rebecca jokingly said that if he ate a huge earthworm he could play as much as he wants for the rest of the week. He did it. He ate a freaking earthworm just to get Wii time back. The kid complains about having to eat good dinners, yet gulps down an earthworm for the Wii. Go figure. He does go to Kindergarten in the afternoons. He loves school.

Tierra: First grade maniac. Loves school. Loves her friends at school, and loved April Fools Day yesterday. Brings a tear of joy to my eye. She was so excited to do anything that would allow her to yell "April Fools!" afterwards. Her teacher at school often gets her and another girl mixed up, so the two of them got the same haircut, had us get the same shirt and pants, and they dressed up like each other for the day, switching names and seats as if there was a substitute teacher. They loved it and thought it was the ultimate first grader April Fools trick. She is also taking piano and enjoys playing, but fights us on practicing. She is an amazing artist. She draws about a hundred things a week on scratch papers. She also plays a mean guitar broom.

Rebecca: Mom extraordinaire. She is excited to get the garden going finally. The warm weather is also preferred by her, for so many of the things she enjoys: garden, running, mowing the lawn, washing the cars. (Ok, I got carried away with subliminal tests). Rebecca plans to run the Disney half marathon again this coming labor day. She loved it last year, and almost did not get in this year, but joined a waiting list for registration and just found out yesterday that she is in. She needs someone to go to Anaheim with her...any takers? Still serves in the Young Women's and enjoys it as well.

Me: Just got called into the EQ as 1st Counselor. Looking forward to the new challenge. I guess it means I have to do my home-teaching now. I have not been good at home-teaching since college, and that was only because I had a crush on the girl I was assigned in my singles ward. I was promoted at work back in December, so my job has changed a little bit. I was promoted to Captain. My job now is to run a fire station. I have been assigned in Draper, at the Suncrest station...the 'House on the Hill.' My job responsibilities have changed. I am no longer responsible for emergency patient care, but for scene and resource management. I like it. There are many things to learn, and many challenges, but it is something I went after, and I am glad to have been promoted. Other than that, I am looking forward to warm weather, upcoming vacations, baseball trips, and beaches. (Not the movie.)

This ends our blogging absence. Now you know everything about us once again. Except the stuff I forgot, but technically, if I forgot it, then I don't know it about us either.

Greatest American Hero

2011-01-10T19:52:00.003-07:00

I am not even sure what to say. On January 2, 2011, at the age of 92, Major Dick Winters quietly passed away.

I have never met this man. He has no idea who I am. His greatest moments happened well before I was born. Despite this, he has influenced me immensely in my life. Outside of immediate family and religious figures, I would credit him as the next most influential person in my life. I feel like I know him inside and out. I have read every book I know exists in which he is mentioned. I have read every book he has written, and I have watched every movie in which he had mention.

I have often written about our greatest generation and my feelings for those that lived in those times. As I have written these things, I have always pictured and recalled the life of Dick Winters.

For those who do not know, a quick history. Dick Winters was a member of the 101st Airborne (paratroopers) during World War 2. He dropped into Normandy on D-Day. His heroics began shortly after landing when he led a number of soldiers against some major artillery weapons that were firing onto Utah beach...probably saving thousands of American and allied soldiers lives that were trying to land there. He led from the front. In one battle, he ordered his men to not advance until he popped a smoke grenade. Prior to popping the grenade, he ran at a full sprint to the front line, giving himself a 10-20 second head-start. Just one example of his leadership. He rose quickly through the ranks of the military, due to his natural leadership ability. He led by example, never giving an assignment that he was not willing to do. He fought in Bastogne (the Battle Of The Bulge) , in the Ardennes Forest. He fought in every major and significant battle that the 101st was assigned. As the war came to a close, he was part of the group that captured Hitlers high Alps compound. He was awarded so many battle related awards, and the men assigned to his stewardship all had (have) the utmost respect for him as their leader. He never sought for recognition or fame for his heroism, and tried his best to live a quiet peaceful life after the war. He often spoke of the true heroes, those soldiers that never came home as the ones that deserve the praise and recognition he was given. Once his grandson asked him if he was a hero. He answered, "No, but I served with a company of heroes." His life and accomplishments are detailed in several books, and in an HBO miniseries called Band Of Brothers.

It disgusts me that this is not bigger news, even though he would not have wanted any fuss made. People like Michael Jackson, Heath Ledger, and others pass away, usually due to overdose or whatnot, and the media covers it for 3 months. A true hero dies, and there is an article at the back of a newspaper or hidden somewhere obscurely on the webpage. America should be in mourning for this loss, as I am.

Major Winters is truly an inspiration to me and I know to millions of others. To me he represents a symbol of greatness from our Country’s Greatest Generation. A huge hole is left in our world with his passing. Thank you to Major Winters, to the men and women of that greatest generation, and to the small percentage of people who carry on the same characteristics of greatness today. The soldiers in the armed forces yesterday, today and those who continue to enlist. Thank you.

Rest In Peace Major Richard "Dick" Winters.

My Dad Can Beat Up Your Dad / I'm Telling My Mom!

2010-12-30T14:52:00.005-07:00

Lest I be one of those chumps that says, “Golly, I sure wish I would have expressed more appreciation for my parents...” (disclaimer: my parents are not dying, at least not any more than the rest of us are)...this post is all about Mom and Dad. My Mom. My Dad. Mom. Dad. I love you. I don't tell you enough I know. Thanks so much for being the best parents ever. I am so lucky to have been given to such wonderful people to show me the ropes of life. I hope Rebecca and I can be as good of parents to our kids as you guys were.

Dad: you know everything. You know about everything. Even stuff that gets you nowhere in life (not stated as a bad thing here). If I ever get a ride on the cash cab, or any of those millionaire shows, I am using my one phone call on you. Thanks for teaching me how to shoot, how to prepare, how to work, how to drive, and on and on. Confession time: Once, when you let me take the car before I had a license, I was going way too fast trying to keep up with JP Mataalii on 41st South, and the roads were a little wet, and a slight bend in the road came upon us (Jazey Drecksel was in the car), and we slid. Did a 360 to one side, I turned into the slide like Mr. Condie and Mr. Applegate later taught me, and we did a 360 the other way before coming to a stop on the front lawn of one of the houses up there. I am not sure what house it was, or what exactly happened, but we did not stay around long enough to find out either. We booked it out of there and drove home. I am almost certain we parked the car and went downstairs to play Tecmo Bowl. I feel better getting that off my chest. If it makes you feel any better, I have also done a 360 in a fire engine-and that was a lot more terrifying than spinning out in the car and landing on someone’s lawn. Your probably more upset right now that I potentially damaged someone’s green lawn than you are about driving like an idiot in the car.

Mom: You taught me responsibility and levelheadedness. I have never had to pay for a haircut. You taught me how to cook, do laundry, and how to treat girls/women the right way. (disclaimer: yes you taught me, though I do not always embrace these teachings...) I am fairly certain you gave me my love for Disney. Something genetic definitely, and we love it when you join us there. I don’t have any confessions specifically relating to you...but Doug does.

You have both always supported me in all of my doings: little league, scouts, ballet (ha ha-yeah right), school, and whatever I wanted to do. I took up tons of your time, and I appreciate the support you give me in all I do.

I am often accused of being so independent, and I am. I don’t want that to be synonymous with not needing, or showing need, respect, and love, for my parents. I feel like my ability to be independent stems from a solid upbringing. Anyway. That’s what I wanted to say.

All About The Mouse

2010-12-07T22:26:00.009-07:00

Disclaimer: This post is mostly a Disneyland Trip Report. There will be other tidbits of info scattered throughout the paragraphs, but be forewarned... mostly Disney.

I am excited for Christmas, and its okay to embrace the season now that Thanksgiving is over. If you missed my Thanksgiving tribute, click here. Time is once again cruising by. Sometimes I think that the 'Father Time' fast-forwards at night and makes two days go by, but then I realize I would wake up much more rested, so it can't be. I know this is really becoming a cliche, but I wonder where all the time does go. Granted, a month of illness makes time speed past, but it feels like more than that. In my mind it is still August.

I digress, Disneyland: Yeah, we went again. The week after Thanksgiving is a sweet time to be at the Magic Kingdom too, might I add. Our travel party was pretty big this time around, almost 30 of us in all. My Mom, Grandma, Aunts, Uncles, and lotsa cousins all joined in the fun. Of course we had a blast, it is Disneyland.

My cousin just completed his two years as a missionary, so to celebrate his return, we went to Disneyland. This was the plan from the moment he left. We should have just done his homecoming meeting down there, but didn't. In fact, we should have probably gone to church, being with a newly returned missionary and all, but didn't do that either. Unless I can count Disneyland as church? Please? Just on a limited basis?

Have I mentioned that Haylee is a "Daddy's girl?" Through and thru. (I have always felt like that saying should encompass both accepted spellings.) Rebecca gets a little irritated by this. Haylee is sometimes very bratty about it. She only lets me hold her when I am home, only lets me get things for her, only lets me put her to bed, and honestly only lets me change her diaper...most of the time. Rebecca has been awesome and done the majority of the diaper swaps with the kids, but Haylee has made it so I have changed more diapers on her than the other two combined. She is also a "Daddy's Girl" because she plays air guitar. I do not know where she got it, but she has a book with a picture of a guitar and whenever she gets to that page she strums her belly a few times. I love it.

Tierra and Eli are spoiled because of Disneyland. They have been enough times that I heard them telling some of our relatives that they shouldn't waste their time with certain rides and attractions. Tierra said, referring to the Tiki Room, "It's something you should do once." Made me proud.

I love Disney at Christmastime, but Halloween time is still my absolute favorite. Not sure what the rest of the family thinks on this issue. The exception for me is Small World. I do not like Small World, except at Christmastime. The Christmas lights are phenomenal. You just have to see it, at least once. So there you go, I helped you out.

Our family is doing well and all are happy. We are not sending out Christmas cards this year. 3 months till baseball. Merry Christmas. Happy New Year.

Sick and Left

2010-10-26T13:02:00.007-06:00

Time flies by when you have three kids and each of them gets a 10 day stomach virus one after the other.

Yes, that has been our month. Tierra got sick on October 5th. No big deal at first, a little puking here and there. When it did not go away, we got a little worried. Worried enough to visit Primary Children's. After all the tests and all our money, they told us there was nothing wrong but a virus. Lucky us right? We are typically pretty healthy around here, and have very mild versions of whatever is going around the neighborhood, school, nursery, and primary. Not this time. Tierra had "bad luck" as the PA at PCMC called it, and got the full ten-day brunt of the pukies. Then Eli, and then Haylee.

Enough of that.

Like the rest of the United States, we are excited for Halloween. The kids have had their costumes picked out since November 1st, and are ready to go hit the streets for a little candy. If you think about it, that could be a secret drug reference.

There was also a wedding in the family. Rebecca's brother got hitched only three short months after returning from his mission. The kid shots are from that wedding... Tierra's picture being in a dehydrated and lethargic state from blowing chunks every time she ate something.

So good riddance October. Except for the Halloween part and the part that eliminated the Yankees from the World Series.

13.1 (Start of a Tradition)

2010-09-15T17:07:00.009-06:00

Rebecca celebrated Labour Day (spelling modified for my Canadian readers), by working her butt off and running 13.1 miles. The day she had been training for arrived. She woke up before the Californian Roosters and ran Disney's annual half marathon. She beat her goal time of 2 and a half hours by 1 minute. We are so proud of her. She wants to do it all over again next year. She is starting to recruit a gaggle of runners, so any interested reader should let her know that you are interested in being on Team Rebecca. (The name is up for negotiation, but Edward, Jacob, and the Denver Broncos will not be options, ever.) Rebecca's younger brother Scott ran it with her this year. He did really well also, finishing in 1 hour 50 minutes.

Since Rebecca was running in Disneyland, and all around Anaheim, we felt it appropriate to drive down with her to support her. And since we were so close to Disneyland, we decided to spend a few days in the park as well, but only because we were so close. Similar to other trips, we had a blast. Not similar to any trips, Rebecca's mom, Linda came with us this time. I am not sure if she will admit it, but she had a blast. Scott also brought his girlfriend, Justine. Disney should pay us to be a recruiter family. Seriously. I am not sure how much money we have made them by encouraging people to join us there, but it's a lot.

We also were given free tickets to an Angels game. Sweet seats too. Five or six rows back in left field. Our whole family enjoys baseball games, but I am by far the biggest nut. One cool thing though, a few weeks before this (provide your own noise indicating rewind) we were at a Bees game. At this game, Eli got an autograph on a ball from the center fielder, Peter Bourjous. Fast forward back to Labour Day at the Angels game, and Peter Bourjous has been called up and is now the starting center fielder for the Angels. So that was pretty cool for the kids. Eli was so excited that it just exhausted him.

So now vacations are over, school has started, and summer is nearly over. 6 more days to be exact. Tierra loves full day school and Eli is loving Kindergarten. Haylee is happy to be the one getting full time attention while they are gone. She is a Winnie The Pooh fan, though we are not sure why...oh yeah, Disney trips.

Our chickens have started laying eggs, our garden has yielded much fruit, and the dog still poos everywhere. Life is good.

A Great, Big Post of Randoms

2010-08-01T15:06:00.008-06:00

So I usually try to make my post themed, and have it all fit together. For the last few weeks though, so many small things have occurred that I want to get them all down. This blog is as much for our entertainment and memory augmentation as it is yours. So if you are okay going from perpetual lilly pad to lilly pad, read on. If you need more organized, collected writings in your life then stop right here.

China

Lately, Tierra has been obsessed with the fact that everything is made in China. She searches all items she can turn upside down to find out just where it was made, hoping to find someplace outside of China. A few weeks back she was so excited to have finally found a new one. She came running to me to ask what the new place was. She hands me the toy, and eagerly awaits my translation, " What does it say dad? What does it say!?" I, of course, do nothing to add to the suspense. Finally I read it out-loud, "Made in Hong Kong." Tierra is so excited for a few seconds before asking me where Hong Kong is. As I hold back the laugh, I frankly say, "Hong Kong is in China." Her face of bewilderment/anger/understanding was awesome. Like the kid who opens up a christmas present and gets clothes. Not the gift they wanted, but still happy its christmas and there are still a few presents with their name on them under the tree.

Google

Our kids are still under the wonderful impression that as parents, we know everything. This has worked to such a wonderful advantage for many years now. It is because of this that I declare war on the unknown neighborhood kid that dared tell our kids about Google. See up to this point if something was answered as "I don't know" I assumed our kids just figured that if mom and dad didn't know the answer then there must not be an answer, and this was always okay with them. They never challenged it. So the other day I gave out an "I don't know" more because I wasn't paying much attention to what was even asked. Instead of that ending the conversation, it was clearly explained to me that when I don't know something, I can just google it. "That's what mom's and dad's do when they need to learn something."

Wild West

A strong genetic link can be proven simply by observing Eli's love of trains. When I was a wee tot, I loved trains. Dad used to drive me up to the top of 8000 west when the Kennecott trains would still cruise by so I could count the cars. Eli also loves trains. However, due to cartoons, Eli believes that real trains are only in the wild west. When we see any trains he asks if we are in the wild west. I have said "Yes, yes we are" every single time and even told the kids to be on the lookout for wild horses and Indians with spears. It worked out really well when we drove past a field with many horses in it. Still looking for the indians though. The kids love the Wild West.

Running

Rebecca has been doing a lot of it. She is training for the half marathon over Labor Day. In the meantime she has been running several 10K races. It makes me tired thinking about the training.

Mommy/Daddy

I couldn't leave something about Haylee out. She has learned to speak a few words really well. Two being "mommy" and "daddy." She knows that these refer to Rebecca and I, but I am not sure she has fully grasped the singularity of each just yet, as she has used them interchangeably. So she loves to waddle up to one of us, smack us on the legs for attention while saying "mommy" or "daddy" until we turn our attention her way. Once she has our attention she babbles something incoherent and points to something undetermined. A simple "Oh!" or "Okay!" usually satisfied her need for attention for about 15 seconds, while the routine starts again.

A Final Jab

UFA Firefighters beat the Unified Police 25 to 5. It is probably our fault if your service fee goes up next year. Purely out of spite.

Disneyland

Notice I didn't mention it once (until now). Just for you Unca Lin!

Disneyla, No Wait, Lagoon Retro Diary

2010-07-17T23:54:00.009-06:00

I am bringing back the Diary style of writing that was totally stolen from Bill Simmons.

10:55 a.m.- Standing at the ticket window in shock after being told that the day price for our family would be 120 bucks, even after the Mormon discount. (Stake Lagoon Day!) I can only imagine the look on my face. I begin to wonder to myself (and possibly out loud to the 16-year-old ticket-sales-girl) why I am paying so much money when I have an annual pass to Disneyland resting in my pocket?

11:03 a.m.- We bust through the turnstiles and the kids still grab maps. Except, unlike Disneyland, we need these ones. I have no clue where to go or what to ride first. In fact, aside from the Colossus and the White Roller coaster, I am not even sure what the choices are. Other than last years Stake Lagoon Day, my last time in Lagoon was 1993-two years after 'Lagoon: A Beach' opened, and five years after the last known maintenance on the White Roller Coaster.

11:35 a.m.- Grizzly, er...uh... Rattlesnake Rapids. Awesome fun ride, except it smells like the water is used as the monthly shower for half the riders. But, since it’s 100 degrees at Lagoon today, we can look past these minor imperfections that make us wish more and more that Disneyland was closer. I have been in plenty of locker rooms that smelled worse.

12:41 p.m- After reminding ourselves that this isn’t Disneyland, we go to the kids rides area. I looked hard for a name to this area, but there wasn’t one. As the kids are riding the rides that all seem to do the same thing but with different decorations, my mom feels it appropriate to tell me that when I was young my favorite ride was Bulgy the Whale. She also tells me it looked the exact same as it does right now, and probably had the exact same ride operator, only 30 years older. I make my mom pinky swear that she will never tell that story again.

1:14 p.m- My kids sure love the bumper cars. The little kid ones that they can drive all by themselves and no parent is required to be in the car. In fact, one thing I like about Lagoon is that they ban you from certain rides if you are too tall. This saved me from many painful moments today. Still, it’s no Disneyland. Have I said that already? It was especially fun to watch the ride attendant threaten the 3-year-old kids to sit down or he wasn't letting them out of the ride area.

2:01 p.m.- Disney has the Haunted Mansion. Lagoon has the Terror-ride. I am speechless. I got nothin.

2:27 p.m.- I just witnessed two large bolts and several stabilizing crossbeams fall off the White Roller Coaster. Except, I feel bad calling it the “White” Roller Coaster because it hasn’t been painted since my trip here for 9th grade promotion. Seriously, the wood is bare and exposed and I am not sure how I was talked into riding it. It’s more terrifying than having to sit through an episode of “So You Think You Can Dance.”

3:13 p.m- Just got off the Spider. Note to self, do not start out sitting backwards in the Spider ride ever again. Ever. Again.

4:01 p.m.- My Aunt’s husband Gary talked me into riding the Cliffhanger with him. I was scared to death that I was going to puke. My stomach was quickly approaching its Lagoon threshold and I knew it. The Cliffhanger is a ride that goes around in circles, two long benches of people, except the benches can rotate, spin, and tumble however they want. If you look at the picture, I am almost in the middle, in the blue shirt, asking the kids next to me if "this ride hurts?" I only went on it because I temporarily lapsed back to Jr High when he said, “I’ll go if you go.” Maybe it was the fact that I was actually at Lagoon and remembered the days long gone of being 15 years old picking up on cute girls that all ended up being 12?

4:29 p.m- Just got off Wicked. Note to self, "you are 35 years old now, your body is not able to ride Spider, Cliffhanger, and Wicked in succession." Why do they put all these rides next to each other? You almost have no choice. In a related story... There’s practically no line on the Colossus!

4:32 p.m.- No amount of Jr High ribbing could get me on the Colossus. I was done and I knew it.

5:01 p.m.- Just turned down the Wild Mouse. See 4:32 p.m. above. Happily watched the kids on Musical Express. Also, scouted out the three nearest garbage cans, just in case.

6:09 p.m.-Saved by the baby. Someone had to stay behind with Haylee so everyone else could do the Bat, and the Tilt-O-Whirl, and the Rocket. I found myself wishing I had saved myself for the Slingshot.

8:31 p.m- It’s almost dark and getting cooler after a blistering 129 degree Fahrenheit day, so we did what anyone in their dirty, sweaty clothes would do, we rode the Rapids. As much as I have subtly made fun of Lagoon and compared it to the Happiest Place on Earth, these Rattlesnake Rapids are pretty fun. Probably my favorite ride, especially when the sunny side of Mars was colder today. Once again, the whole raft got absolutely soaked. Mission accomplished.

9:00 p.m.- Eli asks what time the fireworks start. A small tear comes to my eye, both in pride and disappointment Proud that my kids are spoiled enough to also compare Lagoon to Disneyland, and sad that there were not actually going to be fireworks.

9:17 p.m.- Dracula’s Castle, the Terror Ride, and one more quick ride on the bumper cars and we are gone like 5 Arby’s regulars. I couldn’t help but think if only we had added 9 hours to our drive we could have been in Disneyland.

Independence Day, Simons Family Style.

2010-07-08T15:47:00.008-06:00

My 11 thoughts written about my memories from the 4th of July, in no particular order, except the first one will always be first.

#1- Fireworks. I love things that are loud, colorful and explosive. All three adjectives must be included. For example, you can’t just show me loud and colorful, that is simply Richard Simmons. Explosive and loud all by itself could merely amount to a fat man with gas. (yes, he has to be fat.) Loud, colorful and explosive point almost exclusively to fireworks. Prove me wrong. This picture is from the last Disney excursion.

#2- Family time. This was a a unique year for the fourth, almost a three day celebration. This provided opportunity for us to get together with pretty much every extended family member over the course of the weekend. We love spending time with our extended families. Especially when loud, colorful, and explosive things are included. This year even included impromptu races on the kids toys. Rebecca’s brother Brett and his Fiance, Karlie (I hope its not Karlie with a ‘C’), started the games off with a little challenge of “who can ride the little toys fastest across the patio?” These are the only pictures of the ordeal. As far as you know.

#3-Parades. Not just any parade, The Magna Parade. 100 years strong it is. (Thanks Yoda). Nostalgia perhaps influences my love for this parade, but so be it. I also love the parades in Disneyland. Something about a well done parade just defines America. I love seeing well cared for old hot rods in parades too. This one is my dream car.

#4- Baseball. Sadly my weekend did not have live, in-person baseball, but there were some great MLB games on TV this weekend. Baseball has always been America’s sport, no matter what the ‘advanced kickball’ fans say. Magna park use to always include a baseball game with its 4th celebration. What happened to that?

#5- Homemade Ice Cream. Just like Grandpa used to make, except this year Rebecca’s mom made it at our house using the ice cream maker we were given as a wedding present. This is the first time we have used it. If you are reading this, and gave us the ice cream maker, we really do like it and have no excuses for waiting so long to get it out of the box.

#6- Barbecuing. Everything tastes much better coming off the barbecue. Everything. We had a couple barbecues over the three days. I wonder if Captain Crunch would taste good if I barbecued it, then put it in a bowl of milk?

#7- Patriotism. Everyone is at their highest level of patriotic attitude that its contagious and intoxicating. If we could harness this patriotic energy and keep it going throughout the year I believe our Country would be a much better place. Since it is already good, then it would be that much better. Even Jane Fonda would be proud to call it home.

#8- Independence Day, the movie. I forgot to watch it this year, but its usually a must watch. Just like Groundhog Day is a must watch in February (as a minimum), It’s a Wonderful Life at Christmas time, The Ten Commandments at Easter, Field of Dreams sometime during the baseball season, The Three Amigos on May 5th, and Aqua Marine bi-monthly.

#9- Friends. It seems like the 4th of July is always the time you bump into someone you have not seen for a while. I enjoy that. I also enjoy spending some of the time with current friends. We hung out with friends that we do things with quite often, and played Ticket to Ride. I am happy to report that after 2 years of playing this and other games, I finally won! What? You don’t believe me? Well! That's why I had a picture taken (ps-I was the green trains):

#10- Snapper Popper thingys. I know I already covered the fireworks, but the little white poppers are a category of their own. Again, nostalgia prevails in this regard. They bring back so many memories of trying to hit the motorcycle cops just right as to leave a little black mark on their perfectly polished motorcycle. I felt so hypocritical telling my kids that they could only throw them on the road or else I would take them away. See what growing up and getting responsibility does to you? Hypocritical it makes you says I (and Yoda again.) It was such a good day when I learned that you didn’t even have to throw them hard and they would still pop. As reliable as Rice Krispies.

#11- Demolition Derby. Again, not something we did this year, but the 4th of July and Demolition Derby’s are forever etched in my mind as companions. Just like chocolate and peanut butter, rootbeer and ice cream, Bert and Ernie, Disney and land, beaches and flip flops, and Simon and Garfunkel.

So that’s my list. I hope you all had a great 2nd, 3rd,4th and 5th of July like we did.

Disneyland Diary

2010-06-15T17:05:00.015-06:00

Many of you know, or at least have heard me say before, that I regularly read a sports columnist named Bill Simmons. He is an awesome writer that mixes current sporting events in with pop culture. One of his common writing themes is to do what he calls a retro diary. In other words, he writes about an event as if he were there, using time stamps. I am going to steal his diary idea as I talk about our latest Disneyland adventure (except I really was there). If you are interested in reading Bill Simmons, you can find his articles here: Bill Simmons. If you clicked the link, welcome back. If not, thanks for staying. Here is my Disney Diary. PS- this may get long.

7: 58 a.m.- Crashing through the Disneyland gates for the first time in 10 months (a long time for us). Like every other time we go through the turnstiles that lead to the happiest place on earth, our kids without fail have to grab a map. For some reason this always irritates me. For one- my kids know their way around the park as good as Mickey himself. Why do they insist on grabbing maps? For two- once the maps are in hand, they open them up and look at them while we walk, causing much more of a delay than is necessary and also causing them to bump into people unnecessarily.

8:08 a.m.- We board Pirates. Pirates seems to always be our first ride. I have already run to Splash Mountain to get fast passes by this point as well. Oh Crap. I just gave away a Disney Secret.

9:43 a.m.- As we ride Pinocchio's Daring Journey, I can't help but draw a parallel to Anakin Skywalker and his decision making process. Pinocchio made many bad choices that got him a long nose, turned him into a Donkey, and swallowed by a whale. Geppetto was persistent and did all he could to rescue Pinocchio, and in the end Pinocchio got to be a real boy. As I watch Star Wars Episode 3, I find myself wishing Anakin would make just one good choice and turn away from becoming Darth Vader. Of course, this would have ruined episodes 4, 5, and 6 and ultimately the greatest trilogy of all time. Despite Obi Wan's endless care and hope that Anakin was the chosen one, he became Darth Vader. Jiminy Cricket, therefore, has more power than a Jedi Knight. These are the ways of my thoughts in the magical place.

11:02 a.m.- While waiting for Rebecca and the kids to ride Grizzly River Run, I bumped into a friend from way back: Julie Palmer. Friends from my USU era may remember her. She is as big a Disney nut as I am, and I have often mused that I had never "bumped" into her in all the times I have gone and knowing that she goes a lot as well. Disneyland seems to be a sort of mini reunion place. I always see someone that I know, not counting Mickey Mouse, Ariel, or Jasmine. Once I thought I saw Pat Morita, read on.

11:08 a.m.- Rebecca and the kids get off the rapids ride and Rebecca yells at me because she is soaked to the core, and somehow this is my fault because I convinced her to ride the ride. As we walked to the next ride I saw a man I swear was Pat Morita reincarnated. I followed him long enough to be considered a stalker, just to make sure his death was not a hoax. I still think he is living on an island with Elvis and Jim Morrison. Speaking of Pat Morita, I have mixed feelings about the Karate Kid remake. Why should a classic, complete, almost perfect movie be remade? Then again, why shouldn't it? See the inner-struggle?

1:33 p.m.- Waiting for our lunch to arrive at the Carnation Cafe. A first for us, eating at the Carnation Cafe anyway. Apparently the chef, Oscar, is well known among the regulars at Carnation Cafe. Oscar the Chef then comes over and talks to us for about 15 minutes. Asking us very poignant questions about where we are from and how we like Disneyland. Eli turns into a social butterfly and talks Oscar the Chef's ear off, causing Oscar the Chef to look for an escape route. Oscar the Chef was a very nice guy, it is easy to see why he is well known, but I couldn't help but wonder who does the cooking while Oscar the Chef galavants around with the paying customers? Side note again- the 'Oscar Philly Sandwich' was among the best I have had. Also, the banana split was delicious. And huge.

2:49 p.m.- Riding the Disneyland railroad around the park for a break. Eli and Tierra just had a huge fight accompanied with a tantrum or two and I find myself wondering why I bring the kids with me to Disneyland. I also try the "there is no fighting/crying/screaming/yelling/anger in Disneyland" speech to no avail and to the point that I am also yelling in anger.

2:51 p.m.- We threaten the kids that we will leave 'right this minute' if they don't start behaving. It works for most of the rest of the trip. Coupled with several instances of bribery and churros (yes those are two different things.)

4:37 p.m.- Head over to Tomorrow land to ride Space Mountain, but Space Mountain is temporarily closed. I hang out for a few minutes while the rest of the family goes to ride "Star Tours." While I hang out near the ride entrance I am amused at the endless flow of people that try to use their wit and status in life to convince the Disney gate keepers to give them more information, or a secret tip as to just when the ride will re-open. Guaranteed the teenage Disney employees have three memorized lines they use when they have to close a ride for an undisclosed amount of time on a busy summer day, but 97 percent of the guests do not understand this. I laugh to myself for several minutes. It really was entertaining. I could have done it a lot longer than I did, but they re-opened the ride.

6:02 p.m- We spot Goofy and decide to go get in the line to see him. Usually Disneyland is very organized with character meet and greets, forming a line and announcing when the time is up and so on. For this Goofy line however, they were not on the ball. We started to form a line like good Disney visitors, but a group of people decided to do their own thing and make a different line, and the character host decided to use the other line-I know right?! So we were left standing in a line that wasn't a line and with no time to see Goofy. Jerks.

6:58 p.m- If you are not familiar with Disneyland's wheelchair policy, you should read up on that before reading this next part. I like what Disney does for those guests that use wheelchairs. I hate what guests do to take advantage of what Disney does for the guests that use wheelchairs. So I am sitting outside of Splash Mountain waiting for Rebecca and the kids. A very old lady in a wheelchair wheels up being pushed by her two late teen/early twenties kids. The lady hops out of the wheelchair, hobbles over to a bench near me, and one of her kids hops into the wheelchair while the other pushes her to ride Splash. I get so irritated. If Walt were still alive and witnessed such behavior he would surely have banished them to the Disney prisons and they would have spent a very long time trying to convince the dog with the key to get close enough to the cell so they could grab the keys and let themselves out.

7:21 p.m.- While walking around Adventureland Tierra says: "Dad, you know those little people that are adults but little? Well, I just saw one that looked like you." Everyone but me finds this really funny.

8:27 p.m.- We became instant celebrities in China. After eating some funnel cakes, a Chinese man came up to us and in broken English asks if he can take photos of us and our children. He also says several times that he came from China. So, we pose for pictures with him, then his wife, then his friend, then his friends wife. It was very weird to be honest. Just as I think we are done, I look over and the two women had grabbed Tierra and the guy was taking pictures of them with her. So like I said, we are either celebrities in China, or this was some weird identity theft operation.

9:39 p.m.- Disneyland fireworks. Awesome as always. They have fireworks that explode into mouse ears. How do they do that? Amazing. One of these times they will have fireworks that explode into the words, "Welcome Simons Family", either that or "Eat at Joe's." I am not sure which will be first.

11:24 p.m- Trying our best to make it 36 more minutes, but the kids are wiped out and falling asleep as we walk. One last ride on Pirates, one last scare in Haunted Mansion, then we are back out the turnstiles counting down the days until we get to go back. 65 days from today, if you are wondering. (Yes Tierra is in the last picture too, just hanging off the side of the firetruck and hard to see.)

Just an Update

2010-05-29T18:48:00.004-06:00

There is nothing entertaining, creative, or out of the ordinary in this post.

That said, I hope to impart some wisdom.

Recently, my curious children were asking about the gauges on the dashboard of our vehicles. I explained in very basic terms what each of them meant. The fuel gauge, the oil pressure gauge, the temperature gauge, and the speedometer. They also learned where to find the speed limit signs while we drive. Now I have a Jiminy Cricket on my shoulder and two additional "consciouses" in the back seat. Every time I get even 1 mph over the last speed limit sign they remember, they let me know that the cops are gonna get me. I should have made something else up, like it meant they had to be quiet for that many minutes. If you have not yet told your kids about the speedometer, and they are not nearing 16, make something up. Trust me on this one.

Rebecca is in full fledge training mode for her half marathon this fall. She has some regimen all worked out and has done her best to make it work around my revolving schedule. She is excited and anxious, and the rest of the family is behind her one-hundred percent. It has nothing to do with the fact that we get a Disneyland trip out of the whole thing, I promise. She also has created a garden again this year. I like having our own garden, but each year I give more and more lawn space to have one.

The kids are nearly done with their respective school years. Both Tierra and Eli love school. I like that they go to school, but could do without the 1000 things the teachers send home and tell them to hang on the fridge. Scribbles/art work; notes; good behavior coupons; homework, etc. I think I am going to start pinning it to the wall in the toy room and when it fills up the kids can choose which "old" one to throw out in order to hang up the next. Eli had his preschool graduation the other night and hammed it up as he should.

All of us are looking forward to the summer, with one caveat: It needs to warm up. I really truly hope that in three weeks you read a post from me that complains of it being to hot and wishing for winter. We are also the new proud owners of chickens. I have wanted chickens for years. My dad has raised chickens for quite a while. We finally got some of our own. West Jordan charges 50 bucks for a "chicken permit." To me, that is just one more way for "big brother" to take money from us. The kids love the chickens. Tierra came up with the idea that we should each name one (excluding Haylee of course). I wanted to name one of them "Future Dinner," but was vetoed and they named it Junior. So we have Marshmellow, Black Feather, Layer, and Junior. I look forward to the fresh eggs that will be coming later this summer.

What can be said about Haylee? She refuses to walk. We help her a little and she does fine, but when we let go for her to do it on her own, she goes right to turbo crawl mode to get from A to B. She is having trouble speaking in complete sentences as well. She does belt out Beethoven's Fifth from time to time. Other than that, she is growing and starting the terrible twos a little early. She is still a very good baby, and the easiest of the three, but some terribleness has sneaked in.

That said, we are happy, healthy, and still anxious for summer!

Writers Block Defeated? You Tell Us.

2010-04-18T19:55:00.013-06:00

Yeah, it's been a while. I can't predate any entries, so until Dr Emmet Brown shows up at my door with the flux capacitor, you have to deal with the fact that some time has gone by. I feel like I have had writers block coupled with the fact that the stuff we have been doing has not been blogworthy. With Spring (or Winter's sequel) in full gear, I have a feeling things will start cruising along and the blog will come alive again. I still try to get Rebecca to write as well.

April Fool's day... what a great idea for a holiday. I think I need to research the history of that one. Rebecca loved this years tom foolery. She made fun cupcakes. They are suppose to look like pees and carrots, spaghetti and meatballs, and mashed potatoes with butter. She took them to a mormon vampire movie night and it was a huge hit.

We went to Fat Cats a few weeks back, when it was still dreary and dark all the time. Eli loved the motorcycle race game.
It is proof of genetics in action. 17 years ago in Toronto, I spent many quarters on a similar game on p-days. 4 clean cut guys in suits and ties yelling competitively at each other makes for quite a site in a main downtown arcade. (I am the farthest one away in the picture, barely visible with 1995 photo technology.)

Tierra loved the game too, but her favorite is air hockey. She got angry at us a few weeks ago and stormed off to our bedroom and made a fort with our bedding. She fell asleep in her anger and slept for 3 hours. (She is behind the green "wall" of her fort in this picture, snoring away.

Haylee likes wearing my ball caps and eating noodles right from the pan.

I just took an overnight trip to Seattle for a ball game. I went with my Brother Danny and friend Jason.

As Danny pointed out, we are not holding hands. Hopefully I write that at least 4 more times this baseball season-the part about getting back from a ball game, not holding hands.

Blog Recess is Over

2010-03-09T21:20:00.003-07:00

Ok, so it has been a few weeks. I just haven't had anything to say. (weird I know) Turns out we drudged through February also. Groundhog Day comes and goes way too fast every year and before we know it, Spring shows up and the busy months of summer kick our butts.

This will be a quick post, but I just wanted to mention that our baby is one. Holy freaking crap. Haylee is still our easiest child. She is so simple. Even when she has had a few mild illnesses she has been very easy. Now she's one, which is closer to two which means only one thing.... yep, she's almost tall enough to ride the Matterhorn. The poor girl is in the 1 percentile for her weight. Something I am sure she will be happy about one day, but she also has her dad's head. Huge. I think that was the 60th percentile. Hope she forgives me for that one. Happy Birthday last week Haylee.

Drudging Through January

2010-01-22T14:54:00.006-07:00

January seems to be lingering this year. I honestly was in a semi state of shell shock when Christmas, New Years, and January 10th flew by. (There is not a single significance to January 10th for me, I just pulled it out of the air.) But now it seems like the last half of January is taking 30 extra days to get out of here. C'mon.

Why is it that nothing goes on during this month? Sure they threw a quasi-holiday into this month, but I think even the banks stay open that day, adding to the drudgery of January.

So needless to say, we have not been up to much. A lot of my off days are spent at home, doing absolutely nothing. The kids spend time wearing out the toys they got for Christmas and Rebecca and I laze around. Sure, Rebecca runs the kids to school and back, does the grocery shopping, keeps the house clean, as if it were any other month, but its still just January. February is so much better than January. It is like the gateway to spring. Plus, it kicks off with one of my favorite holidays... Groundhogs Day.

The kids are not caught up in the January gloom. Haylee has been growing up so fast. I can't grasp that she will be a year old just one month and two days after Groundhogs day. She seems a little older to me for some reason, perhaps it is because she was practicing Beethoven's 2nd in D Major the other day on the piano?

Eli has been amazing me the most lately. I have always worried about his mental ability since he broke his skull at 2 months old, but now I am wondering if that helped him. His latest tasks have been to learn songs. He listens to a song and decides whether or not he likes it. If he likes it, he starts it over and starts to learn it. He can sing along to several songs that I play on the IPOD regularly. He hears and understands the word to fast paced punk songs that even I do not get all the time. He also loves this little toy guitar thing he got for Christmas. He is learning moves to make the ladies scream later in life. Another "one-up" he will have on me.
Tierra is getting too old to quick. At least she is acting way to grown up for a 6 year old. Except for her crying games. She cries a lot when she doesn't get her way. We give her a hard time telling her she cries more than Haylee, which is true because Haylee just doesn't cry much at all. Tierra continues to be a night owl, a trait definitely acquired from me. This stems from the days in Junior High staying up to watch Night Court after the evening news. After we send her to bed, she just sits up in her bed flipping through magazines or reading books. She is getting quite good at reading. Which starts me on a small tangent about Kindergarten....nevermind. Suffice it to say the books the teacher sends home are well below the level Tierra has attained in reading. She loves playing in the snow too. The other night she wanted to watch 24. We have not let her watch this show yet, it seems a little too PG-8 or 9 to us. She gets a little scared of certain things in movies. She reminds me of me a little bit. I remember when I was about her age watching Superman at Randy Monsen's house. I was so terrified of earthquakes that I went around telling everyone that they were not true. It was just something in movies. It worked for a little while. Tierra was persistent though and while Rebecca was talking on the phone Tierra wrote a note and did this with it:

Overall, we are all doing well. I love my new station and get along great with the crew. It is a busy station and I have had some "good" calls lately. Good is relative here... good for me means bad for another. So when I say good, I mean there have been calls where my emergency medicine skills were required. We did miss out on a house fire the other day while we responded to someone who thought they had the flu though.

Rebecca is counting down the minutes until Lost starts again. I just bought her an Iphone. She loves it. She has an application that tells her when to get off her butt and make dinner, so thats good. If only she had an app to get rid of this smog and make it snow more!

Christmas 2009

2009-12-24T14:39:00.003-07:00

Here we are, 2009 winding down, Christmas season upon us, and football's regular season reaching a close. Holy CRAP! Where did the year go?

Ideally, we should have posted this a few weeks ago, since we referenced our blog on the couple Christmas cards we sent out. If you did not get a Christmas card from us, do not cross off your friend list, we were just serious slackers this year. Besides, the Christmas Card is now the lead picture on this blog, so enjoy.

Now for our year in review. I am going to recap, review, exaggerate, and maybe flat out make stuff up for each of us for 2009.

Haylee: Easiest baby ever, so far. Seriously. I have said before and will say again, if she was our first child, we may have been in for 10 more. She is rarely fussy, and when she is, it is so brief and hardly worth even labeling as fussy that we sometimes don't realize that she is even in need of something. Not yet crawling, but only because she can't figure out how to make her four extremities work together to make her move. She gets up on her fours, then pushes with her legs to scoot like an army man across the floor. She is also our first child to use her mouth for everything. I have always heard this about kids, but Haylee literally sticks everything in her mouth. She scoots across the floor and picks up crumbs or paper scraps and puts then in her mouth. She is a thumb sucker too. In addition to that, she is speaking in complete sentences (thats the exaggerated part!) That's our Haylee.

Eli: Growing up fast. Eli is our thoughtful, sharing child. He is so willing to share half of the last cookie with all of us except Tierra. I think the sibling rivalry thing is very strong in these two. I have been watching past Seasons of "The Office" on my computer. Eli loves the opening jingle so much that when he hears it, he drops whatever he is doing and sprints to the computer to see the opening and closing credits. It's so funny. He also loves it when I get the 5 in a row bonus on bejeweled and wants to know which color I obliterated. He yells from wherever in the house he may be. He loves preschool and is looking forward to Kindergarten next year. We also received a call from New York Yankees. They asked for rights to his future contract. We told them no, any other team but the Yankees.

Tierra: Loves, loves, loves Kindergarten. Loves reading. Loves discovering the new words as she learns how to sound the letters out. Tierra (both Tierra and Eli really, but mostly Tierra) loves to draw. She draws on every stray paper. Draws hundreds of pictures a month, so many that we are having a hard time storing them. They are very good drawings too. She has a talent for sure. She comes home from school each day and excitedly recalls her experiences with the hugest smiles. It makes me wonder if she has any part of me within her, I can't remember ever liking school that much. She also enjoys going to sleep because as she put it, she "watches movies in her head when she sleeps. Movies about girls that are superheroes." Tierra also sold her first picture on Ebay. It was a scribble job that looked a lot like a horse race. It went for 225 K.

Rebecca: Rebecca is still running regularly and actually enjoys it. She wants badly to run the half marathon in Disneyland this coming September. She serves in Young Women's in the ward. Loves that calling as well. She is still reading like crazy, always has her face in a book. Its quite amusing to see her balancing Haylee in one hand, feeding her a bottle, reading a book, and making dinner all at once. You mothers sure have a talent there. I am sure you can all relate. I have no idea how she manages to raise three kids–2 of which can be very demanding–keep the house clean, the cupboards stocked, read 8 books each week, and put up with me day in and day out. Amazing. Rebecca was recently approached by a marketing agent asking her to be the editor in chief of a major publishing company. She said she would think about it.

Chad: I just changed stations. I moved to a different platoon and different crew. I really enjoyed my last station and crew, but a lot of things culminated to make me want to move. An opportunity came up for me to get a spot at a busier station, in an area that was still close to home, and the crew I moved over to are still all good guys. I have been there a few weeks now and I am glad I made the switch. It has been awesome. I am still a paramedic on an ambulance for the fire department, but the new station is a ladder company, so I get to do Truck company work again when we have fires. Truck companies have a different job than the fire engines. I like the truck work best. I was released as scout master early this fall, after 6 years or so of doing it. Honestly, I was not happy about it. My new callings, yes callings, are challenging. I am an Elders Quorum instructor and Sports coach for the ward athletics. I am not a good teacher, so we will see how this goes. I recently took the entry level test with the Disneyland fire department. They offered me a job. Thinking about it now.

Overall, as a family, we are doing great and having fun. This past year was a blast, full of lots of changes for all of us, and we look forward to the coming year and coming experiences. We are grateful for all of you as family and friends. We hope this Christmas season brings you peace, joy, and happiness.

Thanks for reading. Pictures coming soon.

Thanksgiving Post

2009-11-25T01:23:00.005-07:00

Happy Thanksgiving to you all. Thanks for reading our blog. We hope it entertains you. I enjoy writing to you all. Of course, in my mind, I imagine that there are many more readers than there actually are and that somehow my words and messages reach far and wide. That's how it goes in my mind okay?

Anywho, I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving. I love Thanksgiving. I love playing football in the morning with a bunch of guys that will all tell you they were all state in high school. I love watching football all day long and not feeling guilty because it isn't Sunday. I love Grandma's homemade rolls and the dark meat from the turkey. I love eating enough mashed potatoes that my bloodstream is seemingly a mashed-potato-river. I love eating way too much food and laying around the rest of the day feeling bloated but still snacking on leftovers. I love Thanksgiving. Thanks pilgrims. Most of all, I love Thanksgiving because as soon as it is done, we can start celebrating Christmas.

Thats pretty much it. Oh, don't get fat.

Some Things That I Like

2009-11-19T15:26:00.006-07:00

Several years ago, Paul Newman (my roommate, not the actor- but equally as famous) introduced me to a song by a band called Brak. The song is called "I Like Hubcaps" and the lyrics are a collection of things this group claims to like. Things like cornbread, poptarts, but not corn starch. Legos, recess and eating pork and beans. Obviously hubcaps. He loves Pineapple upside down cake, but wonders why its upside down. Great song, and available on ITunes. It is with that song in mind that I make this post. I am not talking about things like family and friends and so on, those are all obvious. I am talking about In-N-Out Hamburgers.

The Draper store opened today, and we went at lunch time, waited the hour and 45 minutes, and loved every minute of it. In-N-Out has been a regular stop of ours on our many trips to California. Now we only have to drive to Draper, a mere 15 minutes. I have to admit, it was Rebecca's want and desire to go get a burger today. She wanted to camp out to be the first one in line. Perhaps for the West Jordan locations opening? Our kids love it too. I am not sure if they love it due to the association it has with Disneyland, or if they truly love it. With this store opening up so close to us, I am throwing out all hope and dreams of being thin again. The double double is such a delicious hamburger, especially when it is chased into my stomach with a strawberry shake, that I do not care to know the nutritional statistics. If I were to write a song like Brak did, the double double would be in the chorus.

I also like the primary teacher who sent my children home with "Secret Service" cut out hearts a couple of years ago. The idea behind these thing-a-ma-bobbers is that my children secretly do something for someone else without that person knowing. Then they leave these heart shaped papers that say "Secret Service" on them. The kids love doing things. They have made my bed and cleaned each others rooms often. I need to photocopy a thousand of these things.

Alright, so not quite as extensive as Brak's likes, but that's all I got for now. The debate as to whether or not it was worth it to wait in line for 1 hour and 45 minutes will happen on the other blog someday soon.

Mandatory Halloween Costume Post

2009-11-02T22:16:00.006-07:00

Well, here are a few pictures of the kids from halloween. Had I not had to work, I was going to be the referee of our little football family.

That was for a party in the neighborhood on Friday. On Saturday they got dressed up in these costumes: Tierra has already learned a few tricks. Once she had gone around with the family, one of her friends from the neighborhood stopped by and she asked if she go with that family for a second trip around the block. She did. Double candy. So glad my kids are good at sharing with me.

So thats what my family did while I slaved away at work. I was disappointed to not have a single Halloween related call. We typically get called to a party gone bad with Dracula beating up one of the Seven Dwarfs or something. Nothing. Don't get me wrong, we were busy with emergency calls, just nothing related to the season. My middle aged fireman costume was a hit though!

Whodathunk?

2009-10-29T22:35:00.008-06:00

Such an amazing thing happened to me tonight, yes this very night. An Epiphany. A huge one. Here's how it went. I got home late from teaching at the U of U, looking for a little snack, thinking about making a huge root beer float as a night cap. However, the kids were saying they were still hungry, probably because they didn't eat anything when it was dinner time, and I didn't want to share the root beer with them, that would mean less for me. I told them to get some stick cheese. Tierra asked if she could have an apple. I said, sure. The catch was, she wanted it cut. You may remember from a previous post my feelings towards apples in their natural form. Part of this previous animosity is due to the fact that they are such a pain in the butt to cut. So I tell Tierra to ask her mom to do it. Tierra replies, "Dad, it is so easy, you just do this"... and makes a gesture with her hand that resembles a single motion cutting movement. I laughed at her and made some comment about, "if only it were that easy." So as I mill around a little more, she gets out this gadget that I have unloaded from the dishwasher many times and often wondered what it was. Not ever remembering long enough to one day ask Rebecca what it was or what it was for, I always quickly stuck it in a drawer and got it out of my mind. So Tierra, continues to try to show me how to cut an apple, when it all comes together. Hence, my epiphany. Who knew? What a cool invention. This little machine thing takes away all the hassle from preparing apples to an eatable form. I love it. I had one and half apples for a snack tonight. AMAZING. (The root beer float is still in my near future.)

So exciting. If you don't have one, I highly recommend it. The one pictured above is by Pampered Chef. Coolest thing since sliced bread, but its sliced apples.

Besides all that above, the kids are way excited for Halloween. I get to work. Please send your kids out responsibly, with reflective tape and so on. It seems like we get a call for a kid hit by a car every Halloween. Anyhow. I had to include this next picture because it goes along with my previous post about strangers in the photos. The guy right behind me looks awesome and angry, and the guy on the far right is sleeping at a football game. I bet he's embarrassed if he ever finds out. I just look dorky like normal and I need a hair cut. Rebecca is 'smokin' (not as in Camels, as in gorgeous) as always.

I guess I better throw in some pictures of the kids too. Here they are playing one of their favorite games, Memory. These kids kick my butt in memory. Are kids naturally good at this game or something? I know I am not that bad....

And last but not least, baby Haylee. Such a good baby. Always smiling, always happy, except when her diaper is full or her belly is empty...but who isn't that way right? Of course, she was a little interested in the camera as well, with the pre-flash red-eye eliminator thingy. (That's my "almost-a-photography-minor-knowledge" coming through.)

Not Current Events, Just Filling In Some Blanks

2009-10-15T15:32:00.005-06:00

I have been letting the kids use my laptop to click through every picture I have ever downloaded to it, and while doing so, they informed me that some of them should have been shared on our blog. The actual words they used were these: "Dad, how come that picture isn't on that thing where you put some of our pictures with all the words?" To acquiesce to their request, here comes another post. The kids, like all other kids I am sure, love playing dress up. They are also obsessed with Pirates. I am sure most kids are also currently obsessed with Pirates, but it doesn't help much to have a father that is fond of them too. Not just because I graduated from Cyprus High School, home of Scholars and Champions, not just because it is one of our favorite rides at Disneyland, not just because of the ever cool Pirates of the Caribbean Movies, but also because all morals and beliefs aside, it would have been a pretty cool gig in the 1500's.

As mentioned, we went to Disneyland a few weeks ago. The picture coming up is one I took during the absolutely awesome fireworks show. Have I sufficiently covered my love of fireworks on this blog? Hands down, the best fireworks show ever, even better than my all time favorite Jackson's Hole fireworks display. (yes I call it Jackson's Hole on purpose) We did go to Lagoon this year as well. I hadn't been since 1993. Other than a few rides it hasn't changed much. I love adventure as much as the next guy, but riding that white roller coaster is more a death wish than an adventure. I wouldn't do it.

The next photo here was not requested by the kids, but I couldn't resist adding it because it is a page straight out of fire station hi-jinks that I performed at home to my own kid. Eli fell asleep so I stuck a stuffed animal on his face and took a picture. Just to let co-workers know that they shouldn't feel special or picked on by any means whenever they fall victim to one of the pranks. For those outside of the fire service, sometimes we have a little too much spare time and use it to conjure up ways to make April Fools Day last all year long.

By way of what's going on in our lives, I was released from Scouts this past Sunday. I wasn't ready for this one. I still feel the people in charge of inspiration for our ward missed the mark here. I had been in for almost 6 years, and I could have done 6 more, but they didn't ask me. Rebecca serves in Young Women's. We aren't really doing much else right now. Tierra is in kindergarten and loves it. Eli is in Pre-school and is anxious for Kindergarten next year. Haylee is not in school, but has reached the ripe old age of 7 months. She is the easiest baby. (Rebecca confirms this, by the way.) She is so happy all the time and very easy. I think if kids number 1 and 2 were like this, we would have signed up to have 8. Then we could have rivaled Jon and Kate.

Our backyard is practically tree-less after a losing battle with some type of bug eating our trees. The last windstorm pushed them around so much that I had to have a friend come over and saw them down for me. Luckily he didn't trim our house at the same time, and even missed dropping trees on our deck and barbecue. I probably would have a different story if I had done this on my own. I am sad that practically all of our shade trees are gone and our neighbors now have a clear view right into our bedroom window. I either have to be more careful or not care about the fact that they can see more of us now. Anyway...

This next photo is a picture from our yearly trip to Fort Bridger for the Mountain-man Rendezvous. We bought the kids Davy Crocket (coon skin) hats and toy guns after walking around all day amongst the adults that were dressed up in either loin cloths and head dresses, or buckskin outfits head to toe. I poke fun, but this event is really quite fun. You'll just never see me going all out in the regalia of the period it celebrates. I would be more likely to dress up like Princess Leia for the next Star Wars movie release party. (No, that's not happening either.) Tierra also loves the cow skulls, but she called them dinosaur heads all day long.

So Summer is gone. I am over the fact that it went by so fast and it seems like we did very little. Grand plans and ideas always get pushed back a week until you reach the breaking point of no-more-summer left, so you add it to the list of things to do next summer. Its a viscous cycle.

Quick Add

2009-10-01T18:35:00.005-06:00

One more thing.. the new title picture is great because the camera lady said "Goofy!", as in that is what she wanted us to say, but Tierra thought it meant to be goofy, hence the pose. I also wanted to get this picture of Haylee included. It is what she thought of Disneyland.

Are These Haunted Walls Actually Stretching?

2009-10-01T11:36:00.021-06:00

In case any of you were concerned, Disneyland is still there and doing fine. We were skeptical ourselves, so we had to drive down and make sure. Since we spent all that time driving, we stayed for quite a while.

We did our trip a little different this time. We added San Diego, La Jolla beach,

and Sea World to the mix. I hadn't done Sea World since I was a Senior in High School, and the rest of my family had never been. We saw Shamu, we saw the shows, and really had fun. We were there a little too long though, in my opinion. Perhaps it was the anticipation of Disney, I don't know. They had a buy 1 day get 1 day free special, so we went for 2 days.

I am fascinated with marine life, and I don't care who you are, surfing on the back of a killer whale would be awesome, and is awesome to see. The comedy Seal and Seal Lion show was fun too. There was a ride called Journey to Atlantis that Eli was too short for, but he loved standing in the spectator area where you get more soaked than riding the ride. He is in the green shirt to the right.

This is sounding like a travel log, and I don't want it to be.

Let me just highlight some differences and then you can enjoy a few pictures, okay?

The kids had a blast at everything we did. They are pretty well behaved. Haylee does amazingly awesome with the long drives. Eli scared the insides out of Rebecca at the hotel in San Diego when she looked up and saw him straddling the railing on our 3 story high balcony.

After San Diego we went to the Angels vs Yankees baseball game. A relief pitcher for the Yankees singled out Tierra and tossed a ball to her. The same pitcher, Jonathan Albaladejo,

threw for a couple of innings that game. I have been to tons of games, even Bees games, and have never gotten a ball. I am so jealous. Tierra loved it. Eli wanted one so bad as well, but was a good sport when he didn't get one.

Rebecca enjoyed her first MLB game and I think she may be converted to the excitement of being in the various stadiums. This will my help my cause next season when I ask her if I can go to 6 more stadiums.

As for our time in Disney, we loved it. We were finally able to get pictures with the elusive Donald Duck. We still need Daisy as far as the main characters go. I used Haylee as an excuse to get some shots with a couple of the princesses.

Haylee loved Snow White. She must get that from me. I know you all are loving my home made visor, Snow White did too. Or maybe she was just flirting.

So that was our Disneyland trip. We are taking a break now. (GASP) We do not have plans to return until next labor day when Rebecca plans to run the Disneyland half marathon.

The park will miss us. I wish the last picture here would enlarge. If it did you could see the cool Pirates shirts that everyone except me is wearing. Yep, we are that engulfed in Disneyana.

In Your Face Jones'!!!

2009-09-09T22:50:00.004-06:00

Now that summer is winding down and almost over, one of the many projects on my list has been accomplished. We went to RC Willey, just to "look" at the labor day sale stuff, and came back with an entire new living room. Enjoy the before and after shots. Rebecca worked her butt off to get the taping done, broke the tile out of the old fire place, moved book shelves, sanded and cleaned the old walls, and helped paint. Tons of work was done while I was at work. She even effectively removed any trace of any book I owned from the two bookshelves we moved to the upstairs living room. So the only thing missing is the 96" flat screen TV I really really wanted. Next time I guess. No TV, but we did get:

New Couch.

New Carpet.

New Paint.

Keeping Up With the Jones'

2009-09-06T01:47:00.008-06:00

I guess this can most accurately be describes as the obligatory post about our child's first day of school, but to be honest, I think we did it wrong. I have read a couple dozen blog posts these past two weeks about other parents' experiences regarding the first day of school for their young-un's, and I have to say ours did not go that way at all. The days I have read about start with a new outfit, excitement and anticipation, then tears as the kid walks through the doors that will represent every morning of their lives for the next 13 years at a minimum.

Ours was something like this...

9:30 am:

"What time does Tierra's Kindergarten Class start?", I ask (still in bed because hey, its an off day).

"11:56."

"11:56? Seriously?", I say, thinking that is a very specific time.

Rebecca: "Well, one paper says that and the other says Noon."

Chad: "hmmm."

10:17 am:

Eyepod is charged, mower is gassed, time to mow the lawn. I enjoy mowing the lawn, except when I skip a week or two like I did this time, because then the grass is so long that I have to empty the bag way too much. I also use lawn mowing time to catch up on my podcasts. I subscribe to several ESPN podcasts, and everyone is talking fantasy football, so lawn mowing time this week doubles as research!

11:24 am:

Chad: "Rebecca? What time is it?"

Rebecca: "Eleven-twenty-four."

Chad: "Already? Geez."

11:25 am:

So I forgo the shower and cleaning myself up for Tierra's first day of school and wear my "Cyprus Football" T shirt and some very old tan shorts. Plus socks up to my calves and hiking boots that I always mow the lawn in. Plus I am sweaty from yard work, and grass clippings have filled up my shoes and stuck to my sweaty shirt. I remember wondering if I would get heckled for wearing a Cyprus Football shirt in West Jordan. They should just be glad it isn't the one I wore while in High School!

11:40 am:

I take a picture or two of Tierra for her first day of Kindergarten.

11:46 am:

We make the 3 minute drive to the elementary.

11:52 am:

We have an unplanned reunion with most of the parents from our neighborhood in front of the school. I take special note of which of the dad's are present and which ones aren't. My whole motivation is to somehow think that I am better than them at some future point when they do something cool.

11:57 am:

I guess Noon was the correct time eh? I first think this and then say it to Rebecca. No answer.

1200 Noon:

Are the teachers allowed to be late on the first day? I also think this first and then say it.

12:01 pm:

Rebecca: "Are we bad parents for not having new clothes for Tierra?

Chad: "No, I don't think so. Look at that kid, those can't be new! Besides, Tierra likes what she has on." I mull this over for a minute and think that it probably was some bad oversight on our part to not send our kid to school in a new outfit. I always looked forward to the new pair of shoes I would get each school year. I don't much remember my clothes, but I remember new shoes, even the year I had to have the new Jordan's. I didn't even like basketball much (you may recall from an earlier post!) but for some reason I had to have the Jordan's. Looking back now, I wish I would have been more like Alex Keaton and been a tight-wad with money. The Jordan year was the first time I had to pay for part of my clothes. Probably because my parents didn't want to buy shoes for 125 bucks either. That was 8th grade. The second or third edition of the Jordan Nike Air sneakers. I think I traded them a few years later for some baseball cards and a Reeses Peanut butter cup. Anyway, I digress.

12:06 pm:

Teachers come out and call for the kids. Kids line up. Tierra walks into school with a huge smile on her face. No tears from mom or dad. No wishing she was a year younger and that we had more time with her. Rather, "How early can we drop Eli off at preschool?"

"Not this early," Rebecca says, "it doesn't start until 12:30."

So that was our first day of school. Eli's first day of preschool, for this year anyway, was a day earlier. We had that day without any fanfare as well, but we did take a picture.

Still didn't take one of Haylee though.

Neglect of the Young One

2009-08-28T23:29:00.008-06:00

We have become complacent parents, and I fear that one day it will come back to haunt us. I am not talking about being grossly neglectful, or abusive, as far as we are willing to admit anyway! Seriously though, it occurred to me that we are not giving fair attention time to Haylee in the form of photos, video recordings, or anything else that made us such proud parents with the other two. Is this normal? Let me cite a few examples. For one, When Tierra rolled over, we photo-documented every aspect of it, called relatives, passed out cigars and so on. It was such a milestone. Same for when she walked, said the first word and on and on. You get the point right? Our digital video footage of Tierra and even of Eli is enough to make several documentaries. A little before Haylee was born, our video camera gave up the ghost, and to us it was no big deal. So I was thinking just today about this and I had a terrible revelation set years from now when Haylee is old enough to understand, and I have to answer the hard question of, "Dad? Mom? Why aren't there many videos of me when I was a baby. I am tired of Tierra always showing us stuff from when she was a baby!" Then I will have to make up a story about a tragic natural disaster that destroyed all her records and there was nothing we could do and so on!! Are we normal here? Have you other parents with three kids or more done the same thing to your later children?

I am not saying the excitement has worn off or anything, but we have not put as much importance on it like we did with Tierra and Eli. We took pictures of everything with those two, as mentioned above. I feel like a bad dad all of the sudden.

I also feel like an awful parent because summer came and went and we did not do something "big" with the family. Nearly every summer of my life is filled with some huge memory or something that really defined summer.

My family always did at least one thing, and usually multiple. That is what made summer so hard to let go of, right? My kids are probably the only ones looking forward to starting school because at least they get to do something.

So all this being said, I threw in a few pictures that I found on the camera. Not much rhyme or reason to any of them, but I know how pictures make a post better than just having the words here. I love the one of Rebecca and Haylee on the Log Flume though.

More To Say

2009-08-09T23:04:00.008-06:00

I completely forgot to mention that the annual Cops versus Firefighters game was a couple Saturday's ago. We won. They beat us last year and as the coordinator of the event from the fire department side, I have taken a lot of crap for it. For the three weeks before the game I was emailed by so many Sheriff's Office guys talking crap that this game became a must win. It is suppose to be all in fun, and for the most part it is...but it is much more fun to go home the winner! Unified Fire Firefighters won 5 to 2. Our awesome Fire Department photographer took pictures for us. The pictures posted here are his, used with semi-permission. To see the whole neat-o gallery, click here http://www.pbase.com/unifiedfire/ffvcopssoftball09

I look like a dork I know, but these two pictures were my main

contribution to the win. I went 0 for 4 at the plate! One was a

strike out looking, but the Ump made the worst strike call I have

ever seen. If you see any Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office

guys, tell them better luck next year from me! Be sure to check

out the sweet trophy that was presented to us by the Kearns

Crime Prevention Association, who sponsor

the game each year. The trophy is in the

photos in the link above. Be sure to read the

lower post too, I have updated twice this week!

Answers to All of Life's Questions

2009-08-08T15:38:00.010-06:00

Summer came and went huh? I know that we still have a few weeks left, but I for one am feeling pretty gypped this year. I had pretty high hopes for this summer. Felt like I was going to get so many things done. Some small yard projects, some exciting adventures, a successful get-rich-quick scheme or two... but no luck. I think that part of my problem is that I have been so unproductive on the days following my work shifts because we have been getting hammered at work lately. It has been a very busy summer as far as emergency calls go for my station. And many of these being at night. (That is a picture of the recent Jim's restaurant fire that burned down in West Jordan.) It has made me very tired. I am sure the wife (side note: I am not going to use names as much anymore to keep ourselves more private to some extent while I consider making this blog private. Don't worry though, the He Says She Says blog will remain open, no matter what we decide) has been very frustrated with me coming home and being a lazy husband on my 4 days. Sorry dear.

We have done a few things lately. Last week we spent a few days up near the Uintah's at the home of my Captain.

We had a summer party for our crew. My kids loved it. Especially daughter number 1. (See parenthesis note above.) My Captain lives on 7 or so acres and has all the makings of being a farmer. Horses, pigs, chickens, and multiple vehicles in various stages of operation. I think that is the true sign of a farmer... having that old truck that you drove in the 60's and refuse to part with so it sits in the fields getting rusty. He also had a tractor here, and tractor accessories all over. With this in mind, my dad belongs on a farm. He was raised on a farm and I am not sure why he hasn't made his way back to one. Us kids all call him a crumb bum that collects all kinds of junk at the yard. I do not mean this in a derogatory way, I think its awesome. I realize that I am becoming a pack rat as I get older as well.

So daughter number 1 loved the farm trip. She hung out with my Captain's grandson who was 5 or 6 and took her around to the Shetland ponies. This kid seemed so much older than 6 because he would wander off by himself to one of the several barns and decide on his own to get one of the horses out for the other kids to ride. Daughter 1 loved riding the horses around.

She got bucked off one of the Shetlands and rather than crying when she told us about it she was quick to assure us that "it's okay, that's what happens to cowgirls." At another point she had her foot stepped on by one of the other horses, which really scraped it up and bruised it. I knew she was in pain, but she refused to cry too much, because "sometimes that happens to cowgirls." She asked the above mentioned boy on several occasions if he would "teach her how to be a cowgirl."

I am already doing my best to come up with valid excuses for the moment she asks us for her own pony for Christmas or birthday. Any suggestions?

Boy number 1 had a great time as well. His fun seemed to be more so on the trampoline though. All of us went to Strawberry reservoir to catch Crawdads for one of the dinners we had planned, and Son 1 loved it.

He was working the nets trying so hard to be the helper. Neither of the older kids were scared of these things. For those that don't know what they are, think mini-lobster.

They were good 'eatin' too, though the effort required to get the little bit of meat out of each of them was not an equivalent payout. One of the days was a water playing day. Our kids didn't bring swimsuits so they went true redneck style, in their undies. Like all other kids, they love playing in the water, and didn't even care that they were doing it in their underwear. They also went swimming at Strawberry while we there. That's what the picture way up above is!

Daughter 2 is getting big and growing up as she should. (Yeah, your right, I am already going to bag all of this discreet stuff. I am still considering the private thing, but I am not just that paranoid of person, so it doesn't suit me. Future posts will omit the impersonal codes and numbers. I am too lazy to go back and change it now for this one though.) Rebecca calls her the perfect baby. She does have to take a medication for reflux, but other than that is pretty happy all the time. She seems much easier than the other 2 were.

This is our update. Comment away.

There's Klingons on the Starboard Bow

2009-07-12T19:48:00.013-06:00

I love the fourth of July, but still I lament that my 4th this year was uneventful. I got slammed at work the night before and slept through the Magna Parade. I had to work standby at fireworks in Holladay, so missed the traditional fireworks shows. As mentioned in the other blog that we write (which is very entertaining I must say, if you haven't seen it, click here,) I got an up close view of fireworks from the launch area. I was seriously less than 10 feet from the tubes for the entire hour long show. Almost 2500 fireworks. The Finale rocked my insides like a Green Day Concert while standing the whole show in front of the speakers. (Yes, that actually happened.) The pictures (on the other site) are not doing it justice because for some reason they are not enlarging when clicked, which ticks me off because they are taken with a 10 megapixel camera. Enjoy it anyway.

My kids love the fireworks, as long as they get to cover their ears, except Eli likes to cover his eyes and just listen to the pops and bangs and crackles. They also love the annual barbecue at Grandma and Grandpa Ames house.

They especially love driving the battery operated 4x4 around the yard with their cousins.

Haylees favorite song is Blur's Song 2. She dances and wiggles to it each time it comes across my IPOD or ITunes.

Tierra loves drawing. She draws everyday and is getting so good at it. Coloring too.

The bad part about this is that she expects us to save all of them and there just are not that many avon boxes left in our storage.

The rest of the family still got to enjoy all the 4th festivities, as they should. They went to the parade. They went to barbecue, they did fireworks in the neighborhood and watched the West Jordan show.

We have been to lots of Bees games,

the kids love them as well. I am itching for a professional trip. I need to check some more stadiums off the list.

Due to another friends blog post, I was reminded of a story about fireworks. She brought up the fact that firefighters sometimes confiscate illegal fireworks. She was mistaken that firefighters write tickets for illegal fireworks violations. Perhaps other cities' fire departments do so, but not Unified Fire. Yes, we confiscate them for training, but no tickets. So a couple of years ago, I was at the station with the crew, and we were doing what we do every morning, checking off every piece of equipment to make sure it works perfectly. We check off everything. It is not an acceptable excuse to arrive at an emergency and say, "oops, we would have put out the fire, but our hose has a hole in it from the last fire... sorry!" So we were doing checkouts. It was early on a Sunday morning. Everyone was gathered near the firetruck. I slipped away and decided to dig into the box of confiscated fireworks at the station. I grabbed one of my all time favorites, the Roman Candle. My plan was to launch the Roman Candle at the guys who were at the back of the firetruck. One problem, I could not find a match. I looked everywhere. I looked for our lighters for the barbecue, I even searched the lockers of some of the guys that smoke. No luck. So a few minutes passed and I realized my only option was to light it with the barbecue. So the barbecue was a little ways away from the truck bays where the guys were gathered. I hoped that they were still all there. So I took a quick peek to see that they were still at the truck. They were, except one of the guys had gotten underneath the truck to check the hoses, gas lines, brakes, etc under the truck. (See, we check everything!) So I went back to the barbecue, lit the Roman Candle

and took off for the station bay door at the back of the station. One problem, the barbecue lit the fuses a little closer than a match would have, so I had less time before launch. I led with the Roman Candle out front as I ran through the doorway, so one or two little fireballs launched towards the guys before I got through the door. As the 3rd, 4th and possibly 5th fireball launched, I realized that a lady, her 4 year old son, and their dog had stopped by on their morning jog to see the station. The first 3 fire balls whizzed and bounced all around them. As soon as I realized it, I threw the Roman Candle and the 7 remaining fireballs across the bay, not completely sure where it would land or where they would launch. The boy instantly started screaming, the dog (more like half-rat half-rabbit) started yelping in fear, and the firefighter under the truck was startled to the point of making this story rated R. (remember that even PG 13 movies allow two "F" words.) We found out later that the firefighter under the truck did not know the lady had stopped to see us either. So, as I am contemplating what to do for my next career...my first impulse was to just go in the station and hide... I approached the lady trying to come up with some story that would make everything better. You know, like when Daniel Larusso convinces his mom that his black eye came from crashing on his bike rather than getting his butt kicked by the Cobra Kai.

So I walk up, still nothing in my mind by way of excuses, and the first thing I hear the lady tell her bawling son is, "it's okay Billy, firefighters are allowed to use illegal fireworks." My mind again trails off to asking for my nighttime manager job at Taco Time back. I really don't know what I said, but it was probably some kind of apology, then I went and got every give away I could dig up from the station to give to this kid. I didn't give anything to the dog. He-She-It was still yelping. We don't have dog bones with our fire department logo on them. So the lady and her posse eventually left and I went inside to tell my Captain to prepare for a citizen complaint and if I needed to put in a letter of resignation. Luckily, no complaints came, and I was able to keep my job. Hopefully the statute of limitations has passed.

Mr Mom

2009-06-07T18:18:00.004-06:00

I am not built for this, being Mr. Mom that is. I always loved the Michael Keaton movie about it, not ever wanting to try it out myself. There are plenty of other movies I wanted to try out, like Red Dawn...but I digress. Rebecca took off with Haylee to Buffalo last Thursday and left me stranded here with the other two kids for the weekend. There is a reason Dad's are the breadwinners. I know I am being very old-fashioned and stereotypical on this point and am full aware of the various life situations that make each family unique and different and that there are role reversals and so on and so on. Call me prejudice, whatever. For me, personally, I am happy to be the one to go to work each day and leave the majority of home parenting to Rebecca. We have covered in past blogs my inability to change diapers. That is a whole other story.

So this weekend has been rough, and fun all bundled up into one. First off, who knew that a five and three year old would have such unbreakable habits? "Daddy, we always do this first and then that!" "Mommy makes my sandwich this way!" "Mommy lets me do it like this." Either these kids take me for a sucker or they really have some nuances that need breaking!

I realized also that this would be a great opportunity to get a few notches up on the "who's the favorite parent" counter. I unofficially joined the parenting Mafia. In other words, I used Wendy's as bribes for everything I could. "Kids! Do this and you get another Frosty!" Works like a charm for those that are looking for that last little motivation to get your kids to pick up the toys or clean up after themselves. I think the teens at Wendy's now know us on a first name basis.

I think I did score major points with this one though.

Yep, I turned the living room into a fort! Tierra and Eli got to sleep in it for two nights. They were loving it. Every kid loves a fort,

especially one made out of the living room furniture right? Rebecca will have a lot of catching up after that stunt. Ha ha ha. It was suppose to be a surprise to her, as in I didn't want her to know about it until she read the blog post about it, but Tierra and Eli both spouted it out first thing on the phone last night.

A quick word on cribs. HOLY FREAKING HECK! So we got this crib from friends, but they had lost the hardware. No big deal, we call the company and order replacement hardware. Thinking that it would be a no-brainer once said hardware arrived... WRONG. 3 hours, a scratched mouse pad on Rebecca's laptop, and pages of internet searching for downloadable instructions, the crib is reassembled. Hopefully when Haylee returns and sleeps in it her first night, it won't fall apart on her.

This said, we made it. The house didn't get remodeled to badly, the kids made it without any major injury, or better yet, food related illnesses. We survived. The house is not clean by any one's standards, but I did get the yard mowed, some laundry done, and made it to all the scheduled events for these rugrats. Baseball, Preschool activities, and even a day at the park yesterday. Yes, I am looking for props.

Nostalgia

2009-05-29T15:41:00.006-06:00

Each year with the approach of summer, I am taken back to the many years of looking so forward to Summer Vacation. So this post is going to be a small little jaunt down the memory lanes of approaching Summer Break!

I wasn't sure if this post would be more appropriate on our other blog site or not, but I went with this one. First we go all the way back to Magna Elementary school. I remember all the years looking forward to being a sixth grader because that meant you got to bring the shaving cream and smear the younger grades. Before 6th grade it was a mission to avoid being smeared. I am not sure why Grades K-5 never got brave or smart and just brought shaving cream with them the last day of school to fight back with, but we didn't.

Remember Lagoon Day?

Such privileges we had then huh? I can't believe I ever rode that white roller coaster. I can't believe it is still there. I loved the Musical Express and trying to get the girls I had crushes on to ride with me because it forced you to the outside so you could sneakily be close to that 6th grade hottie! Or better yet we tried so hard to meet the girls that were there from other schools to do the same thing. Do they still go to Lagoon the last week of school? I know they no longer get to go Ice Skating because the Cyprus Ice Rink is long gone.

Junior High School Summers are more of a blur to me. I honestly can't remember what we looked forward to. I know I played little league baseball all summer, and did a lot with Scout Camp. When I was 14 I went to New York City for the Scout Jamboree... that was cool. I honestly can't remember the big anticipated things. The Magna 4th of July at the park was always something.

Remember how anxious we were to get a driver's license? We were so anxious to reach that milestone and the people that turned 16 earlier than the rest of us were instant celebrities. I still owe Jazey Drecksel hundreds of dollars in gas money for picking me up for school all through 11th and 12th grade. He had his own car. Double celebrity. It's funny to me that I could care less when the next time is that I get to drive now. Truth be told, I am happy sitting in the passenger seat. (Doesn't SheDaisy have a song about that?)

In all reality, High School always ended unofficially, for me anyway, around the first of May.

That is about the time we would start heading down to Magna Park to play "sand volleyball" in the gravel filled sand volleyball courts. Sluffing was the best. I remember my first time sluffing. I can't remember who all was involved, but it was towards the end of 9th grade. We decided to skip school to go to a Movie at the good old and long gone Midvalley Cinemas. We were excited to see a surfing movie but forgot what it was called. We got there and bought tickets to Beaches. That experience almost ruined my love and anxiousness for sluffing for the rest of my life! Jazey and I made up for it by going to see Terminator 2 at the first Utah showing...also during school hours. If you are reading this and were part of the Beaches trip, and dare to admit it, please leave me a comment!

College Summers were less and less fun. Usually summer break meant working your butt off for at least 40 hours, usually more, each week to get enough money to go back to school in the fall. My very last summer of college I decided to take classes to get done, and I wish I would have done that sooner. Summer Semester was such a cake walk. Abbreviated curriculum, teachers that wanted to be out water skiing just as bad as the students, and hot summer weather makes everyone lazy.

Now we are grown up and for most of us there is no such thing as summer break. Our jobs go on, our responsibilities add up, and our lawn still needs to be mowed. I look forward to baseball games, warm weather and time with family. All good things.

I remember always wondering why we didn't get a summer vacation in church?

So that's my post. Now, if you have read this, you have a "summer" project. You have to leave a comment about a fond memory from your life. Something we can all relate to perhaps. If you dare, something about us or something we did together, or anything you want really. This may be fun.

Bog of Nothing

2009-05-19T22:13:00.008-06:00

That's right, nothing. We haven't done anything huge, gone anywhere significant, or reached any huge life milestones. I wanted to just blog anyway and see what I come up with.

First off, I did something today I have never done in my life, to my recollection anyway. I freaking struck out in slow pitch softball.

How freaking pathetic is that? Seriously. Who strikes out in softball? Apparently I do. I was beyond mad. I was so mad that the rest of the game was nothing to me. I missed an easy grounder in the infield right after striking out. I have done that plenty of times, that doesn't bother me as much. It didn't help that we got killed.

I think the final was 19 to 5.

We went, as a family, to the Bees game today. Once a year, they play a non Sunday daytime game.

It was

Haylee's first game and I know if she could

speak she would be going on and on about how much she loves baseball games.

She would probably be talking so

much about it that we would be tired of hearing about it by now. Brent Locke and his family joined us. That is his

oldest boy in the picture with Tierra and Eli.

For the first time in a long time I do not have my next MLB game specifically planned. I want to do at least 2 more this year. 4 stadiums a year is not a far fetched goal is it?

Eli's baseball is going well. It's actually a lot less involved than I imagined.

They only play about 2 innings, probably because the parents would lynch the little league corporation of they went any longer. I am decided that 3 years old is a little bit too young to start.

We are all anxious and excited for summer. I am sure pretty much the entire state of Utah is ready though. What am I not ready for is the road construction. Has anyone else noticed that they work on 201 and I-215 every year, whether they need it or not?

Work has been great. We had a first-in house fire the other day. Disclaimer: I do not wish for anyone to have to experience the devastation of a fire in their home. That said, I love being able to respond to any fire, since they have to happen.

I especially love being first in. Actual house fires are not very frequent. Divide the low number into the number of stations in the valley and each individual firefighter is lucky to get a couple a year. (Again, I use the term lucky liberally.)

Not wishing them on anyone, we just want to make a difference when they do happen. Fighting a fire is hard work, so intense, such a rush.

Haylee is growing big. She is growing much faster and differently than our first two did. It is a new thing for us to have a kid that is normal according to doctors and their charts. She is wearing clothes now, at 3 months old, that Tierra was wearing at 9 months.

Tierra did dance, and had her obligatory Recital. She loved it, but thankfully she told us she wants to take a break for a while and try other stuff. She is anxious for swimming lessons this summer. I promise I had nothing to do with that decision. I will do my best to support my kids in whatever past time activities they choose. Thank goodness I get a break from Dance Recitals for at least a little while.

Rebecca never wants me to say much about her on here. She stays home with the kids all the time and makes everything run smooth. She is our schedule keeper and keeps us on track. She is wonderful about handling everything with the kids. All I have to do is write the checks, and I am grateful for that. She enjoys cooking and often has meals ready to go for all of us. Our family is fortunate to have her for our Mom and Wife.

I think with that, I have covered all of us. Hopefully I didn't bore you too much! Let's do what Haylee does best...... Sleep!

Angels and Mice

2009-05-02T13:08:00.010-06:00

We decided to throw some things in the car and just take a drive. When we were done driving, it turns out we were in California. Funny how that works huh? Our trips to California always include a stop at the Las Vegas In-N-Out Burger for lunch. Since we had driven all that way, we decided to make a vacation out of it. Coincidentally, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim were in town playing the Seattle Mariners, so I took Eli to his first Major League Baseball Game. I finally made it to Angel Stadium. My favorite team, despite the fact that they have such a long unnecessary name. (They use to be the California Angels, then the Anaheim Angels. Either of these would be more preferable for me.) It was a good game. The Rally Monkey almost helped them pull off a win, but they lost 9-8. Eli had a blast. Our seats were in the front row of the second section, and right in front of us was a walkway. About halfway through the game Eli decided to ask every single person who walked by for a "high five." About half complied. The picture makes us look farther away than we were. There were only about 15 rows of people in front of us. They also launched fireworks each time an Angel batter went yard, and Eli loved that also.

The rest of our road trip was all Disneyland. This trip was a little different for us. What I mean is that we have been so much that we have it down to a science. Our trips are all very similar, even once inside the park. We have our certain traditions that we like to do (Eat at Blue Bayou, see the parade at least once, watch the fireworks, get character autographs, etc), and we have our time plotted to get all the things in that we have made habits. This trip seemed different in that our time seemed so limited. We are not sure why. We still had a blast, and got to do everything we wanted to, but it just seemed to pass by much faster than past trips.

This was Eli's first trip since he has reached the 40 inches in height milestone, and therefore he was able to go on all the cool rides. (i.e.- Space, Thunder, Splash Mountains, Tower of Terror, etc).

He had a blast on each of them. His favorite ride is still the Matterhorn. He sat on Pluto's bed forever in Mickey Mouse's house.

Regular readers know how much we love Disneyland, and that many of these blog posts are about Disneyland, so for this post I am going to add some commentary about different Disney/California things that may entertain some of you. And it will be laced with pictures so if you get bored, just look at the pictures.

Throughout all our trips to Disneyland, I have always craved a turkey leg that they sell at many of the goody stands. Until this last trip I have never forked over the 7 bucks to eat one. It has never been an issue with the price, I just always end up eating something else. Well, I finally broke down and bought the huge Turkey leg.

I was utterly disappointed. It tasted just like smoked ham, was hard to eat, and didn't fill me up. The huge leg was laced with tendons, which made getting to the meat that tasted like ham difficult, it was messy, and did I mention no dark meat like most turkey legs have? I opened it up and it looked so good and I was so excited to finally get to sink my teeth in, but the first bite should have been the last.

My brother Spencer, his wife Jessica, and their kids came on this trip with us, as well as my Mom and my Grandmama Ames. My mom is as much a Disney nut as we are. She comes with us at least once a year. We have plans to go again in September

and are trying to talk her into

that trip as well.

With a little trickery and some pilfered pixie dust, we were able to finagle being all alone in the Haunted Mansion gathering room. It was much cooler than I can make it sound like, to be in there all alone, just the 5 of us, no workers, no other guests, etc. The proof is in the picture. It only lasted a few minutes, and we got some strange looks from workers when they realized we were in there, but it provided us with a unique photo op.

And that about sums it all up. As far as we know, we are Bacon Flu free. Ok, that reminds me of another little tidbit I want to discuss... maybe it should be saved for our He Says She Says post, but I am airing it here... I read in the news that we are no longer calling it the Swine Flu because of fear it gives off the wrong message? WHAT THE HECK? What has happened to our Country when we are worried about offending pigs now? Call a spade a spade. More about this coming on the other blog.

We are home now and getting back into the regular side of life. Dance recitals, little league baseball, Scout service projects, work, etc. What about you all?

Play Ball!

2009-04-14T11:51:00.010-06:00

Thinking about this post...I realize this is probably more for us than it is for you readers, kind of a Doogie Howser online journal entry I suppose. It may be entertaining still, but I can't make any promises. Wait, yes I can. It will be fun, so read on. If anything, you can just look at the pictures, right?

First... OPENING DAY! Yes. Baseball season is back on and my quest to get a few more stadium visits is on as well. I started off with the Colorado Rockies home opener. I drove to Colorado with Brent Locke and Jason Robinson, some fellow baseball fanatics. We stayed at Brent's sister's house...(those of you from Cyprus will remember DeAynne Locke Baker.)

Our hosts were so awesome. We shot trap in their backyard before leaving. How cool would that be to be able to shoot guns in your backyard whenever you wanted? (Which reminds me of Eli, who says all the time now: "How cool is that?) So then it was on to Denver for the game.

In the other trips I have taken, I have noticed that after watching a team on their home field, it is hard to not like them somewhat. It was true at Yankee Stadium. I have always hated the Yankees, but now I can't say "hate" anymore. I had way too much fun at their "home." Even the Washington (DC) Nationals. Not a good team by any one's standards, but I have a hard time not liking them a little. This trend was broken at the Rockies.

I had a blast, don't get me wrong, but I still don't think I could enjoy them as a team. After all, they traded Matt Holliday, one of the best outfielders in the game. The stadium was nice and like I said we had a blast, but they are still just the Rockies to me.

So more about opening day. It was a huge celebration. They got the season started off with a bang. It was intense. They unravelled a huge flag that took up the entire outfield.

Military jets flew over, and seemingly millions of balloons were released. We got to watch the Rockies shred the MVP pitcher (Hamels) from last years World Champion Phillies. It was a great offensive game with many hits, a couple guys went yard, and some great plays. We drove all the way back to Utah after the game and got home about 2 am. We stopped in Rollins Wyoming for dinner. Ask the three of us about the Chinese restaurant we ate at, specifically the waiter. We laughed about him the rest of the drive home.

For Easter we got together with my Mom's side of the family and had dinner at her house.

Hung out with all my brothers and their families, my cousins and their families, and Parents, Grandparents, Aunts and Uncles. There are so many of us now.

The kids were excited to get a visit from the Easter Bunny.

Tierra is still perplexed that the Easter Bunny knew we had a new baby and brought a basket and stuffed animal for her as well. I was perplexed that the Easter Bunny even came around at all since I remember when I was 10 years old and my dad came home from work the day before Easter and had a dead Jack Rabbit in his truck and said, "Sorry Kids, I hit the Easter Bunny with my truck coming home from work."

So that's our update.

Haylee is doing just fine. Eating tons and gaining weight. She is still smaller than most babies are at birth, but she is getting bigger. Oh yea, the picture of the three babies are Haylee and her recent cousins.

Jayden is 7 months, Sunne is 4 months, and Haylee is 5 weeks. (Haylee is the middle one) Yep, she is part midget. This blog use to allow you to enlarge pictures. Sorry that it no longer does, I am not sure why. If you figure it out let me know.

Remember the First Time?

2009-04-01T22:17:00.012-06:00

I was thinking it was time to update the world again with the happenings of us.

Things are settling down at home, and we are starting to adjust to having a newborn in the home again.

Haylee has been so erratic. Sometimes she sleeps for 5 hour increments through the night, then sometimes she sleeps for 5 second increments.

I do have an awesome wife though, because she handles the majority of the babies needs. I am not good at diaper changes...and luckily I am responsible for very few. Rebecca doesn't make me get up too much to take care of Haylee when she screams. So truthfully I have it pretty easy. I do admit that it is still rough on me when she cries and screams at night. Those of you that read our He Says She Says posts also know that I have some bad habits right now at home. I wish I could blame it on Haylee, but I really can't do so in good conscience. Anyway, more about her. She has been more fussy with feeding than our other kids were. For the first couple days she didn't gain her weight back, and she threw up a couple of times. We, and by we I mean Rebecca, had to take her in almost daily for weigh ins. Everything is mostly okay now, she is keeping her food down, and has gained the weight she needed to gain. None of our kids have been "spit up" kids. So when Haylee was full on vomiting, it was new to us. Am I rambling? At least it is broken up a little by pictures, right?

Now Eli. Eli is signed up to play baseball. I think he will have a blast. It isn't much. They hit off a tee. Everyone gets to round all the bases, and they really don't keep score. That's all fine and good, except I don't play that way. I am going to keep score. I am going to be taunting the other teams of 4 year olds we play against. That's just the competitive parent in me. I may even teach Eli how to knock the catcher down while coming into home plate.

It may be the need for extra attention, or perhaps just the new adjustment for a new baby in the house, but both Tierra and Eli have been handfuls lately.

Have you guys experienced this? They have been extra whiny, disobedient, and quite insolent lately....compared to what we were use to before. Yes, I said insolent.

So on to Tierra. The prevalent thought in my mind about Tierra is that she starts Kindergarten next Fall. I don't know why this gets to me right now, especially when she just barely missed it last year, but it does. I can't believe it. I am not going to say that it makes me feel old or any of that BS, because it doesn't. It is just a different feeling to think that my daughter starts school soon. Perhaps the reason it hits home is because we have to plan vacations and family stuff now around a school schedule. At least somewhat.

Tierra has been taking a dance class as well. She loves it. She also loves skiing, though I have not taken her for about a month, for no reason at all. She wants to go again, and I really want to take her one more time this winter.....er....this ski season. I forget that the first day of Spring hasalready happened. She still loves preschool, as does Eli. They come home so excited from school and the activities and things they learn.

Both Tierra and Eli are huge movie buffs. They watch about 7 movies total, at least 3 times a week. Eli can almost quote bugs life from start to finish. They also enjoy watching Scrubs with me. I have been renting the seasons on DVD and watching them. Eli loves to sing along to the jingle at the opening credits, especially the line that says, "I'm no Superman."

I may have mentioned already that Rebecca is now in Young Women's. No more primary. She is excited for her calling with the punk girls of the ward. She is also excited to start running again with her neighborhood running ladies. She was one of the 10 people that went to the New Kids on the Block reunion concert(editors note: this was corrected from Backstreet Boys----my bad) a month or so ago. She went with her old roommate from Virginia, who is a Back Street Boy nutso. (Yes she reads this.) She also loves book club with the neighborhood women. She loves her TV shows. She loves me.

I have been skiing a ton. It makes it easy to do so with a season pass. Today was a sweet powder day.

One of the best days I have had this year. Not much else new with me. I work. I come home and waste a lot of time doing nothing, unless I ski for the day. I always write so much about me, that I am just going to be brief this time. Mysterious perhaps.

Added April 2nd: I forgot to mention that I got Rebecca with an old April Fool's joke so prevalent at the fire station... We were both up after midnight on the 31st, so technically April Fool's day, so I used a rubber band to hold the nozzle down on our sprayer in the sink, so when she turned the water on to fill up a bottle, she got soaked. Hilarious! Ask her about it.

Haylee's here!!!

2009-03-05T19:00:00.007-07:00

Haylee arrived yesterday around 2:30 pm, 19.5 inches long, 6 lbs 4 oz, our heaviest child. She is doing well.

Rebecca is doing good also. She went all natural, no epidural, no induction, nothing.

Haylee tried coming out face up, which makes delivery much more intense for the mother, according to our Doctor. At the last minute, after Rebecca had to push a lot more than usual, Haylee did a 180 and turned her self the right way, or easier way.

The Kids are happy to have her here. Tierra was excited for a sister.

Eli wanted a boy, but says she will do for now. He did ask how long it takes for her to turn into a boy though.

Note: 1 near offensive picture removed, just to be safe...and to keep it PG.

While We Wait

2009-03-03T15:32:00.004-07:00

I know it has been a while since we have kept you all entertained with the goings on of our lives, but I have some good excuses, and yes, you are going to hear about them all. So as we wait for the next member of our family to show up (which is any day now since Rebecca has been growing it for 39 weeks and 1 day now), I decided to do an update.

About 6 weeks ago, my computer started having some issues. So I took it in to the store to get a tune up/fix up/whatever. They tell me its about a week or two wait time. No big deal. So 3 weeks go by and they finally call and tell me my motherboard is toast, but luckily it is under warranty because my motherboard was also toast about 8 months ago. So they replace that. But wait there's more (just like a bad info-mercial right?). So they run the tests to make sure it all works with the new motherboard and they call and say now that the hard drive is bad. For 50 bucks they can replace the hard drive with a brand new one that has a lifetime warranty. I say do it. So two more weeks pass with no word. I call, and they leave a message with the specific tech to call me about it when he gets back to work. 7 days later, last night, he calls and says, I think your CPU is out. He also tells me that this is very rare. For 200 bucks they can replace it, or I can buy a new computer for 1500 bucks. I told him to eat it.

That was excuse number 1. Excuse number 2 is related.... so Rebecca has her own computer, and I could have easily blogged with it, but our family pictures are on the external hard drive that is formatted for my computer, and this one being a laptop, I didn't want to take up a lot of space by loading the pictures onto it. So I have just been waiting to get the other computer back to do a huge update for everyone. Well, blogging should not cost 1500 bucks, so I am breaking down and using her computer.

Excuse number 3 has to do with being busy with a bunch of stuff.

Excuse number 4 is that I was just going to wait until the baby arrives and then would blog about that.

Now that I am past all the excuses, here comes an update.

Next baby: As mentioned, is almost here. Any day now, but at least by March 10th I think because Rebecca is at her appointment right now and was going to ask about that being an "induce me" day. Next baby is making Rebecca very tired. We do not know what it is. I am in charge of naming the thing. I have some ideas. Nothing is set in stone.

I think I have to wait to see what it looks like. You can't name a baby without seeing it can you? If I decided on the name Lachonious, and the kid looked like a Philip, then I have just created a lifetime of problems for the poor kid, right?

Eli: Growing up so fast. I was concerned for a while about his speech, he had such issues with most of the consonants.

In the last few weeks he has made huge leaps and bounds and is speaking very well now. A friend of a friend (you know who you are Kellie), gave me a few pointers to help develop his speaking, which I tried, and they worked great. Since then he has been picking up on the correct pronunciation very well.

Tierra: Loves skiing. We have been twice. I plan to take her this week sometime as well. She doesn't like turning as much, because she likes to go fast. I try and try to get her to practice some turns. Gotta keep working on it with her.

One thing that can go under the list for excuse number three, is that I recently redid Tierra's bedroom. Paint job, chair rail. Total makeover. Tierra was asking for a princess room for quite a while, so its finally done.

Rebecca: Pregnant to the max. Waiting to be unpregnant. Anxious, excited, tired, etc all at once. Can't remember if we mentioned it already, and I am too lazy to read over the last post so this may be a repeat, but she was released from Primary after being there for more than 5 years. She was called into the Young Women's to be the personal progress leader. She was sad to leave primary. She seems to like her new calling. She also loves her book club activities with the crazy women of the neighborhood. She is also very glad that all of her shows are back on. She loves watching Bachelor, Lost, American Idol, etc. She loves talking about it with the women of book club that also watch all these shows.

Me: I have a little commentary for Bachelor. I think I know what I hate about it. Granted, my lifetime viewing amounts to about a total of 25 minutes, so I am definitely not an authority on the subject, but I have been working on my general opinion towards everything for 33.5 years now, so that is valid enough for me... so here it is. The bachelor show creates this opportunity for some lucky guy ( I call him lucky because he is single, low morals, with 30 mostly attractive women throwing themselves at him, and he has little consequences to do whatever he wants--granted I am taking all morals and beliefs out of the picture), to be fake and have all this money to do whatever he wants for the day. He gets to go on these super dates, sometimes with several of them, and its all paid for by television. So women love it because they see this thoughtful guy, who takes all the women out on these extravagant dates, and is so romantic, blah blah blah. To the men readers of my blog: Our wives are comparing us to this guy and saying we need work. Well, if NBC was paying for my date, I would fly to Venice weekly. Anyhow, that's my take.

I am happy to be back in the stations. It is nice to have so much time off to get things done, like Tierra's room. I have caught up on my Xbox'ing, have been able to start my plans for my yard for this year, and have made lists of projects to start up around the house. I got my taxes done yesterday. A lot of standard things for me. That's okay with me. I am excited for baseball season, both to watch the games and to hopefully get a few more stadiums checked off my list this year. I have been skiing a lot. Having a season pass makes it easier for sure.

So there you go. That's our story. Enjoy the pictures. Enjoy the words, comment, email, or update your own blogs in response.

2009? Are you sure?

2009-01-07T13:57:00.011-07:00

Our Christmas was just as busy as the rest of yours. We had fun, like always, seeing everyone. The heavy snowfall Christmas day did limit our traveling, which can be a blessing in disguise sometimes. So it's done, gone, over and we move on, another year here. One good thing about this year, Christmas is already paid for...no Credit Card use this year! Woo Hoo.

Dave and Kristin (Rebecca's sis and husband) came to visit over Christmas from Buffalo NY. They stayed at our house for a night and the kids loved it. That morning they all decided to do 8 minute abs. Rebecca says they only lasted for half! Ha ha. Just kidding. She didn't say that. Tierra joined them though. Check the photo.

Back to life then huh? As Rebecca mentioned in the Christmas update, I am back in the fire station. Love it. I am happy to be done with my office assignment and back fighting fire. Protecting lives and property is much more fun than facilitating classes and community relation stuff. It was not a bad job, just hard for me to be away from the "dirty work." I like to be out on the "streets" helping. I spent 22.5 months in the office. I have a total of 9 years with the department, and I honestly feel like I have spent more time in the office than in the stations. My station is in Taylorsville across from the Community College. It is a smaller station, but pretty busy. We average about 6-8 emergency calls in a 24 hour period. The crew is a good crew and I get along with them all well. I am now on an ambulance. Our department is phasing in the ambulances and slowly phasing out the private ambulance company we have used since 1983. I won't get into the ins and outs. Suffice it to say I am on an ambulance. Our station runs as a "company," meaning the engine and ambulance go everywhere together. I love being back on the 48 hour shifts. I feel like I have so much more time off now to get projects done.

Rebecca loves the new schedule as well. I think because I am more pleasant and easier to get along with because I am excited to go to work again, and love my job. For the last two years I have not loved my job, just liked it. Rebecca is still doing okay with the pregnancy. Like every pregnant woman, she can not wait to get the baby here. She says she came up a little short on the 52 books goal. I think she is full of crap. She is excited for her shows to start up again as well. Lost, Bachelor, 24, every dancing show, and American Idol, plus at least 15 more according to me.

Tierra is getting to that age where she is interested in everything and parents just sit and watch their finances dwindle into dance clothes, lessons, shoes, outfits, etc. On a happy note, I took her skiing yesterday for her first time ever and she loved it. I put her in lessons for the day at Snowbird. The instructor called her a natural. I know they do not say that to all parents because I was standing behind the guy who had a son in the class as well, and the instructor did not say near the nice things she told me. I feel bad for the parent behind me that may or may not have received such praise. Tierra starts a dance class this week as well. Tierra loved it when her Uncle Dave did some swing dancing with her. She loves drawing and is quite good. She gives Rebecca and me at least 10 pictures every day. We have had to tell he we only want the very best ones to keep now. I just do not have the storage space for all these pictures.

Eli is growing up seemingly fast. My kids, overall, seem to grow up fast, but it seems lately I have been doing things with Eli and realized, "Whoa, he's old enough to do that now?" It may seem insignificant, but he was working the remote pretty well to the TV the other day when one of these occurrences hit me. Eli loves trains. Our friends, the Robinson's (same ones from previous posts-ie: Disneyland, NY trip, etc) have a train set that he loves to play with. Anytime their name is mentioned Eli asks to go play with the train at their house. It entertains him for hours. Eli also loves playing guitar. He loves to play with his Uncle Scott, who really plays guitar. His main love though, it seems, is music. He has several CD's that he listens to non stop. He knows the words and sings along. If you interrupt him he starts the song over to hear it again. He sits in his room for hours listening and reading books. Sometimes he throws in the actions to certain songs. It cracks me up. He loves to vaccum. The other day he vaccumed almost the entire house. You can't see it very well, but one of the pictures is when we told the kids to go out in the snow Christmas night. They dared me to do it first with no coat on. So I did, did a face dive, and made a snow angel, then they both wanted to do it, so we let them. When Eli got back inside and was cold he got mad at us and yelled,"why did you make me go out in the cold!?"

And that's about it. We were happy to see the Utes complete an undefeated season. We look forward to the adventures of 2009. I can't wait for this years baseball trips!

Christmas Update (Year in Review)!

2008-12-09T20:36:00.006-07:00

Merry Christmas! For your holiday enjoyment, we present a year in the life of the Simons' family.

Chad has been spoiled this year with all his Major League Baseball games he's been able to attend. The list includes NY Mets, Washington Nationals, LA Dodgers and NY Yankees. He also got a NY Giants game in there for good measure. Seriously, isn't his wife so good to him to let him go? Doesn't she deserve a vacation to Hawaii? Sadly, Chad won't be able to go to the Sugar Bowl to watch the Utes in January because airfare to New Orleans is ridiculously over priced.

Chad's excited to be back working in the fire station starting December 16th. His new fire "home" will be Station 117 in Taylorsville. He's also still serving as Scoutmaster, which means he gets to do lots of fun stuff like white water rafting, white water canoeing, and high adventure camps.

By now you've probably figured out this is not a Chad update. Surprise! It's Rebecca writing. I'm wishing it was already March. Why, you ask? Because then I won't be pregnant anymore! The little parasite (or bundle of joy, whichever you prefer) is expected to make his/her appearance sometime around March 9th. We all prefer sooner rather then later.

I'm sure you're all curious as to whether I met my 52 books in 52 weeks goal. Sadly, I haven't...yet. But I still have the rest of the month so I better get reading. I'm about 10 books shy of my goal. Poor Chad is not going to get a home cooked meal or a clean house til January.

Another sad development in my life is that I was released from the Primary Presidency. I have been in the primary for nearly 6 years so it was a rough day for me. Now I have to act my age and go to Sunday School with all the grown ups. The good thing is my new calling is YW Personal Progress leader so I get to go to young women's.

Tierra is enjoying preschool, primary and any other social activity she can participate in. She is a very social 5-year-old and loves being on the go. Her current hobby is drawing, which is evidenced by the stacks and stacks of drawings lying around the house. She goes through dozens of sheets of paper every day. She is single handedly destroying the world's tree population. To her credit she is really quite good.

Tierra is very excited to have a new baby in the house. She adores babies and I know she will be a wonderful big sister to the new baby. She's a great helper around the house. Recently she has been doing "secret" service for everyone in the family. My personal favorite was when she made our bed. How great is that?

Eli is a little rug rat. Most days I can't decide if I want to beat him or smother him with hugs and kisses. I'm a sucker for his little boy cuteness so I usually choose the latter. He definitely knows how to get what he wants, the little momma's boy.

Unlike Tierra, Eli is a home body. His idea of a good time is sitting in his room singing to his radio. His current play list includes Disneyland songs, Chipmunks Christmas, Frank Sinatra and As Sisters in Zion (the last two came with the radio). He also likes to annoy Tierra as much as possible. That's what little brothers are for, right?

Did I mention Eli is 3-years-old? This means he will be going to primary in January, which he's excited about. He loves anything that has to do with Pirates, firefighters or Mickey Mouse. His bedroom is a mix of all three.

2008 has been great. The Disneyland trip tally for the year is 2, so you can see we're not COMPLETELY obsessed. We hope more great things await us in 2009. Our little family of 4 will soon be a little family of 5. Wow. That's not so little anymore!

Thank you family and friends for all your love and friendship. Our lives wouldn't be nearly as great without all of you. We wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Almost The Griswalds

2008-12-04T19:59:00.008-07:00

Last week, for the first time ever, we decided to go with some friends from the neighborhood to cut down our own Christmas tree. The Erickson's do it every year, so we decided it may be fun to try. We didn't know the roads were going to be the worst roads ever, and we didn't know that the other car in our caravan would spin a 360 each direction and spin off the road, barely avoiding a roll over. We didn't know that even in four wheel drive we would slip all over the road on the way up to get the tree. We did know that the KFC lunch would taste good, and despite all this, we had a fun time. Here are a few pictures of the process. From Forest to living room.

The second picture is the whole group that went, minus me because I am taking the photo.

So we got the tree home, decorated it, and there weren't even any stow away squirrels. (I love that movie!) And of course the kids have to have a funny pose! But I am throwing a cute one in too. No I did not just use the word cute.

And I like the picture of Eli trying to climb up the snowy hillside.

So enjoy. Not many words, just pictures. We will be posting a Christmas Update soon, a year in review if you will, and I am even going to try my best to get Rebecca to write it!

I Forgot to Add These Pictures

2008-11-26T20:16:00.005-07:00

These two pictures are oldies that have been requested by family to see again. One is when we thought we lost Tierra. She was nowhere to be found, our garage door was open, and it had been a few minutes since we had seen her. We didn't even see her in the toys, sleeping. The second picture was in the winter when Tierra had gotten herself ready to go for the day. Enjoy. Happy Thanksgiving. I also wanted to put one in of Eli when he was younger so you can compare him to Jaden, who is being held by Tierra in the picture in the other post. Wow! I think they really look alike.

PS- we got started on our He Said She Said blog thing. It is linked in our links. This will develop as we find our ideas materialize, but we wanted to get started and see what happens. Please comment like crazy so we can see what comes of it!

Nothing New

2008-11-25T18:57:00.017-07:00

What a great year so far for us Utah fans huh? I have to admit, I didn't think they could beat the Y. Perhaps if Hall had a better game it would have been a little closer? Anyway, someone in my neighborhood, and I have a pretty good idea who, decorated my front yard this year. This may be retribution for the times I have spray painted "U's" on their lawns? Who knows. At any rate, my yard was tagged. It provided me the opportunity to offer up burnt sacrifices prior to the game. I also had the "last laugh" by giving the suspected person my game ticket stub with the final score written on it at church the next morning. Our ward had a little football game breakfast that morning, and we were instructed to dress up in the color of the team we cheer for. I went a little overboard. I hesitate sharing these pictures, but enjoy.

A few weeks ago, at the end of September, I got in a little fender bender coming home from work, in my work truck. Minor, no injuries. Another driver tried turning left in front of me. I tried to miss her, but clipped the rear of her car. Minor damage and denting was done to both cars. West Jordan police cited her for failure to yield. As soon as she got the ticket, she tried to change her story and say that I had run the red light. I didn't. So today was the court case because she decided to fight it. I had to go in as a witness for the prosecution. I wish court was more like Night Court, but it wasn't. This was my first time in court for any reason. Anyway, so she defended herself. Her case was that I started in the right hand turn lane and then swerved over to go straight at the last minute. She also said that I must have been in a hurry because she heard me call someone and tell them I was going to be late. That someone was Rebecca because we were going to go to dinner with friends when I got home. Then the Prosecutor calls me back on the stand-I had already given my story prior to her arguments-to clarify what lane I was in. I told him I was not in the right hand turn lane because I live up the street, not only that but I come home that way everyday, so there was not confusion on my part. Anyway, the judge upholds her guilt. As she is leaving the courtroom she says to me, "Thanks a lot CHAD!" As if she knows me personally. Her tone made both me and the West Jordan officer laugh. In all honesty, I feel bad for her. She couldn't be more than 10 minutes past 16, and when the judge handed her the fine, he asked if she wanted to add it to the other fine and continue making payments. So, apparently she is a seasoned court attendee. I almost felt bad enough to just go pay her fine for her, because it was only about 110 bucks, but then I worried that may be a sign of admitting guilt or something stupid, so I just left laughing. On top of that, she is dressed in denim jeans with a hole, and not a hole from being old, but one of those stylish holes, you know? So that's my story. See, Night Court was a much more entertaining court to be arraigned in!

I also forgot to defend myself in earlier posts about proving I am more of a morning person than I ever was. Again, I remember my college days. I remember setting my alarm for 7 am and waking up at 3 pm with it still buzzing. I remember missing classes to sleep. I remember coming home from skiing 2 days in a row and sleeping for 27 consecutive hours. That is why I am amazed just like you that I am able to get up twice a week and go to the gym at 5:30 am. Dead serious. I have been doing a cycling class at that time. I wake the roosters up on my way over. It is so early, I have wondered if it would be easier for me to just stay up until 5:30 am, and sleep when I get home? So to those of you that new me well enough in high school and college, be proud of me for being able to do this okay?

The fourth picture is from the Simons family Thanksgiving that we had the other night. Simons family Thanksgivings are the best. Never mind that there is enough food for everyone to have 5 helpings, but the food is just amazing. My aunts, sister-in-laws, wife, mom, etc can all cook so good. It is also good to hang out with everyone. I rarely see my extended family, so I enjoy it when we all get together. The picture is of a few playing Scrabble. My Uncle Lin, who is our most dedicated blog follower (his comments always come via personal email), asked that I include stuff about the relatives once in a while...so there you go. I didn't get everyone, but most. Here's another picture from the party. That's Eli and his cousin Jenna (Doug's daughter) coloring. The next one is Tierra holding Jaden, Spencer's Son, while sitting on my Aunt Suzanne's lap. So there you go, I have exploited my extended family members.

As far as a quick family update: Rebecca got released from Primary after about 6 1/2 years. She was pretty sad to go. She was subsequently called into Young Women's at the same time. She is excited for her new calling. She was called as the personal progress person thingy. She is doing really good in her pregnancy stuff as well. Her garden is dead, probably due to cold weather, but there could be other factors there as well, I am still investigating. J/K.

Tierra is rumbling through preschool. She loves it. She is way too social. It is scary. She is excited for the many Holidays coming our way. She loves to draw. Almost too much. She is getting better at drawing on the papers we give her and not the toys, walls, or important documents. Instead of throwing papers in the garbage at work, I bring them home for her scratch paper. She rips through these like nothing. She gives most of them to us to keep forever, which is cute and awesome, but there are so many it gets hard to find places for them.

Eli is also in preschool and loves it. He is also a morning person. He wakes up so early every morning and asks for breakfast. Sometimes it is on weekends when we want to sleep in a little later than he does and it gets rough. This morning he woke up at about 3:30 asking for breakfast. He still loves watching movies and sings almost the entire Aristocats song. He has developed a little habit of combining lyrics from two different songs and laughing at himself. He tells me all the time that "only cats know where its at."

So there is a quick little bit about us.

Dithered Ramblings

2008-11-12T16:43:00.016-07:00

Here is the 4th photo in my 4th photo folder, as commanded by Smed, in her blog. It goes way back about 18 months ago. The kids are flashing some of their temporary tattoos. I have two photo folders, and did not want to tempt the tagging demons by not following the rules to the "t", so the other photo is one I recently scanned in, of Eli and me hanging out with Snow White. The rule was I had to post the fourth photo in my fourth photo folder in my photos folder. Is that clear as mud? Anyway. Yeah. The white space around the top and right of the Snow White photo bugs me, does it bug you?

I am going to use this post to respond to many comments and other email questions I receive from you all, so enjoy. First off, the much asked for list from My brother Danny of the five best things he spent ten bucks on while we took our trip to Yankee Stadium and New York. Thanks Boz for playing along... Here it goes (again in no specific order to my knowledge):

1- He bought a bunch of shirts he calls the 'I heart NY' shirts.This was a good spend according to him because all his 'not-so-good-friends' asked for souvenirs, and these were perfect for that. Cheap, easy to pack away, and all over the place. He bought good souvenirs for his good friends.

2- He spent a total of 10 bucks on Jamba Juices, specifically the Caribbean Passion flavor, which I told him to get, and loved them.

3- Two foot long hot dogs from Yankee Stadium. He adds that they were way better than Baseball's famous 'Dodger Dog' from Dodger Stadium.

4- His words, "The mashed potatoes slash mahi mahi covered in what tasted like the greatest cheese sauce ever ( it was actuall like $18 oh well)." That was from Bubba Gumps Shrimp Factory.

5- Finally, the huge piece of Cheesecake we all bought from a place I can't recall the name of. Maybe those of you that went can help me remember the name...Danny says it was so big it must have been on steroids. I have to agree with him, the 10 dollar cheesecake was definitely a highlight. The picture only shows a couple of the flavors they had to offer. A side note I have to throw in: Danny went to the bathroom after eating a few bites of his cheesecake. We did the junior high thing where you hide his plate from him before he gets back. Then he gets back and sits down and says, "who's hiding my cheesecake." We replied that the waiter had cleared his plate. He laughed and said, no really, who has it? We took the joke way too far so he was convinced the waiter had taken his 10 dollar piece of cheesecake before he was able to finish eating it. He started to get so mad, it was funny to us. Then the culprit gave in and handed him back his cheesecake. I realize that this story is funny only to those of us who were there, and the rest of you think it was a pretty childish game. Sue me.

The other day I volunteered for the service assignment for our ward at the church dairy downtown-aren't I a good guy. Anyway, that's not the point...the point is my assignment could not be more cliche': I was assigned for 4 hours to pack green jello boxes into cartons for shipping. On my break I went looking for the carrot machine. I laughed to myself several times. Seriously, Green Jello? That fits every stereotype there is. While I was there I asked several people if I was going to receive blessings based on the number of boxes I packed, the number of pallets completed for the day, or if this was post payment for blessings already received. None of the church service missionaries could answer my question.

Rebecca has been busy with Primary functions lately. The primary program for one. She is doing very well in her pregnancy. The medication she takes seems to help her a ton. She is managing to eat much better than the previous episodes, and is pretty active. She gets tired and sick, but again, much better with this child. She had her ultra sound and all seems to be well. We have no idea the sex of the child, respecting its privacy remember?

I can't think of anything out of the usual for the kids. They are very into movies lately. They loved Halloween. Tierra was scared to death of a fake Werewolf at our friends house. Our friends, the Hiltons (Not Paris and her sister), go all out for Halloween and decorate their yard extensively. The werewolf man from one of the horror classics scared Tierra.

And here you go: the car we purchased: My Grandpa Simons died a couple of months ago, and this was his car. We decided to buy it. It was well cared for and low miles, and a little lower than if we had bought from a dealer. It will fit 3 car seats, has some extra cargo space, and is not a mini van. There you go: let the suspense end. It is a 2004 Nissan Pathfinder. I call it the 'PF.' We drove it to California on our last trip and it worked just fine. Hopefully I didn't forget to address anything anyone was wondering about. If I did, I'll catch up next time. Rebecca and I are going to do the blog idea discussed last time as well, so watch for that soon.

Oops, We Did It Again

2008-10-23T22:51:00.018-06:00

Yep, you guessed it, we went to a Britney Spears concert. Haha. I wish. At least I wish maybe 5 years ago when she was still normal and hot. Note to my friends that can not keep up by way of disclaimer: We did not really go to a Britney Spears concert. We went to......wait for it.......DISNEYLAND.

So this post is going to be unique. See, I want to keep with tradition and write about everyone in the family, but I also have a lot of pictures to mix in, and I am going to break down and respond to those dumb blogger tag things, sort of. So this is going to all be mixed into one long entry. Also, be sure to read the whole thing, because I am going to bounce an idea off of you guys for input. So this post is going to require that you comment back to us, that your advice be truly heard. Ok. So here it goes.

Yeah, a week in Disneyland goes by way too fast. We have such a ritual now. Drive down. Stop in Vegas for lunch at In-N-Out Burger. I love the place. So does the rest of the family. From there we cruise on into Anaheim. From there, its a week long mix of Disneyland and the Beach. We always eat at the Blue Bayou Restaurant while there. That's the restaurant that you see when you ride Pirates. It's claim is that they have the best Monte Cristo Sandwich ever. The food is good, but most of all the atmosphere is just so fun. Our time in Disneyland is spent everywhere. We go on Pirates of the Caribbean the most. My favorite ride is Thunder Mountain Railroad, as is Tierra's. I also enjoy the Halloween version of the Haunted Mansion because they make it like the Nightmare Before Christmas. It's such a great movie, so why not make it a theme ride? Right? Our kids may be on the verge of spoiled, because their behavior sure has not warranted a trip to Disneyland lately. We love to go, so our kids reap the beni's of having parents that love the place.

Ok, for the first tag thingy... 6 quirky things about me, I am suppose to share 6 unspectacular things about me...I think Rebecca would be better at this, but she has already gone to bed,so here it goes:

1-No matter what time I have set to get up, I have to push snooze at least a few times. I don't know what it is. I just can't crawl out of bed at first alarm. (Exception to this rule: while working in the fire station, obviously I suppose.) This said, believe it or not, I am more a morning person now than I ever have been. I know, college roommates and friends are calling me on this one, seriously though. I don't know what or when it happened. Anyway, number 1 is I must snooze.

2- I always read the last page of whatever book first. I don't know why or where I picked up this habit. I just like the foreshadowing. Let's be honest, there are not many books that all culminate on the last page anyway, so it really doesn't reveal much. Except once, when it was a farewell of sorts to a guy that ended up being the main character. I got over it though. I can't even remember what book it was. When I say the last page, I honestly mean the last page. Whether it be the whole page or a paragraph. I never read the second to last page, except when I get there naturally in the book.

3. Wearing socks with sandals. Not just myself, but anyone who does this. Seriously, it just doesn't work if you are over the age of 12 okay? Need I say more. I am not the guy to ask, but I am sure it breaks some fashion rule as well.

4. Drivers in front of emergency vehicles, especially when I am driving. Seriously people, pull to the right. Is it that hard? At a very minimum, stop, right where you are, it doesn't matter. That would be better than what 90 percent of you do...try to beat us to that next turn, or pull to the left. Let's think logically here for a minute... I am driving a twelve thousand pound plus large vehicle, you are in a Yugo...who would win this collision war? The lug nut rule alone smokes you. Did everyone skip the day in drivers ed when this was taught? It really is not that hard. Seriously.

5. The guys at the gym that feel it necessary to grunt at the top of their lungs, and the guys that walk around sucking on their protein shakes while they are there. We get it, your a gym freak, okay? Is the protein shake really necessary at that moment in time. You just couldn't wait to be done and in your car, you must have it between sets that you grunt during right? And the grunt...does it make it a better work out if you exude loudness? If you have to grunt and moan, maybe take a plate or two off the bar and add a rep? I am not a personal trainer, but I can't recall a time when grunting has been necessary. I will give a pass to the guys that have one slip out once in a while, because I understand that happens, but each rep should not need a grunt. Stop grunting and eat your shake. Geez.

6. My clothes have to come out of the dryer right when the dryer finishes. It saves me having to IRON them, and I love the warm clothes feeling as I put them away. This means Rebecca has been banned from doing my laundry. (Aren't I an amazing husband for doing my own?!) It drives me absolutely crazy when clothes are left in the dryer. Especially my uniform shirts that need to look somewhat decent and not wrinkled. If you pull them out right when the dryer finishes, they have this self ironing feature that is awesome. If left in, they wrinkle and you have to either iron them, or do what I do and get them wet again and re-dry them. Laziness knows no bounds when it comes to irons. So those are my quirks. I am sure Rebecca's list for my quirks are different. Ask her, see what she says. Oh, and I am not tagging anyone, nope, I am breaking the blog tag right here.

So what else? We sold our car and bought a new car. New to us. If I think about it I will take pictures of it and put them on the next entry in a few weeks. Until then, I will save the suspense for next time. I held true to my no mini-van vows. That's all I will say for now. Most of you know what the car is anyway because you have seen it, but for those who don't...this waiting is for you.

The pregnancy is going great for me. For Rebecca, not great, but okay. She has really learned how to manage it and control her sick feelings. She has days that are better than others, but for the most part, from my point of view, this one is the best of the three.

Oh yeah, more about Disneyland...while there, I saw the actor that played Ned Ryerson. It was awesome. He looked exactly the same. I wanted to run up an yell NED RYERSON! I didn't. I also got my picture taken with the famous actress from the movie "Fear of Clowns." If Rebecca's friend that took the picture emails me a copy, I will put it on here. We hung out with Rebecca's old roommate from Virginia for half of a day. It was her first time ever in Disneyland and she is 30 something. Poor girl. She didn't want her picture to be put in the blog, but it's going in. She's the one in the Dumbo with Rebecca. This is a lot more pictures than we usually include, but what the heck, its a long post and I know most of you only look quickly at the pictures anyway.

Next tag thing...7 things or something like that...
7 things I can do
I can ride a unicycle
I can Juggle
I can stay up late blogging
I can sing the rap part on Groove is in the Heart by Deeelight. (it took me hours to memorize it in 10th grade, but I have never forgotten it!)
I can eat In-N-Out Burger every day if it were closer
I can crawl through a building that's on fire
I can, that's it "I can"

7 things I can't do

I can't get into music on blogs...sorry for those that do it.

I can't sing

I can't wait to ski this year

I can't juggle and ride a unicycle at the same time. I tried, it hurt me.

I can't snowboard

I can't breathe underwater-but I wish I could

I can't stand people that use the phrase "Back in the day..." when they are younger than me.

7 things that attracted me to Rebecca (I am assuming I put my own spouse in here right Angie, or did you want me to talk about Jared as well?):

She loved to travel

She loved to cook

She laughed at my dumb jokes...honestly I know they are dumb, I don't care.

She talked back to my crap I dished

She liked to watch sports

Did I already say she could cook?

She is smarter than me.

7 things I say most often
Clean up those toys
"Weird"
"Are you kidding me?"
"Seriously?"
Rebecca will you go get the mail?
Whats for Dinner
??????????

7 celebrities I admire: ( I chose these because mostly they are all hot, except for Ted Nugent, he's just cool- in all honesty, I have very little respect for celebrities)

Ted Nugent

Kate Beckensale

Jessica Alba

Hayden Panitterie (it's ok since she is 18 now)

Meg Ryan- Iknow she's 40 plus, but c'mon!

Alisha Silverstone

The girl from Fear of Clowns- Jacky Something

Ned Ryerson, ok, that's 8 I know, but I love Ned Ryerson now that he goes to Disneyland

7 Favorite foods
Roast
Smashed Potatoes
Homemade Rolls
Homemade Sweet Rolls
PB and J toast
Philly Cheesesteak Sandwiches
Hot Dogs at baseball games

There, I did it. Again, no one is tagged, unless you are the person that never got picked in gym class, I pick, er tag, you! Go for it dude!

Now for the idea I want to bounce off of you guys....Oh, I am not updating each of us, I will do that later this week or next. Ok, the idea. Rebecca and I both love to write. Ever since we have known each other Rebecca's mom has told us we should do a magazine, or a book or something. For a long time she has told us to do a "He Said, She Said" thing where we both offer our opinions and points of view on varying topics. So I came up with an idea to do a separate blog with this in mind. My question is, what do you think? And if you think we should give it a try, what would you want us to sound off on? Just some thoughts, so leave us a comment and let us know.

Happy Halloween Everyone.

Latest and Greatest (Info that is)

2008-09-28T19:12:00.028-06:00

It seems like I need to get some info on here for you all, but I am sad to say that there really isn't much going on. I will try though. Be warned that there are not many new pictures, just different ones that were taken throughout the summer, OK? Don't worry though, there will be a new update worth reading in just a couple weeks as we have some big plans. That is all I am saying about that.

As for a quick little update from us anyway: we are doing swell. As always, and to repeat the cliche that everyone says, Summer flew by. I always wonder about such a comment. We all know that by the time September is over that looking back will make it seem like Summer flew by. Why do we even bother to comment? If anyone reading thinks that summer just creeped past and took too long, please comment immediately, I would love to hear about it. I really doubt I get any takers because as I said, Summer flew by. Well, so did 2005, but that's another story. Anyway, from youngest to oldest, here it goes:

Unnamed third child: If pregnancies were sporting events, I guess it would be halftime right now. Growing child seems to be doing well. We will have the ultrasound in late October, but Rebecca has conceded my position to respect the kids privacy and we will not find out whether it is to be male or female.

Eli: Becoming a little smart alleck. I know, it runs in the family. Eli loves the movie Aristocats. To the point where he sings the soundtrack regularly. He cracks me up. He has such a high voice and has a hard time with several consonants (he pronounces them as "H's".) His speaking needs a translator. We are going to look into surgery for him. He is what they call "tongue tied," which may be why he has such a hard time with consonants and why bread gets stuck on the roof of his mouth. He has a girl in the ward he calls his girlfriend. She's 16. He goes back and forth between her and Snow White. He can't pick a favorite yet. He also has a radio/CD player in his room now and he spends considerable amounts of time listening to the Primary songs on CD. He loves to sing, but it is pretty entertaining with his above mentioned speech issues.

Tierra: Has severe reactions to mosquito bites. The poor thing. She swells up huge with each bite. I feel so bad for her. The flying leaches have a radar for her too. The other night I didn't even notice any outside, but the next day Tierra had 3 huge bites, one on her lip. She looked like she had gone a few rounds with Ivan Drago (see Rocky 4 or Dolph Lundgren). Tierra has a new found love for one of my favorite older cartoons: Fraggle Rock. We have been getting the DVD's for her to watch. She also turned 5 mid September. She missed the school cutoff and is doing another year of preschool, which she absolutely loves. She is so excited each of the days she gets to go. She draws pictures like crazy. I bring home the papers I would typically throw away from work and she uses the backs of them as her easel and draws everything you could imagine. She is a very good artist. She is also taking an interest in how to spell words and asks all the time how to write them down.

Rebecca: Doing pretty good with the pregnancy stuff. The second trimester is typically the best time for her as far as being sick goes. She has been feeling pretty good. She has her down days, but they are less than usual. She still gets pretty tired. She participates in the ward dinner group. A group of women from the ward get together and pre-make a few weeks worth of dinners. Rebecca loves this, because all she has to do for dinner is turn on the oven. I will refrain from any comments but if anyone cares to know my opinion, email me. Primary stuff still takes up a lot of her time. She loves her calling. She went with me to the University of Utah game the other night and had a good time. We both also went to Cyprus' Homecoming game. She enjoys going to sporting events, so that works good for me! Her garden project turned out pretty successful. It has provided tons of tomatoes, a few cucumbers, some green peppers, some hot peppers, some beans, and some small corn, very small corn. The tomatillos still have not yielded anything!

Me: I took a quick trip with my Brother Danny and my friend Jason last week to Los Angeles. I flew down for the day to see the LA Dodgers play. My baseball fever is still spiking and demands attention. We flew in Tuesday morning, hung out at Huntington Beach all day and then went to the game. It was a blast. We flew home early the next morning and I was back at work that morning. I want to see a baseball game at every major league stadium. I am still Scoutmaster. Not much to say about that. Work has been very busy lately, so any quick vacation is well worth it. Rebecca is great to let me go so much!

I did get the list from my Brother of the 5 worst things that cost him 10 dollars in New York, since so many have asked: These are not in any order, and may need some explaining, so if it doesn't make sense or you want more info, email me.

1- Corn Rows. He let a large Jamaican lady talk him into getting cornrows in his head. He stopped her when he found out they were three bucks a piece, and had to pay 10 bucks for the 3 he received. (He told her to keep the dollar.)

2-Supa-Visa (ebonic version of supervisor) CD. A guy walked up to Danny and told him he needed to hear his CD. He thrust it at him and said he needed a small donation for it. Danny told him all he had was a dollar, and they guy said OK, but he accidentally pulled out a 10, the guy snagged it quick, said thanks, and gave Danny "the worst thing anyone has called music ever." (his words)

3-Curry. I talked him into getting a chicken curry dinner (which I love), but he wasn't too fond of it, and the 10 dollars was spent on the worst food he has ever had-according to him.

4-A mesh hat that says New York on it. We were walking near Central Park and a guy starts tossing us hats. He says they are free, if we make a donation. The guy was annoyingly persistent and Danny gave him 10 bucks for the hat just to shut him up.

5-A Delivery charge. We were charged 10 dollars for a food delivery. Even though the advertisement said free delivery. New Yorkers thrive on false advertising.

So what I thought would be a short update actually turned into a little bit of longer entry. Hope you enjoy it. Here is a rundown/explanation of pictures:#1- the kids on the back deck sometime this past summer,Tierra in Sleeping Beauty Dress. #2 Eli taking a break on his Tricycle for a picture. #3 Tierra playing in the water at a barbecue. #4 Danny and me at the Dodgers game last week, #5- Danny's 10 dollar cornrows.

Baseball Fever

2008-08-24T21:29:00.009-06:00

This post is all about me. I just got back from a sweet weekend trip! Being the huge baseball fan that I am, I felt I had to get back east to see a baseball game at historical Yankee Stadium. For those out of the loop ie-not into sports, this is the last year that Yankee Stadium will be used, they are tearing it down to make room for a newer, larger, more extravagant stadium. Yankee Stadium is full of history. The house that Ruth built! As in Babe Ruth. It's been the home of the Yankees since the 1920's. Anyway, last Saturday, I did it. I went with my brother Danny, two guys from the Young Men's Presidency, and a couple of their friends. There was 6 of us total. We had a blast. We saw the Yankees play on, eh-hem, Sunday, the New York Giants (football) play on Monday, and the New York Mets played on Tuesday. The Yankees game was a blast. We had awesome seats on field level in Left Field, just a few rows back. We saw a grand slam, several home runs, and a great offensive game. I am not even a Yankees fan, though after seeing a game in their own stadium makes it more enjoyable to watch them. The stadium was in the Bronx, a bad part of town, in a rough neighborhood that is run down and dirty. But there it stands, right off the subway stop, majestic, historical Yankee Stadium. The Giants game was awesome as well. It was only preseason, but still a blast. That was my first NFL game. The Mets game was pretty fun too. When not traveling to games, we saw all the sites New York City had to offer. Times Square, Wall Street, Subways, City Hall, Brooklyn Bridge, Statue of Liberty, WTC site, WTC memorial, Empire State Building, Carnegie Hall, and Central Park to name a few. We even saw the old church that The Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man crushes in Ghostbusters. We had so much fun, those of you that know Danny need to ask him about his corn row hairdo. The pictures from top to bottom are the group of us in Times Square, a wide angle shot of Yankee Stadium, and me with Yankee Stadium behind me. That last picture was taken from our seats so you can see how good we had it. I will post a few more pictures on here on the next post, but that's that. Awesome trip. Ask me about it sometime. And ask Danny about his list of the top 5 worst things he spent 10 bucks on while there. It's quite entertaining.

To Our 14 Readers:

2008-08-07T22:41:00.011-06:00

Rebecca is pregnant. There, I said it, its out there, enjoy! We have a rough due date of early March. So with this tidbit of information, we need everyone's help (all 14 of you!) The current vehicle we have is going to be too small. We are curious what all of you, that have three car seats or more to tote around, are driving. Good or bad, give us the lowdown. There are however, some conditions. I absolutely refuse to drive a minivan. No offense to those that drive them, I am sure they are great vehicles, I just can't do it. Something in my genes I think. Any other cars, trucks, motorcycles, scooters-okay you are right, no scooters!- apply here. We will have three kids in car seats and need something that will work for us. Granted, we have some ideas, but really want to hear from you guys. What else can I update you on about Rebecca? Oh yes, another thing relating to being pregnant, we will not have any pregnancy tickers or fetal photos placed on the blog, again, no offense to those that do it, but don't expect it from us, okay? It just kind of creeps me out.

Rebecca finished the new Mormon Vampire book in about 1.75 days. It is sometimes annoying how she can't put any book down for 5 minutes. Remember that she is on a quest to read 52 books in 52 weeks, well, I am guessing she will have double that done-but we will see. Her garden is growing awesome. We have enjoyed a couple of grape tomatoes from it, as well as a cucumber. No pictures this time. I forgot to take some current ones. Instead, here is a picture of her at a recent Bees baseball game with some friends of ours, the Robinson's, and the Jensen's are back behind Rebecca who is square in the middle. (The Picture is up higher!)

Speaking of baseball, I am so excited because our kids finally made it through an entire game and actually had a good time. I am a huge baseball fan, to those that can't guess that on their own. Another cool thing about this that makes Daddy proud, is that one of the bedtime songs my children love to sing now before going to bed is now "Take Me Out To The Ballgame." One of the two songs you will hear me sing in public. (The other being the National Anthem.)

Ok, the kids: Tierra first I guess. Did I already mention she took swimming lessons this summer? If not, she did. She had a blast. She took level one and passed easily and took level two and didn't pass. This is a good thing because they are actually very strict with their requirements. Granted it is not Navy Seal Training, but at least I know she will get something out of the time and money it takes to get her there. I am not exactly sure what she lacked in level two, but we will get her back in sometime. She is excited to start preschool again as well. She misses the kindergarten deadline by two weeks. She turns 5 in mid September. Last night she did sit ups with me, she did about 15 really good sit ups. It was so funny. She was all tight faced, and grunting. The picture is another one of Tierra's poses. All I do is get the camera out and Tierra goes into action.

Eli turned 3 a few weeks back, but I think I already said that. He has really taken to watching movies. He loves watching Baby Einstein movies. He liked Pirates of the Carribean. He watches Disney's Aristocats at least once a day. He likes a lot of the different Disney ones we have as well. He is also quite the copycat. He says everything Tierra does. Right after Tierra asks a question and gets the answer, Eli is right there asking the same question. He sometimes makes me feel like I am living a scene out of Groundhogs Day (All time classic and favorite movie, if you have not seen it, rent it now!) He does the same thing every morning when I get ready for work. Asks the same question everyday, like what I am doing when I put deodorant on? Why do you do that? (comb hair), holds my towel til I get out of the shower,etc. I admit, if it were happening to someone else, I would laugh my butt off. The pictures are of him being cool and him riding the slip and slide at Great Grandma's House.

As for me...busy time at work right now. I have a lot of huge projects going on. Our department participates in every city event or celebration, and as far as the West Battalion goes, it is my job to coordinate, facilitate, organize and schedule. It can become quite a pain in the butt because all of our staffing is done by guys on their off days, and sometimes people just don't want to work their day off, even though they get paid overtime for it. Anyway, that's work for now. I do get some fun things out of it, like last Saturday when we played the Salt Lake County Sheriffs Office in a "friendly" softball game. This was the second annual game. We won last year, so naturally I talked a lot of crap to the guys I know this year. Well, they beat us. Needless to say I have had to eat a lot of crow this week. Even tonight at one of the City Council meetings (I have to attend as part of my job) I got a few jabs. They only beat us 18-17. The included picture is of me about to field a grounder which I am sure led to a cop getting out! If you are interested in seeing all the pictures, go here: http://www.pbase.com/unifiedfire/cops_v_firefighters_08 The pictures are taken by a Captain for our fire department that does it as a hobby. If you need a password to view the pics, email me and I will give it to you, but I think he has removed the password requirement.

Other than that, things are normal. We are doing good. Rebecca is a little sick, but is overall doing better on this pregnancy than the first two. We just got a new Bishop last week, so I have a gut feeling that in the next few weeks, maybe months, both of our callings will change. I have wondered if it is possible to tell them no when they call you in to get released? I want to stay in Scouts a little longer because the boys I have worked with the last 4 years are all very near to getting their Eagle. I want to see that through.

Well, drop us a line and let us know how things are in your neck of the world.

Memory Stuff

2008-07-20T23:10:00.003-06:00

This is something that may be fun to read. It's a memory thing. So what you have to do is leave a comment about a memory you have with Me or Rebecca. Specify in the comment who it is about please!?! This is not a tag or anything like that. Just something fun. Here are the rules, stop whining and play along everyone:

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, then fine.

Because the Fans Demanded....

2008-07-12T20:59:00.021-06:00

I have been ordered to do another blog post by Julia, so because I have learned to cave in to most demands given me by women, I am complying. It has been a busy month for us, well, me at least.

Let's first tell all about Rebecca's stuff. Her Garden is growing. She loves it. She tells me everyday how much she loves it. She loves it so much and tells me so much that I am starting to be jealous of it. She appreciates the cheering on you all are giving her. In all my travels so far this summer, she has been home alone a lot with the kids. At least I think she is alone, if any of you notice a strange truck in the driveway, let me know okay? We are looking forward to getting away and going camping in two weeks. Rebecca is dying to go fishing. She is on a quest to read 52 books in 52 weeks, have I mentioned that before? Anyway, I think she is already on book number 51 because she reads so stinking much. She just told me the number is really 27. And we are not talking short books here, and not books with only pictures either. The above picture is Rebecca and two of my three sister-in-laws. I am sure they are solving life's problems, or maybe just the problems of my brother's and I.

Eli seems to be growing up so fast. He is a pretty well mannered and behaved little boy...in public. At home he has developed quite the habit of talking back and being a snot. He had a blast on the 4th of July at the parades and barbecues. He liked the fireworks at Taylorsville Dayzz. At the family barbecue he got to drive around in a motorized truck and then got to drive Grandpa's riding lawn mower- my grandpa's that is, my dad would never do the riding lawn mower thing because he likes the precision of the push mower. Dad's picky about his lawn and gardens you know. Eli also liked hanging on to the truck when Tierra and cousins were driving. Tierra and Eli have so much fun with their cousins. They also had a blast at a barbecue they came with me to. Rebecca stayed home to host the book club meeting for the neighborhood, the rest of us went to a barbecue at a friend of mine's (from the fire department). Eli took about 5 seconds to find the water. The funny thing is that he snuck over to the pool, without a swimsuit, and jumped in. Tierra did the same. Check these ones out:

Tierra just finished level 1 swimming lessons and is in the middle of level 2. She too had a blast on the fourth. In fact she just saw a couple of the pictures and told me the barbecue was "so cool." She monopolized the truck in the above picture. She loved the control and power. Scares me for the day she gets her drivers license. She loves her swimming lessons, and loves being in the water.

Now me. I have been to Emmitsburg, Maryland twice in the past month for classes. I just got back last night. The classes were for work at the National Fire Acadamy. The classes were okay, the more enjoyable stuff was seeing all the other things in the area. We went to Gettysburg, went to a couple of Nationals baseball games, and just toured the area. The picture at the game is me and my friend Shirl White. Shirl went back to the class with me as well, he works at UFA as a fire inspector and fills time on the PIO duty roster. One Night, we found a sweet restaurant that had all you can eat fresh crab. It was so good. I had a blast. The monuments and history in the DC area are so amazing to see. The Civil War stuff in Gettysburg is so hard to explain, but so awesome to be around. If ever in the area, it is definately a must see. The picture is a monument tribute to General Lee and the militias of Virginia.
While driving around some back roads we came across a tunnel that reminded me of the tunnel in Sleepy Hollow and I could just feel the headless horseman lurking in the bushes nearby.

So that's what's going on in our lives. Tell us about yours. It has been nice to hear from old friends. It is interesting how many people have blogs. I have been able to recontact so many people through these and I love it. I am glad everyone is doing so well and having fun in their sphere's of the world.

Here We Go Again...

2008-06-16T16:11:00.008-06:00

I felt like it was time to post a little more about us, even though there is not anything specific I am dying to share. I do remember thinking a week or so ago that one of the kids had done something that would entertain friends and family on here, but I can't remember what that is now.

Let's start with Eli. Eli has finally decided to give potty training a try. Rebecca made him go naked for a whole day last week while I was gone, and he did great. He has had a slip or two since then, and still wears pull ups at night, but the 50 dollar a month raise of not having to buy diapers is awesome. The first picture was suppose to be of the kids jumping on the trampoline, but as soon as I got the camera out they stopped and posed. The second picture is Eli enjoying the treats at the preschool graduation...

Which brings us to Tierra: Tierra had her preschool graduation. I am guessing it is like most preschool graduations out there (except the all-out Sandra of course). She had a blast learning and making friends this year. She will be in the same class next year because she misses the school deadline by a couple weeks. A lot of her class is returning though, so the teacher plans to teach more advanced preschool stuff. To me that means longer naps and more cookies at snack time, so score for Tierra.

She is becoming a social butterfly. I never wanted to use that description to describe anyone, especially not my kids, but I couldn't come up with a better one.

On to Rebecca: As the next picture captures, Rebecca decided to tear out a corner of the lawn and build a garden. She did it all by herself. I not only refused to help, but probably became an obstacle throughout the whole thing. Despite my antagonistic approach, I can't wait for the summer salsa.
Rebecca suprised me for my birthday last week. It was more of a suprise because she did it a week early. She took me to Ruth's Chris Steakhouse for dinner and reserved a hotel for the night downtown. Best steak ever is at Ruth's Chris. Expensive, but oh so delicious. We left the kids with her mom. It was a nice getaway, overshadowed only by one thing...

Our sewer backed up in our basement, flooding raw sewage all over our recently-almost-completed bathroom. It was awful. To make a long, gross story short. We had to have a company dig into our foundation to get a toy truck out that was jammed in our pipes and caused a backup. We had recently installed a toilet downstairs, and prior to doing that the kids put some toys down the toilet hole. So that was an adventure. We are lucky that it didn't get on the carpet. I think the gods in charge of remodeling are against us finishing the basement. Right after we put the carpet in downstairs (last summer) a huge rainstorm flooded in through the window well. Prior to the sewage flooding, we had just put custom doors in, which had to be torn out to get the sewer pipes fixed. Anyway, we still took our getaway for the weekend, but hurried home Saturday to get stuff fixed. We had a professional company come in and clean up because I would pay any price to have anyone else clean up raw sewage, even if they could guarantee 100 percent that it was all my raw sewage and no one Else's... So that was an adventure I don't want to have again. The basement is put back together for the most part... still need the tile repaired, but we got the doors put back in and I framed and molded them in. So.. almost back to normal.

More about me: Last week I was in Emmitsburg, Maryland all week for work. UFA sent me to a class to learn more about responding to earthquakes. My specific job was to practice releasing pertinent public information in the event of a large disaster. It was an okay class, but the fun stuff was being back east. We went to a baseball game one night after class, went to Gettysburg, Antietam, and Arlington Cemetery. It was awesome. You all know how much I love war history, so this was a dream spot. There is so much back there to learn. I have included a picture of the WWII memorial, with the Washington Monument in the background.

Oh, and before I end... I will respond to a question sent to my email about the last blog entry... an unnamed friend asked why I would put "oldie" next to TV shows like Night Court and Out of This World, but not the Donna Reed Show. My reply is one of silence with shrugged shoulders.

So now your job is this... you have to leave us a comment. We want to know who visits and reads our blog entries... so comment away. I leave you with a picture of our posing kids.

To Not Be a Poorsport

2008-06-12T21:39:00.005-06:00

Ok, Since I was tagged, I will comply, but don't think I am making a habit out of this. I don't even know what this tagging game is or who started it, but here it goes.

4 Jobs I have held:
-Taco Time
-Auto Parts Store Delivery "dood"
-EMT Instructor
-Firefighter

4 Movies I Could watch again and again:
-Band of Brothers
-Groundhogs Day
-Tombstone
-Star Wars

4 TV Shows I Like:
-Night Court (oldie)
-News
-The Donna Reed Show
-Out of This World (oldie)

4 Items I could not Live without daily:
-Air
-Water
-Sleep
-Food

4 Places I'd Rather Be:
-Beach
-Disneyland
-Home
-Yucatan

4 Things I Do Everyday without Fail:
-Breathe
-Sleep
-Email (lame huh)
-IPOD

4 of my Favorite Foods:
-Steak
-Mashed Potatoes
-Peanut Butter Fingers
-Cinnamon Rolls

4 Items I wish I had right now:
-Personal masseuse
-A New Truck
-A payed for house
-A softer pillow

4 Things on my "To Do List":
-Install a cabinet in the bathroom
-reshingle roof
-get passports
-register for Fall Classes

4 People I am Tagging (black black no touchbacks)
-Kristi
-Suzanne
-April
-HHH

So there, I was not a poor sport. I did it. Check back soon for a new update from us all.

More About Life

2008-05-18T20:33:00.009-06:00

So..................

Rebecca turned 30. She got through it without incident. We went out to dinner and saw a movie- the epitome of married with kids and a babysitter at home right? She also recently took a trip to Buffalo to visit her sister and brother in law, Dave. Dave recently graduated from Dental school, and Rebecca went out to support him in that. She had a fun trip with them, she got to see Niagra Falls, she went to Canada, the United States let her back in, and most of all enjoyed hanging out with Kristin and Dave, who we rarely see since they live back east. Rebecca's mother also went, to provide the adult supervision. I meant to put a new picture of Bosco, our dog on here, but realized that I chose the wrong one initially, of the back of our house and a little of the yard. I was going to delete it, but then thought, "I am going to leave it so everyone wonders why I have a picture of our house on here." Then, if they don't read this explanation, they will wonder for a really long time. Other than taking trips across the country without me, Rebecca is doing the same old stuff we always write about: running three times a week, working the Primary, and keeping the house from imploding while I go to work and slave away for wages.

Anyway, so here is the picture of Bosco, freshly shorn. Speaking of Bosco, Animal Control recently payed Rebecca a visit (whilst I was away at work) and told her that we had a complaint on us for not feeding our dog enough. One of our nosy neighbors called it in anonymously. The officer was nice, and explained that they have to stop by, so our wonderful tax dollars are wasted on the fact that a neighbor can't come knock on our door and voice their concern to us in person, to which we would have either shot them, or took them back to show them that our dog is indeed healthy and cared for. Springer Spaniels are small, lean dogs as it is. Ours is extra hyper and gets plenty of exercise while he tries to jump out of his kennel all day. I wanted to put a sign up near the fence that Bosco's cage is nearest that said something about being concerned for Bosco, as if Bosco had written a sarcastic thank you letter, but Rebecca told me no.

Tierra is playing soccer. Actually she gets dressed up in her team outfit and goes each Saturday to try to kick the ball before the other people do. She thinks you have to take turns. I am trying to teach her aggressiveness, and that if the other person kicks it first then you just kick them in the shins. I guess age four is not as competitive as I am. She loves it though. Her team is all girls except for 1 boy, and they play teams of mostly boys. 4 year old boys are much more aggressive than the girls, so they deserve a kicked shin, but it's all for fun...they say. I am the dad on the sideline thinking the referee is sleeping when he misses the obvious offsides call. Here is a picture of Tierra and some of her teammates, they are setting up to kick the ball into play. Tierra is the one with the purple jacket in almost the middle of the picture. I think it is the only picture where she hasn't struck a pose. She is so camera happy and feels inclined to do something special anytime the camera points her way. An example of this truth is evidenced in the next picture. I swear she can't just sit still and let me take a picture of her.

So when Rebecca was off gallivanting in the East, I had to play Mr. Mom. Let me just say I could not be a stay at home Dad where the Mom goes out to work. I am not made that way. My circuits are all backwards. Getting kids dressed each day, doing girls hair, dealing with their idiosyncrasies! Wow. Rebecca was gone for like 160 days, from Thursday to Sunday.

My brother Spencer got married a few months ago, and over the last weekend they had a ring ceremony. I got to be the MC. I mention this only because it was the weirdest feeling ever. For a ring ceremony, no official status is required of the MC, but it sure was a different view of a wedding-like ceremony. Sitting in front of all the guests and in front of my bro and his wife. Weird. It was too pastoral. I felt very out of place. So in addition to all this, life continues on. Still working the office job for the fire department, still Scoutmaster and gearing up for the summer activities that both responsibilities bring. Summer speeds by so fast, but as promised in a previous entry, we have some vacations planned, so we will keep you up on those as they occur.

I didn't forget Eli, just saved him for last. He's growing up fast. I don't have a new picture of him. He has so many funny little things he does, it's hard to remember which ones to write about. Each time it his turn to pray, he prays all on his own to be able to go to his friend Noah's house, and to go to Disneyland again. So for those Disneyland critics, next time we go it will be solely to answer a young boys prayer...okay? Since I mentioned Disneyland, maybe I can get away with ending with a Disney picture from our last trip?! Here is one of the kids making funny faces on Pirates Cove Island.

Disney Disney Disney! Na na na na na naaaa.

2008-04-27T15:03:00.000-06:00

Well, we went to Disneyland again. Our Season passes expire May 5th, so this will be the last trip for quite a while. We made the most of it. We went down for the week. It was perfect weather, actually a couple days were way too hot, but I hear the weather here while we were gone was aweful. Disney was not very busy, which is why we like going in April/early May. The drive was not bad at all, we made it down in just under 9 hours, and I didn't even speed very much. One thing out of the ordinary for us this trip was that both my Mom and Dad joined us. My Dad has not been since 1993. He hates crowds and California. I think secretely he had fun, but he will probably say the only reason he went was for the grandkids. A few weeks before we left, Tierra told me we need "to find a way to get Grandpa to like Disneyland again." I included a few pictures of my parents to prove that they were there. My Mom loves Disneyland. I don't know if he will ever admit it, but my Dad loves the Buzz Lightyear ride. He is so mad that he couldn't beat my score. Speaking of score, one of the days we were there, I got the third highest for the day. It's because I am so good at it, but partly due to the fact that the ride stopped for a minute right by the triangle that is easy to hit (triangles are worth the most points.) For proof, enjoy the next picture. The initials CSS are me!
The kids will just lay down anywhere to eat their ice cream, as you can see. This is half way down main street.
I think the favorite rides have changed a little since our last visit. As for me, Thunder Mountain is tops. Rebecca loves Space Mountain, Tierra loves Thunder Mountain, and Eli likes Pirates of the Carribean. None of us like the Tiki Room. Mom's fave was Pirates, and my Dad's favorite part is still the gardening of the park. Unofficialy by my declaration-his favorite ride was Buzz Astroblasters, as stated above. One of our family's favorite rides is the Haunted Mansion. I like it better at Halloween time when they do it up like the Nightmare Before Christmas movie, but still a classic ride in either set up. We were at Disneyland with friends from my work. We have been with them several times. We have fun going with people we know, so if you are going let us know! Here is a shot of all of us at the Mansion!
This next one is a part of Pirates Cove, formerly Tom Sawyer Island. If you turn the wheel it raises a treasure chest out of the water, if you keep turning it, a pirate skeleton comes out of the water hanging on to the treasure chest. Eli and Tierra monopolized this for quite some time.
I read somewhere that the number one complaint in 2007 was the lack of characters cruising around the park. We never felt this way, but it did seem like this past trip had characters all over. We started getting a few pictures of us and the kids with them. Here they are at Goofy's house. with Goofy. Another picture we have is of me and Eli with Snow White. We were waiting for Rebecca and Tierra and friends to get off the Tower of Terror, and we were pretty much alone. As we were waiting, Snow White walked by and stopped and asked Eli if he was a Prince or a Pirate. He, to my surprise, said Prince. So Snow White bends down and gives him a kiss right on his forhead. I quickly said that I was a Prince also, but all I got was a smile. From then on, Eli loved Snow White and each time we saw her he had to stand in her line to see her again.
Tierra and Eli ate about 15 Churros each during our weeklong visit. They absolutely loved them. The churro is nearly as tall as Eli. They absolutely love them-did I say that already? We could hardly pass a churro stand without them yelling for one.
We did escape to the beach one of the days. The hottest day actually, so that was convienant. It is a standard to bury your kids in the sand when you hit the beach right? Well, we did whether it was or not. Eli was buried first, so by the time we were ready for the picture he had squirmed out a little. The kids love the beach as well. Tierra went down near the water all by herself, which was about 25 yards from where we were laying. I watched her the whole time. She would go right to waters edge and as the waves crashed in she would turn and run back, not wanting to get wet. The water was pretty cold, but it was a very hot day, so we all got in the ocean for a little bit.

So we had a blast. I wanted to get these pictures up for you all. I will try to do an update about everything else in a few days. enjoy.

A Few More Thoughts Take 2

2008-03-30T19:38:00.000-06:00

So I just typed a little update and my computer "glitched" and I lost the whole thing. I refuse to allow technology to win, so I am retyping what I had. Hopefully I remember the few thoughts I had. Anyway, one thing I mentioned was a follow up to some questions about the pictures in the last post. The marks on the wall were accidental bleach marks caused by the stuff I used to fill the nail holes. At first I hated that it did that to my walls, but after a while I decided it added to the rustic look.

The next two pictures are pictures I wanted to discuss last week, but forgot to do so. I told the kids to go clean the toy room. Instead of cleaning, they pulled every toy off the shelf and made what they callled a "boat." It was quite the balanced Cornicopia of toys that I had to take a picture of. After admiring their work, I grounded them both for life.

The next is a picture of the boat I took the tour of while visiting Portland. I have other pictures of me on the boat, but this one shows the whole boat. Wouldn't that be the best job as a firefighter to cruise around on a boat all day and when you have a fire you have that huge water cannon to drown everything with. I have got to convince Rebecca to move to the Coast.

Ok, one more picture..this one is a few months old, but is a picture of the kids displaying one of their favorite things in the world... yep, temporary tattoos. Who doesn't like temporary tattoos? Tierra has a pirate ship and Eli has the skull and cross bones. Eli is not stoned in the picture, he just poses funny and is a little under the weather for this picture.

I guess while I am here, I can update a little about our past week. Right after sending the last blog and saying how the kids were healthy, Tierra spent the day Tuesday puking. Eli came down with an ear infection in each ear, and Rebecca was sick later in the week. The kids have had fairly good behavior this week compared to the last few months. Tierra is trying hard to be good for enough days in a row so we can go to Disneyland. She still thinks we can't go again until she behaves for a long period of time. Also, I am tired of the snow this year. It snowed three inches the other day. It melted soon enough, but I am so ready for summer. I apologize to my ski bum friends who never thought they would hear such blasphemy come from my mouth, but it's true. I am looking forward to warm weather and camping and hiking and four-wheeling, and all these other vacation visions I have. I know that they are only wishes, and that very few vacations will be taken and that each day will just be like the rest, full of work and crap, but right now it feels more like the summer vacations like we got in school are coming my way.

That's it, just a quick little update. Don't worry, I am not going to make a habit of writing here each week. So til next time, email us.

Just Past Easter

2008-03-24T20:53:00.000-06:00

So what's going on in our lives you ask?

Well....

After a bunch of off-and-on sicknesses, we seem to be healthy as a family finally. We, or I, have been working more on the basement, and finally had the doors put in. For those of you that want to see the doors, I took pictures of the kids in front of them, for those of you who don't care, the kids are still in the pictures for you.

Eli- Sings the first two lines of Sabotage from the Beastie Boys all the time. Rebecca has it as a ring tone, and Eli quickly learned it. He is speaking very well now, but still has trouble with the "f", "s", and double consonants. I was worried for a while that he would need serious speech therapy. He tells everyone that he and daddy are buddies and does not allow anyone else to be his buddy. He looks more like Danny now than he does Matt, so he is transitioning through everyone but his dad. He also loves the Pirates of the Carribean ringtone from Uncle Danny's phone, and makes him play it non stop. He loves to knock you down just to be able to help you up still. He's a very helpful kid over all. Last entry we wrote about his terrible two attitude, and that is still there. Either we are getting more use to both kids being brats, or they are getting better- I am undecided.

Tierra: Master of the brat stage. Tantrum thrower. Should I sum it up by saying "girl?" Despite her obedience issues, she is still adorable and quite the drama queen.

She loves watching movies. She loves it when we go out to restaurants to eat. She absolutely loves preschool and we have considered using that as a dicipline item, as in grounding her from school. Even though we are going to Disneyland in a few weeks no matter what, we are telling her that she has to earn it. It seems to have helped a little bit, but she still has her moments of complete brattiness. You get the idea. One thing that cracks me up is something she calls "dricks." It is basically "cheers" as in when you clink your glass with another's glass before taking a drink. She calls it "dricks" and there is no changing it.

Rebecca: Recently cut and dyed her hair. We don't have a picture of it or I would stick it in here. There is a small bit of her in a picture I am going to include of my brother Matt acting like a rabbit, so look close and you can see part of Rebecca. She is still training for the upcoming 10K's this summer. She runs three times a week. Not much else is going on in her life. She is a stay at home mom and is excited to go on vacation soon. She bought a new MacBook with our Tax Return, and loves except for the fact that Mac's and Quest wireless routers do not mesh. If anyone has some insight or experience with this issue, she would love a solution. She still has the calling of Primary First Counselor in the ward. She has been in the Primary for about 6 years now.

Chad: Rebecca and I went to the Sara Evans concert in Wendover a few weeks ago. It was my first concert in a lot of years. I am a huge Sara Evans fan. That's all I'll say about that. I had a great trip up to the Northwest. I got to take a tour of a fire boat. I would love it if we had a fire boat in Unified Fire Authority. That would be the best duty. Scuba rescue team, etc. My dream position in the fire service for sure. As for my non-dream position, it's the same. Working the office. We are getting into the busy time when we have to participate in tons of spring and summer events on top of all of our other duties. That equals 60-80 hour weeks for me for the next four or five months. I get paid for the overtime, but it gets to wear on me in hurry.

As for other family happenings- my Cousin Mike got married this past weekend- for those that know him. Rebecca's brother Brett got his mission call to Milan Italy. Everyone is doing well and just getting through each day in their own way.

Winter Time

2008-01-22T19:43:00.000-07:00

For those of you not living in Utah, we just got dumped on. I mention this because I love it. It is snowing like it did when I was little. It seems the last 15 Winters have been wimpy. Very little snow in the valley, those storms that did leave snow on the ground were gone faster than they came and the snow quickly melted. Well, not this year. I think we have had snow on the ground since early December. It got added to yesterday and the weather geeks say two more storms are coming this weekend. We took advantage of the deep snow and took the kids out for some playtime in the snow yesterday. Even Rebecca got excited, as you can see by her jumping ability.

We had a great Christmas and Christmas season. We got to spend a lot of time with almost everyone from both families. Our kids are, of course, spoiled. Tierra says Grandma buys too many toys, but only when its time to clean them up. They have a very unique style of playing with toys. They go downstairs to where the toys are kept, dump out every drawer and box, emptying every shelf, and then choose a toy or two to play with. When its Tea Party time, the same thing happens, only every fake dish, fork, spoon ,knife, saucer, tea cup, etc ends up on the table in the upstairs living room. I know this is making my dad laugh in some sort of redemption-feeling-serves-me-right kind of way, but I still have the right to let it bug the crap out of me.

Eli: Reached the old age of 2.5 finally. With that has come the terrible twos in exponential fashion. He was a pretty good for so long and then the last couple months he has just gone off the brat charts. He has quite an attitude and sometimes taunts us. Again, my dad is doing some sort of victory dance at this info. Terrible twos aside, he is a very smart kid. He's even learning a few consenants.

Tierra: Loves the fact that she has learned to write her own name, in fact she loves it so much that she has already shown me how well she can write it on an all oak window sill I installed in the basement. She moved up in Primary at the year change and really misses her old teachers. She loves her new teacher though also. She loves going to her preschool class, and loves to learn all the new and exciting things they teach.

Rebecca: Hates the month of January because it "is cold and blah." She spends most of her day watching Season 3 of lost reruns on her new Mac Laptop. Meanwhile, and she approved this, the house is going to pot. She used our tax return to buy the new computer. She also has a goal to read 52 books in 52 weeks. With all her time used on books and computer, she still finds time to "cook" us dinner and raise the kids.

Chad: Same old stuff with me. Will not be taking the 52 books in 52 weeks challenge, maybe 10 books this year?! Working a lot of days, a lot of hours. Still Scoutmaster. We recently built a sled for the upcoming Klondike derby. The Klondike is the boy scout Iditarod, without the dogs. It is actually a fun camp for the boys, especially after building your own sled. I will let you know how they do. I have to miss the camp due to a work "field trip" to Portland area. I am going up to visit a few fire Departments to find out how they run the same programs we are trying to manage in our department. I guess this is the fire department's equivelant of a business trip. So that's about it for me. Spencer, my brother, got married a few weeks ago. Now all of my brother's are married except for Danny, the youngest.

Enjoy.

Pictures

2007-12-19T23:36:00.000-07:00

Here are some more pictures, non Disney I may add.

These are from the huge snowstorm we recieved a few weeks back, and of the kids and Rebecca decorating the tree. You can click any picture for a larger view.

That's all folks. Happy New Year.

Christmas Time

2007-12-19T22:19:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone. We hope your Christmas time is happy, jolly, and fun. We wish good health upon you all this season. I tried to get Rebecca to add her two cents worth to this one by typing it this time, but she won't. She says I am better at writing it.

We'll get this out of the way at the beginning....we just returned from Disneyland again. We had a blast. We have never been at Christmastime and wanted to see what Disney does with Christmas. It was our 5 year anniversary, so we stayed at the Disneyland Hotel. It was a lot of fun. The kids love it. They are starting to recognize their way around the park. Tierra realizes we are near Disneyland as we approach Katella and Harbor Boulevards, the main intersection near Disneyland. Eli easily recognizes Matterhorn Mountian and the Tower of Terror. We had several friends meet us there this trip. It was a fun week for all of us. Enjoy the pictures.

As for all the other parts of our life:

Eli: Growing up fast. He is 2.5. He has some funny habits worth sharing. He wakes up way too early, but not quietly. Sometimes he comes in and says "good morning!" very loud. It doesn't quite come out "good morning" because he doesn't pronounce all his consenants, so it is more, "goomooreen." He also likes to inflict pain, just to be able to help you. It isn't really painful, but he smacks or hits one of us so we say "ow," then he gets to say "I'm sorry daddy, I take care of you." He was heart broken that he was not tall enough to go on Splash Mountain, but loves the Matterhorn ride and Pirates of the Carribean.

Tierra: Still loves preschool. Constantly asks us for a princess room, and even has it all planned out how it should look. She can not wait for Santa to come. She tells me everyday that she has a suprise for me under the tree, but can't tell me what it is. Last year she told me exactly what Rebecca had wrapped for me. Tierra is 4 years old, and not quite a half. She is sometimes such a drama queen that you would swear she was 13. The only way I know she is not that old is that I have already decided to lock her in the closet for ages 7-24. She enjoys watching many movies, loves singing songs at night before bed, and says the most amazing prayers, all on her own. She also loves to doodle, and sometimes draws so well. A few weeks ago she was upstairs drawing at the table and drew the baby einstein logo from memory. There was nothing near her to help her, but she drew it so well. (The face with glasses and hair.)

Rebecca: has loved running 3 times a week with a bunch of other ladies in the neighborhood. They run for about 3 miles each day and sometimes do a long run on Saturdays. She wants to run a 10k this spring with her mom. She still has the calling of 1st Counselor in the Primary Presidency. She also sings in the ward choir. She likes to sing, and even sings every night with the kids before bed. She can't wait to try out for American Idol next time it comes to Utah. Speaking of American Idol and annoying TV shows, she is bummed that these writers can't reach an agreement because she is dying for her "shows" to start back up. All this and still has to be a full-time mom.

Chad: I am still working in the office, and still wish I was back in the stations. The only redeeming factor is a take home vehicle that saves us a lot on gas. Actually, my own truck is out of commission for a while, so its nice to have a vehicle. Okay, I don't hate the job as much as I make it sound, I want to do a good job with my current assignment, but station life and emergency response is more what I am made to do, and the main reason I chose my career in the fire service, plus if I say more this will be a longer run-on sentence. Still also have the calling of ScoutMaster, and still enjoy that calling mostly. It is tons better than Sunday School teacher or Elders Quorum anything. Not to mention Bishopric and above. This may be a shock to some of you, but I gave up Pepsi. Been clean for 5 months now. Haven't even had Caffeinated drinks or Carbonation at all. I actually feel healthier, even though I am still fat. I also have gone back to school, sort of. I am trying to finish up a second degree in Fire Science, so I have been doing some online classes in my "spare" time. I have about 6 left. Enough about me.

Family in general: we are all happy and excited for the Christmas season. Rebecca's Sister and Brother in law are coming out from Buffalo New York, so we (Rebecca, Tierra, and Eli) are excited for that. Just kidding Dave and Kristin, I am too. Enjoy all the pictures and if you have questions about them or where they were taken, email us. (hint hint).

Have a Merry Christmas.

Family Update

2007-11-10T20:08:00.001-07:00

Well, here is more on us. First, I have to put the picture up from Halloween. Eli was a pirate and Tierra was, big suprise, a Princess. We should have made her dress up like something. She dresses up in one of her many princess dresses at least once a day, so Halloween may have been more fun for her to actually pretend to be something else! Eli the pirate didn't like the eye patch covering his eye, so he wore it on his forehead most of the night. We went over to a friends house who gets really into Halloween. He decorates his yard as a mini haunted house and dresses up like Jason Voorhees from Friday the 13th. Jason has a huge machete. Eli had a sword fight with "Jason" and after a few minutes stopped and then yelled, "I win."

Tierra is in a pre-preschool class that she goes to a couple of times a week. She loves it and it amazes me how much she learns. She has seemingly aged tons over the couple of months. This past week has been a hard one for her, she has been a little sick. She has been throwing up this week. I have to share a couple of funny/profound things that have resulted from this. One of the mornings after she had thrown up the night before, she said to me, "Daddy, throwing up is not fun. I don't want to do it anymore." While Rebecca was trying to relate to her by saying that "Mommy threw up all the time when she was pregnant with you." Tierra's reply was, "oh, I must be pregnant!" One of the pictures is of her and an unsolicited pose. I merely said, Tierra I am going to take a picture, and she immediately struck the "4 year old Diva" look.
Eli is getting better at speaking, but still avoids most of his consenants. We took a trip a few weeks ago down south with a few of the family, Eli and his cousin Jenna (in the picture) jibberjabbered the whole 2-3 hour trip as if they understood each other. It was quite funny.

We have also taken another trip to Disneyland since last post, and plan to go again in about 3 weeks. I am sure you are all getting sick of the Disneyland trips, but it really is the only "vacation" we take. We all have a great time, so you all have to deal with hearing about it. We have about 2-3 more trips planned between now and May when our annual passes expire.

Rebecca is still in the primary presidency and tomorrow is the annual primary program that she has been primarily responsible for. It has kept her very busy. She is still consistently running 3 times a week with a few other ladies from the neighborhood as well. In addition to everything else she does, she has recently been hosting the Relief Society monthly book club meetings at our house.

Everything is pretty much the same with me. I still work days. It has improved a little bit because they moved me to an office at one of our fire stations. It is better and nicer to have an office versus a cubicle. The job itself is still the same busy but boring stuff, but at least I have my own office. I am able to get a lot more work done as well. Being in the main headquarters was distracting because so many people wander by and want to talk for a few minutes. Now, I am pretty much by myself at a station. The station crew is there, but it is such a busy station that they really don't have time to bug me.

Our family as a whole is well. We enjoy hearing from all of you. Don't forget about us. I have had a request to include a picture of our dog, so here is Bosco. It is a few months old, but he looks exactly the same, so enjoy. If I think about it I will take new pictures of him in the first snow storm. He loves the snow.

That is the extent of our lives at this time. If I had permission, I would have included pictures of Matt Earle and his son's Halloween costumes, they dressed up like transformers with transforming costumes. It was so cool. Everyone that knows Matt should email him and ask him for copies.

Summer's Gone

2007-09-09T23:02:00.000-06:00

Well, summer came and went very fast for us. It always does. Seems summer is so stinking busy that you just don't have time to do everything you plan for yourself during the winter. I am looking forward to winter though, to ski. Our family sneaked a few vacations in, nothing major, just some small camping trips.

Our basement flooded during a massive rainstorm while we were gone camping. A neighbor checked our house and actually saved a lot of work by pulling our carpet up for us. We had to replace our pad in one of the basement rooms. While the carpet was propped up drying, it rained hard again and again flooded our basement...but since our carpet was already up, no additional damage was incurred.

Eli turned 2 in July. He's a solid mass of a boy/ He's also the sensitive one. Just a little voice raising can bring him to tears. He cries to "mommy" and "daddy" when Tierra is mean to him. I tell him all the time to just hit her back because he's bigger than her, but he hasn't yet. His speaking is improving, but there are several consonants he can not pronounce.

Tierra turns 4 next week on the 15th. We have a little suprise in store for her that we will talk all about next post. She recently started Preschool. She goes three times a week for a couple of hours and loves it. This is where I start to feel old. Rebecca too. Tierra is growing up so fast. I know all you parents out there are just smiling to yourselves and thinking, "told ya so!"

Rebecca has been running consistently and is starting to enjoy herself. There is a group of 4 or 5 women from the ward that run 3 times a week. She has also been very busy reading the entire Harry Potter series over again. She read all six books right before book 7 came out, and then read book 7 twice in a row. She is the host of a monthly book club for the Relief Society. Her official calling is still 1st councelor in the primary.

I kept busy with Summer camps and work. We had our weeklong camp in July, a backpacking trip to the high Uintahs in August, and other overnighters throughout the summer. Scouts takes a lot of my time. So does work. Most of the summer doing PIO duties had me getting called out right in the middle of Sacrament Meeting. My office just moved away from headquarters to one of the fire stations. I still have the same office job, just a new office location. It is better that I am at a station because it is in the battalion that I am responsible for, so it allows me better interaction with the Captains and Battalion Chiefs that I coordinate everything with. Plus, if the crew gets a fun call, I can hop in and go once in a while.

We took a trip a few weeks ago to Boise. We visited some friends up there. It was pretty fun. Nothing special, just a weekend away. We hope all are well. Please email us and update us with your lives. I would have included pictures, but Rebecca is hogging them all on her computer. So email her and tell her to give me the pictures already so I can share them with you. I promise in 2 weeks to add just a page of pictures, okay?