Double Take

I just saw this ad, which was embedded in an email promoting Ticketmaster events. At first glance -- due to the style of the lettering in the upper left hand corner and the gold image on the face of the book in the photo -- I thought this was something completely different that what it actually was!

Did it strike you the same way? Doesn't it bear a remarkable resemblance to the two images below? Speaking of strike, better put up the lightning rods!

Who knows? Maybe a member of the church design team is moonlighting for the MJ publisher and it's just stuck in his psyche!

Over the fence

Here are just a few funny things my children have said recently:

After a field trip to the local fire station with his preschool, Josh told us, "Mom and Dad, you need to build a fire pole in our house!"

After I told Mary that the owee in her mouth was a canker sore, she said, "Guess what Josh, I have a kangaroo sore."

At the dinner table Elizabeth shared what she had learned in school about the Titanic sinking. She said it happened almost 100 years ago. Emilie chimed in, "That was when Mom was a little girl!"

Last Saturday morning, Josh woke up, came and climbed in bed with me, and began chatting: "Mom, Porter (the 5 year old son of my daycare/preschool provider) said his dad sleeps at night with no clothes on. He sleeps naked. I told Porter my dad sleeps in garments."

(I thought that last one was an interesting swap of information.)

Today, Mary told our daycare/preschool provider, "Mom likes me to always be cute for school. It's a lot of work!"

Hello, Hello Again

The 2009-2010 school year has begun. For the past three years the older girls have been attending the school where I work. This year we decided to have them go to the neighborhood school so they could become better acquainted with the kids in our area. They have been so excited and have had so much fun searching out and finding a few new fashions and miscellaneous school supplies for those "first impression" first days of school. Yesterday was the first day and it seems to have lived up to all the expectations. Emilie and Elizabeth both think they each got a great teacher and are looking forward to making new friends and learning new things.

Mary is starting Kindergarten this year and is soooo excited she can hardly keep it in. Yesterday was her first day in the classroom, but just for a little orientation. She recognized a few faces and thinks she'll have a lot of friends. She is delighted with the new clothes, the new backpack, the new shoes, the new teacher, the new friends, and even the packet of papers I had to read and sign and return which she called "our homework." As we sat yesterday waiting for her teacher to explain her classroom expectations, Mary asked if they would get to play with the toys in the play area of the Kindergarten room. I told her "Yes, you will get to have centers and free play time." She responded, "So you don't have to pay money to play, right?" I smiled and told her that was right.

Hurray for school!

Emilie of the Everglades

We went to the Davis County Fair yesterday. It was quite hot (95-ish) and we felt like we were melting most of the time. But we had a lot of fun.

First, we took our turn doing various strength and agility tests at a tent sponsored by a local gym. Elizabeth vertically jumped 14 inches! Mary did ten butt pushups (meaning her arms remained straight while her little tooshie went up and down) and Emilie threw a baseball at 24 mph! I guess not quite all of us took turns--Josh was hot and disinterested and instead chose to alternately cling to my legs and bump against them from behind almost knocking me over.

Then we moved on to the science and discovery tent where they played with bubbles and miniature robots and tornadoes made from liquid-filled liter soda bottles. We got to look at all sorts of creeping things, like cockroaches and tarantulas. We also got up close and personal with a large tortoise and a large snake and saw a grown woman make a fool out of herself by screaming at the top of her voice upon turning and seeing the latter.

To cool off, we walked through the 4H tent and oohed and aahed at the arts and crafts and vegetables the 4H kids had displayed there. We were very impressed by the winning entries and their ribbons. We decided that next year we should find a way to enter some of our own creations and vegetables since the cabbage Elizabeth has been growing as part of her third grade project was much larger than the blue-ribbon winner in that category.

Next, we considered the carnival rides, but decided they weren't worth the cost. Well, I actually decided that part and they were too hot to argue--much. We moved on to the chicken house and then the bunny house. It was really interesting to see the variation in the different breeds--some chickens with long legs and other chickens with naked necks and still others with what looked like a bad hair day. They were of all sizes and colors as well. The bunnies were a similar story only it was the ears and fur that attracted attention--long, short, and floppy ears combined with long, short, and fluffy fur. One particularly fluffy bunny even had a pink polka-dot ribbon clipped into its fur at the base of one ear. "Aw, how cute..." we all cooed.

The Alligator show was next. I was really interested in this. I wanted to see that gator! The kids all complained and said how they didn't want to see it because it was outside in the sun and it was too hot. I exercised my parental authority and said, "Too bad, we're going to watch it anyway." More complaining, but general compliance. We squeezed in and found a place to sit just as it was starting. The man-and-woman team introduced us to their alligator friend, which was hissing in the corner of a shallow pool of water. We were all melting again as we listened to the woman explain all about alligators and watched as the man demonstrated just how to catch and handle one--we were close enough to get splashed during this wrestling match!

Then the woman asked for a child to volunteer to come up and touch the gator. The man pointed out a child in the audience, but I couldn't tell who it was from where I was sitting. Before I knew what was happening, Emilie, my 8 year old, was up out of her seat and headed for the stage area! She was very good at participating with them and proved to be very entertaining as well. At one point the woman asked Em which hand was her strong hand--the one she might want to use to pet the gator. She replied that it was her right, but then said "I might want to use the other one though because this one has a broken nail." We all laughed at that because she sounded so girly-girl when she said it. Not only did she touch the alligator, but she got to sit on it (it was already subdued by the handler) and get her picture taken, too. Reporters and photographers were there to capture the fun. Check out these links to our local papers and be sure to enlarge the images so you can see what it looked like! www.standard.net/live/news/180505/ and www.deseretnews.com/article/705323289/Photos-Davis-Co-Fair-Slow-and-furious.html (click on the photo gallery).

We finished our day at the fair with lots of water to drink, a pony ride, and a promise of dinner at Golden Corral.

Blah, blah, blah

My almost 4-year-old boy, Josh, is a fan of water play. When we are not paying close attention, he will hole himself up in one of our bathrooms, get the water running and have a wonderful time filling and spilling cups and submerging any number of action heros and other toys. Once I found the aftermath of one of these play sessions--water all over the countertop, water all over the floor, and water in the cabinet underneath the sink. I was glad I wasn't storing anything significant under there. 

So today I noticed he was nowhere to be found. Wait, the last time I saw him he was headed to the bathroom. As I climbed the stairs I could hear the water running. The door was locked! I unlocked it with a pick made out of a hair clip. There he was, up on the counter with nothing but a shirt on and holding a full roll of toilet paper that was soaking wet! He was in the middle of pulling it apart! I told him to put it down and to get himself down. He ignored me and kept pulling at the wet mass of TP. So I "helped" him down and gave him a swat on the bottom on the way to the floor. I explained that what he was doing was not OK and that he needed to stop playing in the water and making messes. He cried and ran to his dad. I followed and started in again about how he can't do these things, etc. He looked and me and said, "Blah, blah, blah." 

I almost started laughing. I had never heard him say that at all. I couldn't believe he could actually apply it to the context of this current lecture. However, I did not laugh. No, I gave him another little swat on the bottom and told him that I would not allow him to talk back to me. Sebron then did a great thing and backed me up--telling him he needs to listen to his mom and that he can't talk that way. 

I can't wait to see what he comes up with next.

Say what you need to say

So, if anyone happened to check in on this blog in the last few months, you would know that I haven't written anything. I have hesitated because I haven't thought that I had anything worthy of publishing into cyberspace. But I have to believe that if anyone cares to check in, then they must think whatever I have to say is worth their time. 

One of my pet peeves is when anyone begins a talk or speaking assignment in an apologetic or self-debasing manner. I can't count the number of times I have heard someone start by saying that he or she left it until the last minute or that they weren't experts on the subject or that it wasn't likely to be a very good talk, etc. To me, that is like giving the listening audience permission to just tune out and not pay attention to one thing you say. If I didn't want to listen to that person or what they had to say, I think I would just stay home. Prepared or not, expert or not--just do your best and let me take from it what I will. Don't tell me how to think about it before you even give it to me!

So, that will be the mission statement for my blog. I will continue to believe that if you actually come to visit my site, whatever I have to say is of interest--even if it is only of very slight interest. So be prepared to get to know my life.

Listen to John Mayer's "Say What You Need to Say"

Take all of your wasted honor

Every little past frustration

Take all of your so-called problems

Better put ‘em in quotations 

Say what you need to say

Say what you need to say

Say what you need to say

Say what you need to say 

Walking like a one man army

Fighting with the shadows in your head

Living out the same old moment

Knowing you'd be better off instead

If you could only 

Say what you need to say

Say what you need to say

Say what you need to say

Say what you need to say 

Have no fear for giving in

Have no fear for giving over

You better know that in the end

It's better to say too much

Than never to say what you need to say 

Even if your hands are shaking

And your faith is broken

Even as your eyes are closing

Do it with a heart wide open 

Wide 

Say what you need to say

Say what you need to say

Say what you need to say

Say what you need to say

Seasons' Greetings

This is a copy of the Christmas letter we sent out this year. It seemed like a good place to start. 

We wanted to be sure to write this year to give you an update on our crazy lives.

We have been in our house for 1 year and 4 months now. It is a multilevel split with a big yard and located on a cul-de-sac in a pretty nice neighborhood in Syracuse, which is west of Layton, UT. We live way out west - almost to the toll booth for Antelope Island, which sits in the Great Salt Lake. It is a quiet, somewhat rural area. About the only thing I don’t like about it is the humongous mosquitos that attack at dusk each night in the summer - just as it starts to cool off and you want to go outside!

Sebron is currently in the middle of the holiday rush at his job at the Layton Wal-Mart. He is an assistant manager there and works between 50 and 60 hours a week. It gets to be quite hectic for him, but he shows a lot of dedication to doing a good job. He enjoyed his 20 year high school reunion in August - meeting up with old friends and aquaintances and trying to put names on all those familiar and unfamiliar faces. (I had mine in 2007 and had a great time seeing old friends, too!)

He took us all to Oregon in April for a long overdue family trip thanks to a nice tax return. We spent a week driving down the coast. We went to Multnomah Falls, visited the Lewis and Clark museum, explored a few tide pools, visited the aquarium, took a boat out to whale watch, ate at a fish market, watched the sun set over the ocean, spelunked through Oregon Caves, and much more. We had a great time and made some good memories.

The older girls (Elizabeth, 9 and Emilie, 7) are busy with school and the little ones (Mary, 4 and Josh, 3) are having fun with preschool. We found a great daycare provider that they love. The girls still love dance and tried soccer this year. Elizabeth loves books, Emilie loves designing things, Mary is very social and dramatic, and Josh loves all things superhero and anything that has to do with his dad.

Leslie is in her third year of her new career. She got her state license for teaching special education in January. It is a good job and she is learning so much.

We are so thankful for all with which the Lord has blessed us - including your love and friendship. May His love surround you and keep you at this time and always!



Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!