a flying go-cart

The priests activity this week was supposed to be a flying trip in a man in our ward's flying "thing". I can't remember what it is called-- a power parachute, I think. (but it looks like a flying go-cart). We were gonna go Wednesday, but the weatehr was bad, and we drove out early this morning to Eagle Mountain, but when we got there it was too windy again--so no luck. I am really excited to ride in it when the conditions shape up. He gave it a test run, and I actually had the helmet in hand and we were unfolding the parachute when he called it off--an old flying expression: Better to be on the ground wishing you were in the air, than in the air wishing you were on the ground. So stay tuned hopefully for the real flying adventure. Even though we didn't get to fly, we got to drive it around this huge field...so basically a go cart with a flying engine propeller on the back- I think he said it gets up to speeds of 100 m.p.h. on the ground. So that was totally rad. Except I was in flip flops and the desert plants were killing my feet going so fast so close to the ground. Exciting...I like my calling :)

I couldn't resist

Star in Your Own JibJab! It's Free!This is the second one, so go down to the last post to get a brief explanation and another video. These are sa riot. Maybe I am just in a wierd mood...

i love it

Star in Your Own JibJab! It's Free!Ok, so Jenny is gone to a girls night out in Salt Lake, so I was looking through the blogs and found something similar to this on Josh and the Cheat's blog...so they are to thank for the fun everyone will now have!

shocked? ashamed? embarrassed?

I hope this comes across the right way...Tonight I took the boys to one of my student's soccer games while Jenny went to Enrichment (which she really liked and you should ask her about some of the cool stuff). I like going to the kids' games. They are fun for me and the boys and the kids playing to have their semianry teacher come. Tonight we had a show. Without boring you with the details (which could be an important part of the story), the end of the game situations brought a couple of parents and the coach to the sidelines to start saying some awful things to the center official and line judge. I couldn't believe what I was witnessing. (Maybe it could have rivaled the event at Justin's football game that was supposedly similar--we didn't make it there, so don't know) I am all up for razzling the refs, yelling at the t.v., booing at an apparent bad call, and getting into the game, but for the first time tonight I started to wonder when it goes too far. When does someone think they have the right to yell at someone inches from their face? Is it ever justified? When do we throw out the fact that they are a person, a human being, with feelings and a family they will go home to and treat them like nothing. How bad does the call have to be before permission is granted to get personal. When are feelings of frustration allowed to turn into anger toward the person and not just the bad call. I get frustrated with this as a teacher sometimes (and blame it on pride on my part). But I can't understand in a similar fashion when I lost my identity as a human being and became part of the institution that some of these kids seem to hate from day one. I want to say...Do you even know me? Do you even know my name before you have some beef with me? (Anyways, that is a side tangent). I saw some of the most childish arguments tonight by civilized adults. When should a 50 year old man start yelling at a 16 year old just to rant and rave about a bad call. (This 16 year old was not the official, but the kid kicking the penalty kick on the other team). Ridiculous. You had to be there, I know, but it really bothered me tonight. Yes, it is part of the game. Yes, an official should know he will be booed on every call from one side of the field or the other. When there is a foul, the fouling team will never yell, "Good Call Ref". But can we zoom out of the field sometimes and remember who we are and who they are and boo with decency?

Now watch, in ten years from now I will knock out the front tooth of the opposing coach when Jackson plays...

The ABC game...

A- Attached or single: attached

B- Best Friend: David

C- Cake or Pie: Ummm...cheesecake or really good apple pie

D- Day of choice: Fridays

E- Essential Item: stroller

F- Favorite Color: blue

G- Gummi Bears or Worms: the sugar-covered bears

H- Hometown: South Jordan, Utah

I- Indulgence(s): dried Mangos, sewing/craft supplies

J- January or July: July!!!

K- Kids: Jackson and Christian

L: Life is Incomplete Without: family, vacations, the beach, Costco

M- Marriage Date: November 22, 2002

N- Number of Siblings: 3 sisters, 5 brothers

O- Oranges or Apples: grapes!

P- Phobias or Fears: tires popping, roller coasters, overheated/worked machinery, large buildings, buildings built into the sides of mountains (...I know none of them are very valid, but they still scare me!) spiders, snakes.

Q- Quote(s): "People and Experiences are more important than money and things."and "You get out of life what you put into it."

R- Reason To Smile: Family

S- Season: Spring for the flowers and fresh smells; Summer for the long days; Fall for the beautiful leaves and football games.

T- Tag Three +: anyone who feels so inclined

U- Unknown Fact About Me:

V- Vegetarian or Oppressor of Animal: I've been both

W- Worst Habit: decision making, plenty more just ask David

X- X-Rays or Ultrasounds: Ultrasounds. Are X-rays ever good?

Y- Your Favorite Food: ice cream, cereal, berries, grapes, really good desserts, everything Suz and Jeff make...

Z- Zodiac: Sagittarius

Way to go little bro!!!

I don't mean to brag, BUT... I'm so proud of my little brother - He's such a GREAT kid.

We love you Justin!!!

He was the Deseret News Athlete of the Month for August.

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,695209247,00.html

Here's another video of him...
http://www.kutv.com/video/?id=28607@kutv.dayport.com

night requests

You can't get mad at this kid...but he drives me crazy at night time. His "normal" sleeping things are two blankets (Hawaii and Bubbles) his gray pillow, Stitch, Nana, Bibi the bear, and two sippies that have to be filled to the correct level and placed in the upper right hand corner of his bed...oh and his feet can't stick out. Occasionaly he will make requests forever! Like tonight. In addition to the staples, he had to have silky blanket, little blanket, blue blanket, this blanket (the stiched one) horsey (who he has to have in his bed even though he is huge), froggy, Russell the sheep and anything else he saw on the way. Last night he wanted to sleep with Buzz, Woody, Sully, Nemo, Dash and Mr. Incredible, and often he wants every single car he owns to line the side of his bed. I think he is just stalling, but he will ask and ask for specific "friends", and then once you hit a certain one, he is content, says, "ok. night night", turns over and goes to bed. Whatever.

p.s. These are his dinner guests some times...

M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E

(I thought Jenny's preview blog was perfect for our trip had she just done a little more. Do you sense the pressure I am under to hold the heavy responsibility of blogging everything?) So everyone knows what DisneyLand is like, but we had a really fun trip! We missed everyone who couldn't come (And think you should come next time :). We need to put out a big MAHALO shoutout to Suz and Jeff for putting together such a fun trip and having us come along. We made some fun memories. So...a few of those-

Jenny and I and the boys getting on the wrong shuttle bus to DisneyLand (free ride!)

A heat wave keeping the parks low enough that the lines weren't very long Visiting the Newport Temple Driving for an hour to find a place to park at the beach just so we could show the boys the ocean (it was a beautiful thing--I love the ocean)
Going to a random ward in Cali and finding Dave Larson (who says hi) and Lucero Sumner (who says hi too)

In-and-Out Burger (for my first time ever)

Jeff spotting Stitch and us running and pushing through crowds to catch him

The 3 hour line at Nemo (we didn't ride it--the good part is I pumped Jackson up for it big time, and then when we couldn't ride it I was bummed, until we rode the Jungle Cruise ride and when the pirhanas jumped out of the water, Jackson said, "Dad! Dad! I saw Nemo and Dori!" Problem solved.)

Finding a plumeria tree ("a Jenny tree")

Jackson getting to ride the Matterhorn with me

Jackson getting to see Mater and "Light Queen" and Nana (Simba)

How Chunky just walked up to the characters he saw with no hesitation. He LOVED them!

Soaking ourselves in the Bugs Life sprinklers


Everyone falling asleep before Suz, Jenny, and Chris got back with the desserts

The hippie earthy drummer dude in Downtown Disney

Jenny overcoming her fear of Thundermountain and all her theories about how roller coasters were built before people were so obese so they can't handle the current weight

Suz overcoming her fear of Tower of Terror


Taking funny pictures on the rides


Our Dream Fast Passes (This year is the Year of a Million Dreams and our group won one of the sweepstakes and got Dream Fast Passes for our last day there).
Beating Ryan just once on the Buzz Lightyear ride (what he doesn't know is I am not left handed) (Jack wasn't as good at this one as me)

Getting lost at LAX on the way home and finding ourselves in some underground war bunker that was a mile long.
(It seriously had signs that said--"beware of iron clad security doors"..."If you hear a siren get out immediately, it means carbon monoxide is in the chamber"..."stay close to family members as you walk through this hallway" --these are not jokes.)

Just hanging out, talking story and making great memories!

We really had a GREAT time! Who couldn't at DisneyLand right? It was fun and really cool we could take the boys there with us. They were both good sports and had a lot of fun! I want to go back.

We had a BLAST at Disneyland...

(this is just a preview...David will be blogging about our trip soon!)

Timp Lodge

Jenny's uncle Kimo rented this lodge up at Sundance the other night for the entire family. We had a blast while we were there. We just played games and had a campfire where we sang a million songs--including Jill and Aunt Robin doing their famous family favorite hula. It was a fun night. Jenny and the boys "slept" over but I had to get home to get up for early morning seminary, so I didn't want to wake up to drive down, get ready and be there at the seminary by 6:15 or so. I overslept my alarm anyway. I woke up at 6:10 and class starts at 6:30. This could be a long semester. I dread the day that I sleep past the starting time. We have three early morning classes at Provo. So we had to take turns teaching them. I figured I would be much better teaching NOT in the winter semester since it will be dark and I will have to scrape my windows like every day. It is not that bad so far.
Speaking of seminary, we made an intro video for all the kids to introduce all of the teachers. I couldn't figure how to get it posted on my blog, but one of the other teachers put it on his. It is long (9 min), and you won't know anybody except me, and it was made for high schoolers (although I personally think it is funny), but if you are interested, have a peek at the boyles blog.

one hundred

well, here it is- our one hundredth post. soon after our birth into the blogging world, our friends dave and holly lesue had just passed their one hundredth post and made a list of 100 things they love. we loved their list and the idea, and decided back then when we were only in our teens when we got to 100 we would be copy cats and do the same (plus we have been "tagged" by other people on their blogs and thought this would satisfy those demands as well.) So after a long introduction, here comes an even longer post...enjoy?

ten of the best books

1. Book of Mormon
2. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
3. Harry Potter 1-7 by J.K. Rowling
4. Don’t Leap with the Sheep and other Michael Wilcox material
5. Summer of the Monkeys by Wilson Rawls
6. My Brother Sam is Dead by James Lincoln Collier
7. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
8. Still Life with Rice by Helie Lee
9. Davinci Code by Dan Brown
10. Work and the Glory Series by Gerald Lund


ten restaraunts we love

1. Eggs N Things
2. Cheesecake Factory
3. Taste of Texas
4. Pappasitos
5. Shipleys
6. Sweet Mesquite
7. Outback
8. Café Rio
9. Suz’s
10. Sunset Pizza

ten desserts we crave

1. Matsumotos shave ice
2. Peanut Butter Passion ice cream
3. Mile High Pie from Chilis
4. Rice Pudding
5. ESPN dish
6. Mia’s dessert
7. Pumpkin cheesecake
8. Blue Bell fudge bars
9. Melona bars
10. Lemonade ice cream dessert

ten places we'd love to go together

1. Great Brittain
2. Hawaii (again of course)
3. Polynesian tour
4. Jerusalem
5. Egypt
6. India
7. Tahiti
8. Machu Picchu
9. New Zealand
10. Thailand

five of our favorite jobs:

1. Seminary teacher (David)
2. MTC teacher (David)
3. OLYMPICS (Jenny)
4. Tutor Job in Hawaii (Jenny)
5. The Post (both)

five of the jobs we could have lived without:

1. The Goose (david)
2. McDonalds (david)
3. High school janitor (jenny)
4. Dish Network call center (david)
5. BYU Hawaii Cafeteria (jenny)

ten songs we like right now

1. Bubbly-Colbie Caillat
2. Let's Get it Started-Black Eyed Peas
3. Kiss Me--Six Pence none the richer
4. There She Goes- Six Pence none the richer
5. Luckiest- Ben Folds Five
6. Breakdown- Jack Johnson
7. Fidelity- Regina Spektor
8. Sweet Escape- Gwen Stefani
9. Realize- Colbie Caillat
10. Mudfootball- Jack Johnson

five favorite stores

1. Costco
2. Deseret Book
3. Shabby Apple
4. Target
5. BestBuy

five favorite web sites

1. slickdeals.net
2. ksl.com
3. ebay.com
4. designmom.com
5. BLOGS

movies, baby

1. Disney Robin Hood
2. Italian Job
3. Oceans 11
4. Bandits
5. Nemo
6. Cars
7. Blue Crush
8. Life is Beautiful
9. Joseph Smith, Prophet of the Restoration
10. Indiana Jones Series
(It kills me to end at ten!)

top one t.v. shows

1. LOST


things we like that our kids like

1. Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
2. I SPY Hawaii
3. Hawaiian Nursery Rhymes
4. Crocs
5. swimming
6. Sand/Water table
7. Radio Flyer Horsey
8. Tunnels and tents
9. cars and trucks and balls and friends (Nana, stichy, doggie dog, Bibi)

if we found 100 dollars

1. skydiving
2. put it toward a nice camera
3. go out to eat somewhere awesome
4. buy books
5. put it toward a video IPOD or portable DVD player
6. dress from Shabby Apple
7. go to the mall
8. get a bike rack
9. buy bedding
10. go to COSTCO

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAMIE!!!

Jamie is our amazing sister-in-law that we don't get to see enough. Hope you're having a wonderful Birthday. We love you!

murder on arapahoe

Jackson has murdered his horsey. This is the second time. The first time, after prestine surgical endeavors, we revived him with only minor defects remaining...this time, I think he is done for--this time he had an accomplice and together the damage is irreversible. may he rest in peace...

"B" is for...Bookworm, Bloody noses, and Berries!

now he can fly

Here is Christian in his new jammies he got from his aunts, uncles and cousins. He looks so cute in them!

happy 1st birthday christian!!!

we love you!!!

and the base keeps runnin' runnin'

(we have no pictures, so if someone has them and could send them to us we would love you!)

This BLOG entry is dedicated to all of us running champions who trained for and finished the Provo half marathon. If you are a major runner and think 13 is whimpy, read no further, because I am going to praise us for our great accomplishment!

The run was awesome! I thought it turned out perfectly. The weather was beautiful, everyone had a good time, no one got hurt (that is said liberally I know), and there were free smoothies at the end. May I remind everyone who ran--we all said at one point we didn't know if we could make it...Doesn't it feel good to be done?!

A day later--I have some sore quads, but I can go up and down stairs without anyone knowing that I am sore. John, I want a video of you going up and down stairs!

Perhaps this isn't the right time to bring this up--but we were talking last night about picking a new race to run next year to keep us all in shape. Now that we know we can do it, it should be easier, I think. If you are mega sore right now, read this paragraph 2 weeks from now.

For memory sake--here are the runners and some memories--

Christy, Suz, Chris, John, Emma, Jacquelyn, Josh, Mom, Lindsey, Jenny, Me, Kevin, Teri, Suz's friend's daughter Sydney (sp?).

The beginning, when everyone was running fast and laughing, Josh's comments about this not being a sprint to everyone that passed us, dancing at the bathroom, the unexpected extra long loop at Nun's, John's nasty shorts, evesdropping on other runners' conversations (Christy!), freezing at the top, the random bear story, Christy almost throwing down with the bikers, our cheerleaders and their needed boost at mile 9, nasty shot blocks, Mom thinking she could win at the end, G almost throwing down with the bikers too, the breeze at Bridal Veil, training runs, hip stretches, spiderman stretches, and the fact that we all signed up and made some amazing memories accomplishing something GREAT! I am glad I was a part of it. It will be a fun memory for a long time!

(Thanks to Jenny for inspiring us and getting us going!)

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY MOM AND DAD

30 years and counting

movie quote...ye-ah!

"Pray that your years come swiftly, pray your beauty fades, so that you may better serve God."

it's seven o'clock on the dot, we in our drop top

ok, no drop top, but a "new" ride none the less. We finally decided what we wanted to buy and just watched the listings for the best deal. We thought we found it yesterday and went to this little dealer in Provo, but we drove it and it just wasn't what we were looking for for the price and all that. So we came home and they updated their Web site that night with one we thought was IT! So we went to the shop and the one I went to see was really nice. Then Jenny came and we were talking about whether it was the best choice to make (a little different than what we were looking for) and we were tired of holding the boys, so we opened this car next to us and sat in it to talk and the guy came up and said, "Oh, you found the other one we got in last night." It was perfect for what we wanted. It didn't take much deciding (except for the fact that the fancy one kept calling to me and had an internal battle about whether to be practical or not--it was a lame battle-- it had more miles, not as clean, more expensive...but I really liked the bumper--I thought it looked cool). So, a decision that came a year quicker than we were hoping, but now we have it and life moves on :).