Sleeping On The Job

Michael is trying so hard to be a big boy like his brothers. One of those rites of passage is not having to take a nap during the afternoon. While he does good on some days, there are other days when a nap was probably a good idea. Today was one of those days...too much day at the end of the energy.

Oquirrh Mountian Temple Open House

The Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house will be made available to the public starting Monday, May 4, 2009.  The open house actually begins Monday, June 1, 2009 through August 1, 2009.  Anyone can get tickets to attend by calling the reservation call center at 1-800-521-5105 or (801) 240-7645 or visit online at http://www.lds.org/reservations.  Don't wait to see this beautiful temple.

This temple will be dedicated on August 21-23, 2009 (9 dedicatory sessions will be held).  The temple opens for ordinances on Tuesday, August 25, 2009.

We're Gonna Have A Baby!

Well, it's official. Michelle had a positive pregnancy test today. I'm pretty excited but Michelle is something close to ecstatic! She has been secretly trying to get pregnant since the beginning of the year; she wanted to surprise me on Father's Day (in June) with an ultrasound of a baby girl. Now we're hoping that we'll be able to surprise everyone with the ultra-sound by Pioneer Day in July (that's still pretty early for an ultra-sound to identify the gender).

Michelle has informed me that since she is going to be carrying the baby for 9 months that she gets to decide when we will announce the pregnancy to the world, or at least our friends and family. Our current projected due date is January 14, 2010.

The timing is ironic because we just discovered that Alexis and Autumn (my sisters) and Heather (my cousin) are all pregnant as well. Alexis and Heather are due around mid-November (when Michelle wanted to be due) and I'm not sure when Autumn is due but probably around the same time. I guess it is the season to be having kids!

Dutch Oven Dinner

We had a fun little dinner last night. Richard Anderson has some culinary genius somewhere in his genes and he was willing to share that gift with us. So he came over and cooked us some dutch oven chili and cornbread. Michelle wanted to contribute to the taste bud bonanza and made a dutch oven peach cobbler. To make a complete meal we invited the Johnsons to bring a salad and drink. (Now we just need some good firewood that is more burn than smoke!)

The Andersons brought over some chips and salsa for an appetizer. My boys loved the chips but they just weren't into the salsa. However, little Eleanor loved the salsa but wasn't into the chips. These kids certainly complement each other.

It was a beautiful day, wonderful food, and great friends. What more could you ask for? The boys thought it was great to have a fire and to be able to play in the back yard while we were out there too. But when it comes to food, well they aren't the best eaters on the planet. None of the boys ate their dinner. So what do you do when it's time to serve dessert? We caved in to the peer pressure and let the boys have dessert too.

LDS Church Leaders Preparing Us For The 2nd Coming

New Popcorn Popper

A small tragedy caused us the loss of our popcorn air popper. It was a sad day in our lives. But we are learning to adapt to the trials of life and the challenges that are sent to us. So we resorted to the old fashion oil popper. The boys thought it was great to watch the kernels pop and fill up the popper.

After the popcorn was all popped we sat down to watch the Swan Princess. The boys have decided that it is one of their favorite movies.

Coach of the Year

The soccer season has come to an end. Donovan has had a blast. He scored 2 more goals in his last 2 games. Unfortunately I was not able to be witness to such amazing feats of athleticism because I was drafted into action as the coach for David's soccer team.

As my reputation grew for my coaching expertise I was subsequently drafted as the assistant coach/acting head coach for Donovan's soccer team. I guess my 2 years of little league soccer have finally paid off.

Based upon my performance as coach, I have nominated myself as Coach of the Year. The vote tally came in, and since I was the only one voting, I received a unanimous decision! I may have to look into coaching a youth soccer team next year.

More Snow in April

I would like to think that flowers are a signal that spring has arrived. But the weather here in Provo would prove otherwise. At least it makes for some great pictures.

(actually posted 7/24/10)

Time For General Conference

We're very excited about General Conference time in our house. But sometimes it can be a challenge to keep our energetic boys focused long enough to get anything that a speaker says. So we decided to try General Conference bingo. Each playing card has various topics. As each topic is mentioned you can cover it. The first one to bingo (5 in a row) wins! We also go for blackout (covering all spaces).

This little trick worked very well for the first 30 minutes! But boys will be boys and soon they had disappeared, along with all of the Cheerios!

(Posted late but not forgotten - 7/29/10)

Roasting Marshmallow Inside

This is what the boys and I do when taking the time to chop wood and build a real fire for roasting marshmallows takes too much time and effort.



It's just about time for bed, the boys have their pj's on, and they are asking for a treat before bed assuring me that they have been good boys today and deserve one. So, I push in the knob on the stove and twist it using minimal muscle strength, whip out the marshmallows and kabob sticks and "walla" roasty toasty marshmallows coming our way. The boys couldn't be happier and I didn't have to burn out my muscles (which were already drained from a long day) chopping wood.