Happy Holidays from the Wilkins Elves!

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Here it is again RIVALRY baby!

I must say since I work in yewt country that I take a lot of ribbing through the years. On the other hand I have had a huge smile on my face for the past two years as we have beat the dreaded team up north and in dramatic fashion.
We will be watching the game tomorrow at the house and all are invited for cheering, food and fun. I just hope we come out on top again victorious!
I thought with it being the rivalry week that I would post some of my favorite yewt jokes for your enjoyment. Here they are (the last one is my favorite):
DEGREE TO GO - The engineer who graduated from Utah State asks, "How does that work?''

The engineer who graduated from BYU asks, "How can I make that work better?''

The engineer who graduated from the U. of U. asks, "Would you like fries with that?''
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Q. How many U. of U. graduates does it take to change a light bulb?

A. Answer unknown. Still searching for a U. of U. graduate with the qualifications to do such a task.
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Q. How do you tell the difference between a BYU coed and a U. of U. coed?

A. The BYU coed is looking for a husband. The U. coed is looking for the father.
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The son of a very rich Arab sheik was graduating from college. The sheik went to his son's roommate and told him, ``I really appreciate all the help you have given my son while you two were in school. Just name a gift, and I will buy it for you.''

The roommate thinks about it and tells the sheik, ``Ever since I was a little kid, I've always wanted a real Mickey Mouse outfit.''

So the sheik bought him the University of Utah.
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Q: Why are a tornado and a Ute divorce similar?

A: You know someone is going to lose a house trailer!
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A fire gutted the U. library the other day causing $6.95 worth of damage . . . It could have been worse but someone had the coloring book checked out.
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A U. of U. grad decides he wants to raise chickens. So he goes to the feed store, buys a bunch of baby chicks, plants 'em feet-first in the ground, and sadly after a couple days they die.

He figures he's doing something wrong, so he goes back to the feed store and buys more chicks. This time he plants 'em headfirst, and they die even faster.

Now this U. of U. grad is at his wit's end, so he decides to write to his alma mater, tell them what he's doing, and see if maybe they have any suggestions.

Two weeks later he gets a note back from the university asking for a soil sample.
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Two BYU Cougars and one Utah Ute were all in prison awaiting execution by firing squad.

One Cougar said, ``When we each go to be executed, just shout a warning like a disaster is about to happen. When it catches them off guard, we can escape.''

The first Cougar went to be executed. The guard said, ``Ready. Aim..'' The Cougar yelled out ``Hurricane!!'' When the firing squad hid, he climbed the wall and escaped.

The second Cougar stood before the squad and when the time came, he yelled ``Earthquake!!'' He likewise escaped.

The Ute stood before the firing squad. The guard said, ``Ready, Aim..'' Just then the Ute yelled, ``FIRE!!''
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Q: What do you call a Ute in a three-piece suit?

A: The defendant.
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Q: What's the difference between the Utes and a dollar bill?

A: You can still get four quarters out of a dollar.
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Q: Why did the U. decide to put artificial turf in the stadium?

A: To keep the cheerleaders from grazing
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The Best One of All!!!!!
Kyle Whittingham, clearly upset about the blue dynasty to the south getting all the national acclaim, goes to a BYU practice and asks Bronco Mendenhall, ``Coach, how is it that year after year after year you manage to have such great football teams? What's your secret?''

Bronco responds by calling Max Hall over. ``Max,'' Bronco asks, ``who's your father's brother's nephew?'' Hall answers, ``Why, coach, that's easy. It's me.''

Bronco turns to Whittingham and says, ``That's the secret, Kyle. A smart quarterback. You've got to have a smart quarterback.'' Thinking he's finally got all the tools he needs, Whittingham returns to the Ute work-out. He promptly calls over Brian Johnson.

"Johnson! Who's your father's brother's nephew?''

Johnson looks perplexed, thinks a minute and says, ``Coach, can I get back to you after practice on that one?'' Whittingham (disgusted) says, ``OK.''

During practice, Johnson calls over Matt Asiata.

"Matt, coach just asked me the weirdest question. Who's your father's brother's nephew?'' Says Asiata: ``Duh! That's easy. It's me!''

After practice, Johnson catches up with Whittingham: ``Coach, I think I've got it. My father's brother's nephew is Matt Asiata?.''

Whittingham (angry): ``No, No, NO! You idiot!! It's Max Hall!!!''
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GO COUGS!

BYU 28
u of u 24

It's been asked of me......

if I am on suicidal watch? NO!

I do have to admit it was hard to watch as the cougars went down to a vastly superior TCU team.

Some of my youth (Ute fans, which I try really hard to not hold against them, it's usually their parents fault) stopped by during the game to give me a hard time. I reminded them that it was just a football game and there are more important things in life (I didn't tell them that I was silently sobbing in my head as I said those things).

So life goes on and we still have the rest of the season, but this year there will be no BCS game. At least now I will have some extra money since they won't be going to a big game in January.

Happy Birthday!

I couldn't post this last week, because he didn't want anyone to make a big deal of it, but now that it's over, I can. Phil's birthday was last Saturday. We went with the youth to the BYU Wyoming football game. What a great present that shut-out was! Anyhow, I just wanted to take a second to let him know how much I love him, and how grateful I am for him. Phil is a great husband and father, and the kids and I are blessed to have him in our lives. We love you, sweetie. Happy birthday (again!)

This song dedicated to my wife, because I love her and sometimes I just forget......

Please push pause on the player to the right.

Chaos?

I love fall, but it is always a little bit chaotic. This year more so than most with me going back to teaching full time and the three older kids all in different sports. There are times (like Wednesdays) where I wonder why we do it. Let me explain...I get home from school between 3:30 and 4 most days. For example, on Wednesdays I rush home so that we can get Mady to volleyball practice at 4 in Lehi (a 10-15 minute drive, depending on traffic). We get home shortly after 5, and Jake gets picked up for football between 5:30 and 5:45 (thank heavens for carpools!), so he has to hurry and change, and I try to feed him something halfway healthy. Then we leave for Gabe's soccer practice at 5:50, and don't get home until after 7. By then it's bathtime. Jake gets home between 7:45 and 8. Scriptures, prayers, and bedtime. It makes for a crazy schedule. I'm not complaining, just explaining.
Then there are the days we go to the games. Seeing Gabe's excitement and enthusiasm when he scored his first goal of the season, or the confidence he gains when he makes save after save as goalie. Watching Jake's confidence and ability grow as he gets more playing time, makes a great block or tackle, or even makes a catch for the P.A.T. Watching Mady go after the ball when no one else will. Seeing her overhand serve go over the net. Those are the things that make it all worth it. Watching my kids grow and succeed from season to season in their chosen sports. It's really neat as a mom to see the end results of all the effort, and it makes me so proud of them. That's when I know that a crazy schedule for two or three months a year is not as big a deal as it seems, and it is so worth it.

59 - 0 DID YOU SEE THIS?......

That's right! 59-0! I said in the post before that opening day was like Christmas morning, but that win was quite the gift!

What a game! Makes me even more excited for the upcoming games.

Can you even imagine if we are undefeated and the team up north is undefeated come November, the implications?

Oh it's going to be a great season!

GO COUGS!

It's better than Christmas morning......

It's finally here! Only 3 and 1/2 days to go till kick off.

As most of you know that know me, there are few things in this world that get me as pumped up as BYU football. I love everything about it. The past two years have been great and this year looks even better!

So I have to admit, Deb and I decided not to buy season tickets this year due to the bad home schedule. However to replace that loss of not going to the games we purchased a new larger TV and upgraded the Direct TV so we can see every game. Also, I have the hope that if they go undefeated that they will go to a BCS game and I will have to take out a second mortgage to attend that game. I think the trade off of no season tickets was a good one.

So if you were wondering here are a few of the last two year highlights. I want to make a disclaimer that I do not post the next two videos to offend those people up north, but oh how sweet it is.





Those two moments, are two of my most prized memories, next to of course, my wedding day and the births of my 4 children.

I can hardly wait!

GO COUGS!!!!!!!!!RISE AND SHOUT!!!!!!!
Let's make it 3 in a row!

My rant for the week.....

I may have ranted about this before, but this week has become apparent again that people are always looking to blame someone else for the things that have gone bad in their lives. I am not sure why people can't look within and, maybe, just ask themselves what might have they done wrong?

Is that so much to ask? To have a little self reflection? A little look within yourself?

Don't get me wrong, I am not at all saying that I am perfect, because I will be the first person to admit I have a crap load of faults that I am working on.

All I am saying is why can't it just be your own fault that something went wrong or that your kid, heaven forbid, did something wrong. It seems like we live in a day and age that we enable our children to do whatever they want and there are no consequences for their or our choices.

"My kid could have never done that!"

"Oh they were just being kids"

"So and so did this, so this is why things happened the way they did."

Give me a break! Act responsibly!

Make your kids and yourself have consequences for choices that are made.

Again I say, IS THAT SO MUCH TO ASK? To maybe look within if you are having a problem instead of looking out at the rest of the world and finding someone or something else to blame.

So there you have it, my rant for the week. Take it for what you will.

He's Taken

Gals, if you are looking for the perfect guy, look no more. He's taken. I know because 15 years ago yesterday I snagged him for my own. (The thing that's totally unfair is that he got to the computer first to make his post.) Yesterday he surprised me by taking off work early. He had called and made an appointment for me to get my hair done, so he drove me down, waited for me, and then took me out to dinner.
Phil, I just want you to know how much I appreciate you and all you do for me. I am sorry for any complaining I do. You are my dearest friend, and my closest confidant. I am just thankful that we found each other, and that I have you by my side through this roller coaster ride we call life. You can still make me laugh. You still amaze me! I love you forever.

(I know....corny. What can I say?)

I Love You Deb!

Just so everyone knows - I am married to the most incredible woman and today we have been married for 15 years!
I can't believe it's been 15 years and it seems as the years go by that being with you is even more incredible than the year previous.
Thank you for saying yes and I can't wait to see what the next 15 years have in store for us.
I LOVE YOU!
You are the best!
Phil

Big Comedy Monday

This comedian is great, clean too.

Big Comedy Monday...because we all need a laugh on Mondays!

Is This For Real??

For those who still need help in remembering the steps:
1. Run in place!
2. Clap your hands!
3. Touch your left heel with your right hand and your right heel with your left hand!
4. Gesture to yourself! WEEEEEEE!
and above all remember to:
5. Up the octave!

I think we all could make the world a better place if we just did the little lad dance once a day.

Are you kidding me?

Which Disney Princess are you?

I don't know about this.....

You Are Snow White!

Pure and trusting. You are a gentle soul who can get along with just about anyone. Everyone you meet instantly falls in love with you. How can they resist? You have a pure, lovable nature that's irresistable. Just don't trust everyone who comes across your path.

Which Disney Princess Are You?

Haircuts!

You would think that by the time I'd been a mother of boys for 10 1/2 years that giving a haircut would be second nature to me. Not so! Last night was my first attempt. Not bad, but I missed some hairs. Oh, well. Jake didn't want his picture taken.(Imagine that!)

Not to be outdone, Mady went and got hers done this morning by a friend (Thanks, Julie!), who not only cut, but helped teach her how to style it as well.

It's hard to tell from the pictures, but it looks very cute.

Tender Mercies

I came home from church at noonish on Sunday to a birthday surprise---the AC was not working. I did everything I could think of, from circuit breaker to shutting it off and turning it back on, to no avail. Finally, I shut the thing off, and hid out in my room in front of the fan.
When Phil got home, he had us open all the windows and made an emergency call to a neighbor who knows his AC stuff. Thankfully that neighbor was able to come over and diagnose the problem, the fan motor bit the dust. He told us he would get us a new one on Monday and help install it after work.
Amazingly enough due to the rare cloud cover and the light breeze, the downstairs never got above 82 degrees. In fact, over night I think the house was cooler than many nights with the AC working. Monday morning the house stayed cool with the continued cloud cover, despite the humidity. Around noon, Kevin was back with the necessary parts fixing the AC. The part was $185, but Kevin had called for us, and it was amazingly still under warranty! An hour or so of Kevin's time(we owe you big time!) and the AC was back up and running, just as the clouds lifted and the house was beginning to warm up.
I just have to express gratitude, first for Kevin and his willingness to help us, and secondly to Heavenly Father that this happened during one of the rare stormy periods this summer and the warranty that covered us.
Here's to tender mercies, may we all be more aware of them in our own lives!

Learning to blog

I know I stink at blogging, so I am attempting to learn from everyone else. This was actually a couple of weeks ago, but the pictures were perfect to try a slide show.

A couple of weeks ago we found this cute little secluded lake in Highland.

Beating the Heat!

Yesterday we escaped the heat of the summer by going up the canyon. It's the first time we've made the drive this summer, and it was SO worth it, even for a short getaway. We are so lucky to live so close to so many beautiful areas. We took Makenna and Mathew Young with us. We all enjoyed walking down the river, and freezing our toes.

We saw some amazing things.....like this snake trying to eat this fish. He finally gave up and spit it back out.

We also watched this deer across the road and up the hill a little way.

All in all, it was a refreshing couple of hours away from it all. We need to escape to the canyon more often.

Communication

I guess I am showing my age with this post, but oh well.

I am constantly amazed at how technology has changed us as a society. I love technology, don't get me wrong, but I think something needs to be done with the way we communicate. This texting and instant messaging. I think we have forgotten how to talk.

Now don't get me wrong I think those things are great, but when we use them as a first line of communication over actually talking I think we are seriously depriving ourselves.

I think kids today don't know how to spell. Parents and kids talk through text and emails more than they do face to face. It is really quite sad.

What I think is funny is it takes twice as long to type out a message then it would to call and talk to the person and it would be much more personable.

What have we become as a society when we talk more from pushing buttons than we do with using our mouths? I wonder what it will be like 10 years from now?

I know I am sounding like an old person.

Would someone turn the music down!

Gabe's Birthday

So Gabe turned 7 on Wednesday, May 7. On Monday, he came in and asked if his friend Ashton could be invited to his party on Wednesday.
Party? What party? You didn't say you wanted a party!
Yeah, a party with a pinata!
So as any good (or tired, and not willing to fight over it) Mom would do, I quickly planned a simple party for Gabe and 6 or 7 friends for Friday afternoon. Luckily, it was Gabe. He is so easily pleased, and all he asked (once the pinata was vetoed due to the lack of somewhere to hang it from) was to play some games like Musical Chairs! Okay, I can do that. Throw in a couple others like Duck duck goose, pin the tail on the donkey, and Sink the Ship (I call it balloon tag, but whatever), let them decorate some cupcakes, and party planned.

He had a great time. It's amazing how something so simple can make him so happy. I sure appreciate my Gabe and his sweet and giving personality. Life would not be the same without him!

Mothers Day!

I know today is not Mothers Day and I intended sharing this with you then, but one thing led to another and, well...it's getting written now.

I want to tell everyone how lucky I am to be married to the most incredible person that I know. I am not sure what I did, or didn't do, to deserve such a wonderful person in my life, not even sure I want to know. I am just glad that we are together.

What an incredible mother and wife Debbie is. I am constantly amazed how calm and collective she is, almost all of the time. How encouraging she always is to myself and the kids. She completely takes care of us all of the time and we don't tell her nearly enough how much we appreciate her. She is the reason why our family works so well, even in times of complete and total chaos.

Before I came home on my mission I knew the next step in my life was school and, hopefully, marriage. I asked my mission president before I left how I would know who the woman I was suppose to marry and how I would know for sure. He told me, if the woman you are dating walks in the room and she takes your breath away and makes you smile each and every time then you will know that she is the one.

I can tell you that in almost 15 years of marriage that you Deb, still take my breath away and make me smile every single time you enter a room.

I love you Deb!

Slackers for bloggers!

Last night I was chastised that I needed to hurry up and blog already. Well, life has been a little hectic and now that Spring is here (and looks like will end this weekend when Summer decides to show up) I spend more time on my lawn.

Yes, I love my lawn! As strange as it seems it is my therapy. I get to put the Ipod on real loud (usually with Van Halen), pull the string on the mower, shut out the outside world and start cutting.

I am not sure how I went from hating to cut the lawn when I was a kid to loving it now. Maybe it's just the major need of therapy in my life. Maybe each little blade of grass is like hewing down one of life's littles problems, who knows?

When is enough, enough?

I am going to rant a little here and don't mean to offend any with this.

Are there personality types that you find difficult to deal with? Well, in my humanly completely flawed way I do.

I have never been fond of thieves, well, because they steal my things.

And I have never really gotten along with those people who lie. Because? Well, you never know if what they are saying is true.

Then there are those people who cheat and I guess you can place them in the same category as the liars, but for some reason cheating has become accepted.

However, above all, the one trait that I find the hardest to tolerate are those who take no personal responsibility for the actions they have taken. Let me give a few examples:

- Those people who drink and drive with no consideration for others that they may harm.
- Those who speak ill of others and then deny that they ever said anything.
- Those who, when bad things happen blame others for their misfortune.

I guess what I am saying is that there are consequences for actions that one takes. That maybe we should think what the outcome is before we act. That we should own up to things that we have done. That when things go wrong, that we should look in the mirror first and ask, "Is there something that I could have done differently?"

It's good that we have an Atonement to help us right those things that we have wronged and help us when we have been wronged!

Who Is That Kid With The Crazy Hair?

This is the cool kid down the street if you were wondering. Love you Isaac!

The joy of being a parent and embarrassing your children....

So, I figured what a great way to embarrass my kids then to show you some incriminating photos of them when they are bored and playing dress up. I am sure they will find a way to kill me in the future, but hey! it's the joy and, I feel, the duty to do this. So here goes.

I surely hope this is not a sign of things to come for Gabe. Jake you sure have some nice muscles and I can't even begin to tell you what Jackson is dressed up as. And Jake what is that purple thing across your chest?

Ok Mady, are you a knight, ninja, or cowgirl?

Jackson, you make one cool business dinosaur cowboy.

And there he is from the Incredibles, the real life Jack Jack Attack!

So it just goes to show you that the kids should be a little leery when dad has the camera and they are feeling creative with the outfits.

Spring Break!



You gotta love it. Well, I do anyway. Sleeping in, cleaning my house, and no guilt at night for not grading math papers! There is a down side though. If the kids aren't busy, the brother-sister (or brother-brother more likely) love really starts shining through. (Did we fight like that, Mom? I'm sure I wasn't a part of it!!!)

Anyhow, so yesterday we decided to make a day of it. We took the kids out to lunch at Bamboo Hut (I think we're ready for another Hawaii trip), and they actually did pretty good. From there, we went to the Bean Museum at BYU. (Free entertainment!) They had set up a quiz from the displays of the animals. Jackson kept grabbing my hand and saying, "Mom, look at this!" Gabe was trying to keep up with Mady on the quiz. Jake was always 10 steps ahead of everyone else, and Mady wouldn't leave a display until she had the answers she needed. I'm glad Phil was with us!!!
From there, we decided to challenge the kids to a round of miniature golf at Trafalga (indoors, of course, as the temperature dropped from 80+ yesterday to 59 when we entered Trafalga, and 41 and snowing by the time we came out!)

Jackson shocked us with a couple of great putts! (Tiger Woods, look out!) It was fun, but there's a reason we don't do that on a weekly basis (and I'm not even talking about the financial aspect!) Amazingly, no major arguments, except for who gets to go first. Of course, the parents won, and the kids are responsible for all the dishes for the rest of the week! (Does that lead to more of those friendly feelings between the kids?)

By the time we got home, Phil and I were both ready for naps.

(It's Phil's job to add the photos, as I am completely illiterate with this stuff still)

Field trip with 70 Seven year olds

So Gabe proceeds to tell me Sunday night that I would be going with him on Tuesday. Not sure of what he was talking about, he tells me that he signed me up to be one of the parents to take the 1st grade to the Discovery Museum in downtown Salt Lake. Nice how a six year old can just volunteer a parent and I have to be there, huh?

He was far too excited for me to let him down, so I went.

I have to tell you that it was quite possibly the loudest 6 hours of my life. I am amazed at the noise that 70 six and seven year olds can make, especially in a small space, like a bus.

I was in charge of just 4 kids, including Gabe. The little girl was as cute as can be, but asked a million questions. One of the boys, was Speedy Gonzales and was out of my sight in a split second. And the other boy was, well...lets just say that out of 6 hours I was with him his finger was in his nose about 5 and 1/2 of those hours. Pleasant I know. And then there was Gabe and for some reason, even though he is my kid I was not concerned in the least if I knew where he was. Bad parent, I know.

On the bus ride home, some brilliant child started the chant of..."All day is recess, all day is recess, all day is recess......" and that chant continued the entire way back to school. I think that chant will haunt me to this day and cause an immediate headache!

It was fun and I loved hanging out with Gabe, but as soon as we got back to the school I asked the teacher if she needed me anymore and I headed straight to the Chevron for a much needed Diet Coke!

Amazingly enough no April Fools jokes were made except...

I am surprised that we had no jokes played. I was really expecting it since a lot of the youth said they were going to get me. I have been told that I would have a gigantic "U" burned into the front lawn. Not sure how that would happen, but I would never put it past the youth or some of my neighbors.
Gabe thought he was pretty sneaky and took family members things and hid them throughout the house. Most notable was Deb's phone charger that he so cleverly hid in my pillow case of my pillow. At least he thought he was pretty hilarious.
I didn't even play one on Deb, which is strange. I guess I will have to double up next year.

Kids Say the Darnedest Things!

Last Saturday night as we were eating dinner, I asked Jackson about the true meaning of Easter. He told me it was because "Jesus got poked by the nails." The rest of the conversation went something like this:
Mom: Then what happened?
Jackson: He died.
Mom: Yep, what happened next?
Jackson: They buried him.
Mom: You're right. Then what?
Jackson: His friends were sad.
Mom: Why were they sad?
Jackson: Because he wasn't there.
Dad: Where was he?
Jackson: (as serious as a three year old can be) At the North Pole!

Welcome!

Welcome to our blog!
In an effort for us to better communicate with everyone, and to keep better records for ourselves, Phil created this blog. Our goal is to write regularly, and add pictures, etc, as we go.
Hopefully, this will be a tool to allow those of you who are further away to stay involved in our lives, as we would like to stay involved in yours.