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.