Now announcing...

It's good to be back. It seems like things have been going blazingly fast, sort of like this guy, but with a little more substance.

It seems like things have gotten busier on pretty much every front. The kids continue to grow. We've taken on additional work, home, and church responsibilities. It's been a little hectic. But it has also been a fun time for us as a family as we learn and grow together.

Of particular note is that we are pleased to see our family expanding by 1. It's a girl. Though it has been just a short time, we love her and are excited to have her in the family. Little Bella.



She's a German Shorthair mix, but she seems to have taken her look and identity from the Shorthair rather than the mix. She's a bit hard headed and stubborn which Teri says makes her fit right in with the other kids. But like the other kids, she also has a very tender side to her, tries to be well mannered, and usually has a pleasant disposition--at least when given the proper motivation.



We got Bella for free while we were in Safford. David was excited because a German Shorthair is his dream dog and he figured Bella can be his hunting companion. Teri was excited because she has been asking to get the boys a pet for more than a year now. And although Bella has come with the usual assortment of puppy flaws, she does seem to be adapting to the civilized lifestyle pretty well.

Meanwhile the kids have been busy having a fun summer. They both took swimming survival lessons this year for the first time. McKay grew into a total fish and has since braved diving boards, deep ends, and other pool hazards.





Gibby, although compliant with the requests of his swim teacher Ms. Elizabeth, was not very excited about those requests.





Both survived and hopefully, they will be much safer around water now.

As for Teri and me, we are just trying to enjoy the ride.

Go (AZ) Cardinals

At 3:00 PM or so on Thursday I got an email from my boss telling all employees to support the Arizona Cardinals by showing up for work the next day in Cardinal gear, so long as you didn't have to make an appearance in court. Not wanting to pass up an opportunity to show up in a t-shirt and jeans, I was totally in. But there was one problem - I didn't have any Cardinal gear.

Teri and I set off right after work to rectify that situation but found out that it was going to be pretty hard to do. The sporting goods store had nothing, the mall's cheapest t-shirt was $30, and Wal-Mart after Wal-Mart was sold out. What did we do? We went to the not so local pharmacy store and found an Arizona Cardinals T-shirt stuffed into a mug. Total Cost - $10.

Of course, there was a reason I found the shirt for such a low price. It was light blue. (Like this only without Woody Woodpecker and with the team name and logo in white) You have to figure that these shirts were probably the result of some mistake along the way where the factory completed a several thousand shirt run of blue shirts rather than the red ones ordered. But things like that happen all the time.


Showing up Friday in a t-shirt was great, mainly because no one else did and they were a little jealous that I was able to work in comfort. Having the Cardinals win on Sunday and go to the Super Bowl was even better because I am almost certain to have at least one more "Cardinal Pride" day at work. So here's to you light blue Arizona Cardinal shirt. And go Cardinals! Maybe if you win the big game we might get a chance to show our support in victory parade day. One can always hope.

Those Darn Promises

I was saddened when I read about President-elect Obama's speech earlier this week about how some of his campaign promises weren't actually feasible. Poor guy. Looks like being a rookie at the whole leadership/campaigning thing kind of got to him.

You know how that goes. You're in the moment and you think hey wouldn't it be great if we could get a chicken in every pot and a car in every garage? Next thing you know your thought accidentally slips out of your mouth and you find yourself saying something you never meant to say. And now people actually expect you to do something that you know you really can't do. It's a terrible predicament.

But I think he's handled it well. Rather than disappoint people by saying that he made some stuff up about what his plans are, he's deftly put the blame on everyone's least favorite thing right now - the economy. Here's his quote to reporters.

“I want to be realistic here, not everything that we talked about during the campaign are we going to be able to do on the pace we had hoped,” Obama said in an interview on ABC’s “This Week” program broadcast this morning. “Everybody’s going to have to give.” (See the full article here.)

In four years when he's going through this process again, I hope then President Obama will learn from this experience. I know of at least one example of a guy who ran for President who was able to say that he lived up to all the promises he made.



Besides, it may work out for the better that President-elect Obama can't quite give us the "change" he so easily promised. As another former president said in his inaugural address, "Happiness lies not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the achievement, in the thrill of creative effort." Here's hoping we don't stray too far from that ideal.

Birthday Recap #4 - Gibson

You didn't think I'd forget the little guy did you? Happy Birthday Gibson! It's been a great first year. It's hard to imagine that Gibby has gone from this:



To looking like this in his first year.


Now if we could just get Gibby to get a haircut and a job we'd be in business.

Gibson's birthday wasn't quite on the extravaganza level that we've seen for some other birthdays this year. Actually, his was pretty simple and involved fewer cold swimming pools. Gibby got to eat his birthday cake at the same time as Sarah, his cousin who is just a few days older than him. Sarah went all in on the cake.



Gibby wasn't quite as carefree. He liked the cake, but didn't like the mess. He ended up eating most of his piece, but Teri had to feed him little bites the whole time he was in his high chair. Nonetheless, Gibson did manage to get a little chocolaty.




Gibson made out pretty well with the gifts. I think everyone felt bad for him because his birthday was so close to Christmas. He got all kinds of things like books, a Glowworm, Baby Signing Time - including the ever popular diaper dance (Thanks Nathan), and even a fox (which he promptly tried to eat).



All in all, it was easily his best birthday so far, but I'm guessing he probably won't remember any of it by this time next year.

Christmas Traditions

The first Christmas after Teri and I were married was a whirlwind. We married on December 16 in Mesa, drove to Thatcher that night for a reception, flew up to Utah the next day to go to my brother's wedding on December 18, had an open house for my brother and me the night of the 18th, and then we were back in Arizona for Christmas in Thatcher. I figured the next Christmas would be a little more routine, but as it approached Teri got the feeling it was yet another whirlwind.

Teri jokes about it now, but she insists that she has never come across a family with so many Christmas traditions. Her secret favorite tradition is kicking the pole - something my family has done for years now. No, it's not some feat of strength.



Kicking the pole actually dates back to when my family was a lot younger. On Christmas Eve my Mom wanted some time to get everything set up for the evening and asked my Dad to get all of us kids out of the house so she could work without all of our pent up excitement bubbling over her preparations.

My Dad started out taking the conventional approach. We drove across the town and looked at lights for a little while, but when we still hadn't killed enough time we drove to Ken Price ballpark, where we sang Christmas carols to the ball field. I know it sounds kind of odd, and it felt odd the first time we did it, but it quickly became the treasured family tradition we repeated every year. Flash forward a couple years after that first caroling experience. My brother Scott was playing in a baseball game at Ken Price field and my other brother Russ was running just outside the confines of Ken when he ran smack-dab into a steel parking lot gate knocking himself flat.

When we made it back to Ken Price 6 months later during the winter someone started kicking the pole in an effort to pay it back for the vicious body blow it dealt to our brother. The next year that had turned into a tradition as well. Teri has even gotten in on the action. The year after we were married we were in Utah for Christmas and we had Teri kick the pole. While trying to feign intensity Teri sternly scolded the pole saying, "You hurt Russ." Teri then dealt the pole a swift kick to its midsection. The funny part was that Teri had never met Russ at that point, he had left of mission just as we were getting engaged, so we were surprised at Teri's enthusiastic response to our family tradition. But Teri's never been one to shy away from jumping in to things with both feet; it's one of the reasons I adore her.

I thought it might be fun to share some of those traditions here. If you're like Teri you may feel they're a bit much at first, but feel free to adopt any that you think would be fun. Although if you decide to kick the pole please let me know so I can give you some tips. You wouldn't want to end up trying to kick the pole only to have your feet slip out from beneath you just as you prepare to deliver your gigantic wallop.

Police Blotter: 2 Dead Escorts Found at Davis Residence

Yes, that would have to be the headline of this week, narrowly beating out "Grumpy: 71 years later. How a 3' Man Doubled in Size and Got a Job at the Junkyard."

It is with great regret that we announce the passing of our second Escort. I like thinking back to the good old times when the Escort had a working motor and not everything under the hood was broken. Times like this:



I don't actually remember anything like that happening, but apparently even the ever plentiful internet doesn't care about the Ford Escort enough to post an interesting video or two. Oh well.

Our first Escort passed on in January. While we had hoped to hold bake sales all year to pay to get it fixed, we unfortunately had to divert money to cover paying for Gibson to be born. You would think we'd get a little more utility out of something that cost so much.

With our cash strapped and our two little boys unable to win any high profile best looking baby competitions, Teri and I decided to put off fixing our white Escort and made the best of using only one car. Our silver Escort became our workhorse hauling us to and fro, here and there, nither and thither. Until that fateful day several weeks ago when it decided it no longer had a will to live and ended its life outside of Kohl's.

A few days and a diagnostic check later, the Escort was pronounced dead on the scene. We took her to the junkyard and despite the best efforts of a gnomish junkyard employee to not use their business, we were able to strike a good deal. We swapped 1 dead Escort for a total prize package (worth $52) to include 20 Totino's pizzas, 3 "as-is" air fresheners from any car in the junkyard, and season tickets to the WNBA. Cucumber melon never smelled so good.

Like most things in life, there is a good and a bad side to this story. The bad side is that we had to replace the car somehow, and while we considered going the "green route," ultimately we decided the kids were too small to peddle. So we bought a Honda. What's bad about that? Well, they didn't give it to us for free. I was hoping for some last minute "Hey you're our first customer in weeks because the economy is melting" giveaway, but curiously enough they did ask us to pay.

The good side of all of this is that Honda driving videos are a lot easier to find online than Escort videos. For example, this little number is amazing and it begs two important questions. Do people in the rest of the world really drive like this? And, do people in the rest of the world really just wander out into the road and stand there as they watch a car that is clearly nanoseconds away from totally losing control and just wait for it to come slamming into them? Oh how the other half lives.

In summary, the bad side of having to pay for the car is pretty much a wash with the upside of watching crazy people nearly kill themselves in a car manufactured by the same people that made mine. Now if I could just figure out some way to teach K and Gibby to wash windows.

Birthday Recap #3 - McKay

I think Teri and I have been excited for McKay's birthday for about 9 months, no joke. I'm not really sure why. I suppose it is because McKay loves Cars and there are some many cool toys to get excited about. So a few months ago, we decided that it would be fun to play "Pin the Tow Cable on Mater" instead of on the usual donkey. Teri took the challenge head on and came up with her own Mater poster.



I think it looked awesome. Teri had to take 2 pictures of Mater, combine them into one side profile shot, draw it all out, and then paint it. It got a little hectic there at the end when Teri's mom and Teri were frantically slapping background paint on him, but they got it done just in time for him to dry and be ready for the game.

I probably should have won the actual competition, but because I had purchased all the game prizes and knew that they were probably too complicated for me, we let Miriam win. She's 4; I think she'll have a good old time with that 24 piece puzzle.



McKay had his own troubles, although none of them were behavior related. (Thankfully, our fast wasn't in vain.) Actually, McKay struggled with blowing out his candles. Apparently, I should have spent less time teaching him what sounds camels (spitting) and peacocks make and spent more time teaching him how to blow out candles. Oh well, McKay's cousins seemed happy to lend a helping mouth.



McKay loved opening his presents. Interestingly enough, he wasn't more excited about the boxes the presents were in than the presents themselves. At least not until the very end when he realized he could make the boxes into race cars. But McKay had good reason to be excited. He got a lot of cool stuff.



Gibson was very pleased with the day as well. Not only did he get a cool new hat, but he was pretty sure at least some of those toys would be making their way to him.



McKay was pretty worn out by the end of the celebration. He wasn't able to take a nap that day because he was too excited. He just sat in his crib singing, "Happy Birffday to me. Happy Birffday to K. Happy Birffday to me-eeee. Happy Birffday K." So by the time 5:30 PM rolled around he was zonked.




Happy Birthday buddy. We hope you had as much fun as we did.