Big Kids

We were a little late in getting the kids in for Gibson's 4 month and McKay's 18 month checkups, but it was fun to get them in there are see how big they had gotten.

McKay, almost 20 months, now stands at a towering 35 inches but only weighs about 24 pounds. In 4 months he has grown 4 inches. At this rate, he'll be Shawn Bradley (7 ' 6") shortly after his 6th birthday.
He's always seemed to be a tall skinny kid. The only time it was different was our last visit when McKay was somewhere around the 70th percentile for height and right around the 50th percentile for weight (which the doctor noted was a big increase from his previous weight percentiles in the 20s and 30s). But this last visit demonstrated that McKay has returned to regularity. He's back to the 96th percentile in height and the 16th percentile in weight.

Gibson seems to be watching and learning from his brother. Diddy or Dibby (McKay's nicknames for his brother) is 24 inches tall and weighs almost 13 pounds. He's now in the 75th percentile for height and the 30th for weight.

It looks like we'll have to feed Little Dibby some Little Debbie.

I've always said that I don't mind if my kids are taller than me. It would certainly appear that I'm going to be held to my word. But I'm ok with that. At least some one in my family will be able to stand up to Randy Newman.

Easter Weekend

Yes, Easter was a while ago and it probably feels like we're taking a trip in the Wayback Machine for this post, but there have been lots of goings on in our household over the last little while.

Back a few weeks ago, my parents came down to Mesa for Spring Break/Easter Weekend/Gibby's blessing. McKay, sensing he would have to share time with his brother, decided to add some sparkle to his personality by cutting all four eye teeth that weekend. But like many plans laid by 18 month-olds, it didn't quite work out the way he intended. I'm sure McKay thought that his eye teeth suffering would garner him some sympathy, but actually he just earned the reputation of being a bit of a complainer.

Grandma and Grandpa got to go to the zoo with us and Grandpa even offered to take McKay on the merry-go-round. McKay was unsure about the whole thing and even though he got to ride on a rhino, one of his favorite animals, his reaction each time he would pass us and see us was about the same. He wasn't too happy.


But we moved on to other things. Grandma and Grandpa got to play with the stingrays.
The Phoenix zoo has a deal with another colder weather zoo so that Phoenix has the stingrays between November and April and they have the rays between May and October. The twist this year was that the stingrays also had a few sharks in their pool. I never got a picture but Grandma has to just about jump in the pool to feel the cool nurse shark. They liked to hang out under the waterfall because there is more oxygen there so it was kind of hard to get to them. This is just after Grandma felt the shark.
The sharks feel rougher than the underbellies of the stingrays. The rays are really soft and slick. Interestingly, they ask you to pet the underside of the rays rather than the tops because the rays are more susceptible to injury on top. I guess they paid extra for the undercarriage coating.

McKay did ease up on the pain and suffering once we got to Oregano's and he was given permission to finish off our Pizookie (Pizza - Cookie). It's a semi-baked chocolate chip cookie - read still doughey - with a lot of vanilla ice cream on top.
Gibson didn't get any of the pizookie, but he was pleased with his new blanket. He already likes dinosaurs, largely because McKay likes to read him stories about them.
The Easter egg hunt itself went pretty well. McKay loved searching out for eggs. He didn't have any trouble at all picking up on the idea that you needed to pick up as many eggs as you can at blazing speed.
Before Grandma and Grandpa left, we showed them the Wii. They got really into boxing.
It was a lot of fun having Grandma and Grandpa here. Happy Easter.

Housing Litmus Test

This is when you know the housing market is bad.



I love how the realtor actually thinks he's cool. Usually I give props to people for trying, but I think at some point you can try too hard.

But in the end, this is a nice house baby. Who wouldn't like to live in that place? Maybe I should give Neil a call and inquire about the price.

Singles be warned

"Are you a loser? Come to Chemistry.com where all of life's rejects come together to meet each other."

I don't mean to jump to conclusions here, but isn't that basically what the new Chemistry.com advertisements are just screaming at you? Take this one for example:



What was the point of that ad? Look I don't really care who eHarmony accepts or rejects. (Fortunately, I'm married to TeriDel who is wonderful. We no longer have to scope out the dating scene.) But if I were to turn back the clock a bit and date again, would I really want to sign up for a dating site whose ad campaign is "Are you the kind of person that has been rejected by members of the opposite sex AND a dating service? Come over to Chemistry.com. We'll take you're money."

Just as an aside, I have nothing against Internet dating. In fact, I think it can be a positive for a lot of people who don't have a lot of time or who find it easier to get to know people. I'm sure there are lots of other reasons to do it as well. I just think you have to be selective on who you Internet date - much like you should be selective of what you eat, what you wear, or even what music video you decide to appear in. Obviously these guys didn't heed my advice.



Anyway, if you are currently a member of Chemistry.com, don't fret. I'm sure there are lots of interesting, fun, and charming people on there. But I'd beware of the new sign ups - at least until you find out a little bit more about them and whether or not they watch advertisements.

Sorry Jason

Halle, our 3 year old niece, watched American Idol over at our house this week with her parents. Although she enjoyed the show, she definitely showed her potential to become a critic when she judged Jason Castro's performance. After Castro sang his second song of the night, Halle said, "Mommy, I don't like that girl boy." Hmm...I wonder if Paula Abdul is thinking the same thing.

The Ulitmate Pose Off...oh and a wedding

As mentioned earlier, our heartfelt congratulations go out to our cousin Emily and her new husband Wes. Had you not chosen the 15th of March to be wed, I would have never have gone down to Sierra Vista. And had I never gone to Sierra Vista that day I would have missed...

The Ultimate Pose Off .

Well, actually I did miss the Ultimate Pose Off. The Copper Classic, as it is formally known, was held at 5 PM in Sierra Vista and Teri promised me that if we were still in Sierra Vista at that time she would go with me and the boys. Curiously at 4:45 PM Teri just couldn't bear to be away from home any longer so we packed up the kids and went back home to Mesa.

It's really too bad. Highlighting the event were two guest posers - ages 79 and 73. These guys have a long history of going up against one another in bodybuilding contests. But 73 year-old Hank Diaz (below left) has only beaten 79 year-old Kent Marshall (below right) once.



Personally, I don't understand how that could be the case. True, neither guy looks his age, but I find Hank Diaz much more attractive than the Kent Marshall. But I guess I haven't gotten a good look at their abs - or their thighs.

Despite my enthusiasm for the Copper Classic's silver anniversary event Teri was probably right to decide to pack up and leave. Those events are pretty dangerous. There are lots of attractive women there, but if you get caught ogling they'll beat you up. I got a black eye trying to take this photo just last week - and that was from the skinny one on the left. Who knows what the guy on the right would have done to me?

Mid-March Update

Here's a quick note about the important events in our lives and yours:

Congrats to my little sister Amy who managed to bull her way into the newspaper. As the Bingham High School drill team matador, she endured the jeers and cat calls of Utah-based Spaniards who, while searching for a 6-fingered man, rudely told her that bullfighting was a man sport. Amy refused to give in and won herself the Deseret News Prep Athlete of the Week. Although Amy may not be as famous as Cristina Sanchez, her bullfighting skills are taking her places...like the rodeo pageant circuit where she'll face off with another Amy and her pleather dress.

Mazel Tov! to my cousin Emily who wed the love of her life Wes on March 15. Teri and I took the kids down to Sierra Vista for the blessed event and we had a blast. We're excited for you Emily and Wes and wish you the best of luck.

Finally, here's a short "Tall" tale. My Dad got into a car accident and a fight all in one day, which is unbelievable because he hasn’t been in a fight for more than thirty years. He was driving to work on a road covered in black ice and although he wasn’t following the car in front of him too closely, when he stepped on the brakes his car just started sliding and crashed into the guy in front of him.

I’ve always considered my Dad to be a very responsible guy and this case was no exception. My Dad got out of his car to see if the other driver was ok. But at that point things went downhill.

You know how sometimes when you’re in a stressful situation anything can just make you start laughing even though it’s not particularly funny? Well, as the other guy is getting out of his car to inspect the damage my Dad sees that this guy is a little person – you know, a midget. Now my Dad doesn’t have anything against midgets, but the stress of the situation just made him laugh.

Well the other guy was not in a laughing mood. He roared out at my Dad, “What’s so funny? This is terrible! Can’t you see that I am not happy?”

“So which one are you?” asked my Dad.

And that’s when the fight broke out.