USA

Best swimming race of all time. Congrats USA men's 4x100 swimming relay team. You had us screaming at the top of our lungs and jumping up and down in our living room in the middle of the night. If you missed this, find a way to watch it.

Further congrats to Jake and Sean for a really great beach volleyball win, which, thanks to the relentless rain, could probably have been considered a pool event as well.

good 'stache, good start

Every night I read Sophie a book. It is one of my fatherly shortcoming that I don't always get excited about this. Often I try, with guiltless sophistry, to convince the girl she'd rather have mom read her a book, but to no avail. In the rare case that my argument finds a young convert, she will instruct, "ok, we'll have mom read a book first," stating that last important word slowly, clearly communicating the implied- "all that tricky philosophy crap bought you ten minutes pal, then you're mine."
Sophie 1 Dad 0.
This race is a biathlon though. So we transition to the "book choice." My strategy for this event is simple. I begin by throwing up a hail Mary of sorts. "Alright Sophie, tonight we will read Where the Wild Things Are, (or The Giving Tree, Goodnight Moon, Guess How Much I Love You, and few others books I am willing to read and reread forever.) Sophie sees this as a completely unreasonable low ball offer. She'll be making the book decisions.
I then try to steer her away from books I do not want to read -those with lots of words and those I have already read- and towards books I would not mind reading -either a book on my approved list or a new book. This generally fails and I end up reading whatever book is her self appointed book of the moment (Miss Spiders New Car right now) for the 30th time.
A few days ago I found a nice looking picture book about Martin Luther King, Jr called Martin's Big Words in her book pile. I suggested we read it. She was uninterested. I persisted and she kindly looked up from her book search to ask, "what's it about?"

"It's about him" I said, holding up the book to show the picture on the cover.
"Who is he?"
"Martin Luther King."
She seemed curious, so I continued.
"He did some really great things."
"What did he do?"
"He helped people choose to do the right thing in a time when people were having a hard time choosing to do the right thing." This question was harder to answer simply than I had expected. I hoped to say enough to get her thinking. I was ready for the next questions- what was so hard, why was it hard, what did he say- I was ready for our big teaching moment to rise from the dust of these nights and nights of mindlessly reciting Miss Spider's New Car. Already in my mind we were talking as frankly as an adult and a 4 year old can about the need to be brave in the face of seemingly impossible odds, and the "fierce urgency of now." I waited in heavy anticipation as she studied the picture on the cover of the book. It was as if she was searching her soul for the right words. How does a little heart deal with such heavy questions?
Finally she spoke.

"Ok dad. You can have this book."
"but can we read it?"
"you can take it upstairs and put it in your room and you can read it."
"can I read it to you?"
"no."

We looked at the cover one more time, as if to say goodbye.
"He has a cool mustache," she noted, sounding like she was trying to ease the blow.

It was a subtle comfort. At least she can recognize a good mustache. We'll tackle bigotry another day.

I sat on the bed next to her and began to read. "Mom writes that we should come to tea. Let's go!" Miss Spider cried.


this is the first of two mustache themed posts in honor of JD and Kallie's nuptials and in anticipation of the 7th annual Shitkicker Invitation which will take place in Oakley this weekend.

it's a...

(So the ultra sound says....). We are really excited. And Sophie's joy is truly over the top! She really wanted a little baby sister. It was so fun to tell her. If only we could help her with a name choice.. her choices are leaving a little to be desired. Parker is still a bit oblivious- to be expected- he does say "baby girl" though and that is quite cute.

any excuse to grow a beard

(picture courtesy of neck n'nog promo shots- December 2006)

John hates to shave. Thus he likes to grow a beard - and does so in about a day. It is not that I don't like the look John of with a beard... I just don't really like to kiss him with a beard. (sorry if that is too much information, but it is true and relevant for this post.)

It all really started back in sixth grade (so i have heard- i wasn't there) when John sported a mustache and Pittsburgh Pirate sweats everyday. Back then he offered no excuses or apologies. Fast forward some years... there were beard rules. BYU- no beards. MTC teacher- no beards. Stien Eriksen Lodge Employee- no beards. (strangely all those organization's strict rules inexplicably allowed mustaches.) Thus began NOVEMBEARD. John's favorite fall tradition of growing a beard all November as some act of beard rebellion, I suppose- of course this always crept right into DECEMBEARD and by the Neck n' Nog Christmas party it could be shaped into some sort of weird facial hair. The past couple of years I have noticed that it really has begun around September- of course SEPTMEBEARD, OCTOBEARD.... you get the idea. If you ask me- John spends at least 6 months a year with a beard. Always an excuse... and sometimes they are pretty legit. (Like at Gardner's wedding when he told me that Cindy ok'ed it.)

Well he does have a good excuse this month. His mom Cori Connors- singer/songwriter extraordinaire was commissioned years ago to write a beautiful musical multimedia production about the early saints that crossed the seas . It is an hour long program that has amazing and heartfelt songs, and tells a beautiful story along the way. They are performing it this Pioneer Day Holiday at the Farmington Art Center. Let me just say- it will be well worth your time. You will not be disappointed, in fact you will be uplifted. Plus- it is in Farmington, and that is cool. Cori really is amazing. And a beard is "Saints on the Seas" timeline appropriate. All the early Saints pulled off really good facial hair- the men that is.

( performances July 23,24,and 25th at 8pm. $8 in advance/$10 at the door.No children under 4. The production will be recorded live. Cori has tickets, or I can get some for you. I think you can get them online too! try www.coriconnors.com, or www.farmington.utah.gov )

Make your way there. If for no other reason than you can see John with his beard, which he acts like never happens... but we all know it is a lot more common than he thinks! Hope to see you there!

p.s. honey- just shave it before beach week.

life is unfair...

...that is according to Parker. If only he could go with Sophie and her neighborhood pals to swimming lessons and summer preschool. I think he really believes he is four too. Maybe next summer... hang in there bud.

I love Farmington.

I took this picture after pulling out of my favorite Chevron in Farmington. ( it is my favorite because it has a drive up window for getting my daily diet coke!) Anyway- this is one of my favorite views in Farmington. It is just so beautiful. I think I was feeling "small town pride" because we just had left the annual Farmington Festival Days Parade. It was such a fun parade. The kids loved it, and actually so did I. The kids came home with bags full of candy,toys, stuffed animals, and treats! All stuff thrown along the parade route. When we first moved here I felt like it was temporary- but it seems the longer we are here the more I love it and I dont think I could ever leave! I love it here.
Now if only I could get someone in my family to leave Salt Lake and come live by me... here is to wishful thinking.

Forced Family Fun!

Boy have we been busy this summer! My family loves to joke that everytime we hang out it is "forced family fun". It really isn't forced and almost always qualifies as fun! ( I say that joking because sometimes it is only fun or funny after it is over.....story to follow.) At least it is never a dull moment. I love my family!Here are some of our recent adventures.

Lagoon !

I was so happy that Courtney and Adrianne were willing to go on this ride with my kids. I couldn't even watch them on it without feeling sick. I think Adrianne and Dan are the ultimate "theme park" people. It is like theme parks were made for them... and vice versa. If you are going to a theme park- consider taking them along. You will not be disappointed and neither will your children. The only downside I can see is that maybe your kids won't want to come home with you.

John and Sophie on a ride. That before it started John got off of. Like I said, Just take A and Dan.

Family Reunion to Zion's National Park

This was a fun little trip to my Mom's family reunion. To save on gas (and of course be more green), Adrianne and I came up with a great plan to smoosh our two families into one car. In order to make that work we sent Annie ahead with my parents and then climbed into A's car. It certainly was fun and we just might do it again.

It was fun to see some of my Mom's cousins that I remember from when I was little. They are really fun. But the most memorable adventure was all of us attempting to hike to the Emerald Pools inside Zions. (Though we did miss Courtney and Scott who went on their own hike!) What we thought was a 45 minute paved walk to a "pool" turned into a couple hour ordeal. To say the least we were caught very unprepared. We ran out of water. My two sisters were in flip flops. My mom was carrying this huge purse the whole way. Sophie was beyond hysterical and a wimp. We lost my dad when he stopped to talk to some Germans, and we didn't see him again for two hours. In attempt to cool down we decided to go to the very top which was VERY uphill because we kept hearing that the third emerald pool was the biggest and you could get in and cool off. Get in we did. Afterwards we spent $60 on ice cream to cool down and then bought a bunch of french fries and diet coke. It was by far one of my favorite " forced family fun" activities in a long time. (At least now that it is over- way over!) I still crack up everytime I think about my mom carrying her huge purse on this hike. I think everyone that passed us wondered what in the world we were doing. And honestly- we were really wondering the same thing!

John and Parker in one of the little slots along the hike.

Adrianne and Nicole at the top. I think that they look like polygamists in this picture. Ha ha!

This is the last uphill to the pool at the top. Just an idea of the terrain here.

I felt a little white trash when my kids stripped down to nothing to get in the water- and then realized it was well worth it. I think if we had been the only family there it could have gone to that for everyone.

The view was amazing! It really was pretty even though it was kind of more that we thought we were going to be doing. (Notice my Mom's rather large purse that she carried! Ha ha ha.) And yes... Where is my dad you say? We didn't know! (turns out he was running up and down the mountain trying to find us...)

At least Parker was comfy. He fell asleep on the way back down.

Well- Zions... We will be back, but most likely without our children and in a different season, and at least with better shoes and more water.

And Lagoon- we love you and will always return.

Love the forced family fun. Can't wait to see what we do next!