Bye Bye Love

I am a big believer in binkies. All of my kids had them and adored them. Will often had to have one in each hand and one in his mouth before calling it a night.

Each one of my kids had special names for their loves. Will affectionately referred to his as his "Muh", Ben named his "kiky" and Max's was "kikers". They loved them!

There is a window in which you can take them away and I think we waited too long with all of them. Partially because we weren't ready for the heartache that was to follow. When we would put Will to bed after he was in a twin, we often had to lock him in his room. Well, to torture us, but it only hurt him, he would slide his out underneath his door. It was the funniest thing!

Thanksgiving Eve was the last time Max got to put a kikers in his mouth. He didn't even get to say goodbye. We always left them home, only letting him have them in his bed. Well, after he threw up on the way to dinner, he fell asleep on Mark without his love. That night, after returning home, we laid Max in his bed without a binky. He lovingly asked for one, but I plainly told him that he couldn't have one. All he said was "okay mommy." What an obedient child! He's napped great without it and slept at night without it. He has been a dream. Today he's been a little ornery and he asked for one before church. I graciously declined. So, tonight I'm going to throw them away.

I'm very excited for the extra space on my shelf all those "kikers" have been taking up. I'm also excited for that ugly rash to disappear around Max's mouth. He's had that rash for weeks and it won't go away. Now it will!!

GO UTES!!

Last Saturday Mark and I left the kids with his parents and ran away. We went to a late lunch at Happy Sumo with Sarah and Kevin to help them celebrate their 12th anniversary.

Anyways, I just wanted to let everyone know that we were there. We were at the best game of the season. We have season tickets and have for three years. It is so much fun to go to the games. Last year we bought tickets for everyone in our family, but this year, we upgraded our seats and just got two. Mark was able to take the kids on a little date night with dad. They loved it! Will went to the TCU/Blackout game and Ben went to the Oregon State game. I was able to go to the rest of the games. The kids really wanted to go to the BYU game, but I got to choose. And, because the weather was nice and not snowy, I chose myself. They were a bit disappointed, but they got to go have a party with everyone and watch the game in a warm house!



The game was AWESOME! And, I usually don't watch too much of the games. I like to watch the people - they are so much more interesting.

Too bad Mark can't leave work for year end or else he'd be in New Orleans or Arizona cheering on his Alma mater. GOOOO UTES!

He's watched the game in HD at least twice times since the game. And, he won't let me delete it off Tivo because he plans on watching it again. Tonight he is watching clips on You Tube. The kid is obsessed!

The Rack

Nordstrom Rack is opening a new location in Sandy, just East of South Town Mall!!! I am so excited. Check this out.

Raingutter Regatta Hijinx

Lisa couldn't bring herself to write about this event - so you get me (Mark) instead. The annual(?) Cub Scout Raingutter Regatta was tonight. Over the past few days, Will and I worked together to craft his vessel. He particularly enjoyed using the electric sander to smooth out the hull and painting it five or six different colors.

He christened his craft the Pokemon Ship and we were off to the event. As the heats unfolded, it became apparent that we had chosen a somewhat unorthodox (and apparently illegal) design. I was a bit surprised to find this out since I had specifically called the Scoutmaster to find out if there were any rules a few days ago. At that time, he suggested we sort of just go for it and so we did.

Since this was our first crack at the Regatta, I did the obligatory Google search and discovered some very serious (insane?) Regatta enthusiasts out there. Some have devised their own super-secret designs for dual-hulled Raingutter Catamarans and other offered custom regatta kits and plans for sale. Honestly, it was a bit overwhelming.

Ultimately, I fell back on lessons learned during my three-year run of undefeated Pinewood Derby cars from my time in Cub Scouts. Back then, I learned that you wanted as little resistance as possible, so Will worked very hard to sand and shape the boat to glide through the water easily. I also recalled the concept that it was best to have the weight in the back, so we pushed the metal keel as far back as possible. This changed the balance of the boat and kind of made it plane on the water rather than nose dive into the water as many of the other boats did.

The last improvement was what ended up being the most controversial. I figured that the key to winning was stability. So we skipped using the mast and glued the sail directly to the boat causing it to stand up in a semi circle, perpendicular to the hull of the boat. This created a nice little pocket to catch the air and since it wasn't so far up in the air, the boat didn't tip like the others. It was also very firm. So as Will blew, the sail didn't really bend.

So..... the result was that most of Will's heats ended up with a margin of victory about like the one in the photo below.

Fortunately in the end, they really didn't make a big of a deal about who won or lost, and everyone had a great time. Will went home very happy after having won every race he ran.

So now... I am "that guy." The guy who takes it all too seriously, or something. I guess I'd better get working on next year's design. I have a reputation to uphold.

Cookie Anyone?

The germs will cook out, right?

Happy Halloween

We had a great Halloween. Monday evening we went to the Garden After Dark at Red Butte Gardens. We went with my sister Karyn and Jon and their kids Charlie and Lily. My brother Kenny also went with Camden and Emerson. The kids had such a great time! It was perfect for them, not scary at all!

Max, Charlie and Camden playing in the Children's Garden.

Making grass monsters - Ben, Max, Will and Lily in the beautiful yellow wig.

Black light - the kids loved this part, our teeth looked crazy yellow, just like Lily's wig!

Will and Max with their spider hats.


So, with my kids being off track, we sometimes go to my mom's school for the Halloween parade. So, this year we obliged and headed to her school Thursday morning. All of her kids were so anxious to meet Will and Ben. They'd heard so much about them!

Will and Ben even got to stay for their class party! My mom was a fly-fisher woman, walking around in her whole get up that Steve gave her while they were dating.

We've all been a little sick around our house the past couple of weeks. A flu bug that bugged us all, but not Mark. He lucked out! Unfortunately, Will came down with it on Halloween afternoon. He didn't feel much like dressing up. He wouldn't even let me paint his face. He was the "Skull Reaper", Ben was Batman and Max was an elephant and Winnie the Pooh. He decided to change halfway through the night.

As you can see, Max was a little tired. Once we got some candy in his system, he was good to go!

Will managed to get semi-dressed and Mark took them around our neighborhood. The night was so nice. I sat on the porch, reading a book and handing out candy. It was great!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Election Map Fun

The election map part starts about 1 minute in. Just a little somthing to make you laugh. I know you'll all be thinking of this skit tonight as we watch the results!

End of Season

It's official, Will's first football season has come to an end. They had a great season and really learned a lot about the game. Mark was Will's coach and loved every minute of it. I wasn't silent about not liking the time away from the family. It was hard. They were gone a lot and it kept us grounded at home. Practice started the end of July, and just barely stopped.

Mark is planning on coaching next year, this time with both Will and Ben on the team. He hasn't admitted it to me yet. I think he is keeping it secret so he can have a good holiday/spring/early summer with me!!! Is that bad?

It was a great bonding time with Mark and Will. And, I loved watching the games (when I could). Max wasn't really interested.

Now.....on to basketball! (I NEED A GIRL!)