What a Way to Spend a Saturday

Last Saturday we met my dad at Riverton High School. My dad is the Speech and Debate Coach for Emery High School, and Speech Meet season is in full swing. What does this mean? It means that every weekend from January until March he will be at a different school around the state coaching and encouraging his students. There are many different events that his students participate in from, Student Congress to Dramatic Interp.



As a former student of Emery High School I also participated in said speech meets. My main strength was Oratory Speaking and I actually placed at the state meets each year. My dad says that I was, "very good". I know it may be hard to believe that I could throw down some mean speeches and debates, but it's true.



Not only that, but as a small girl I traveled the speech circut with my dad. Some of my earliest memories are of "helping" him at speech meets. When I got older I was actually helpful and just he and I would run entire region competitions. Our organization communication skills are very good, and could keep events and tabulations moving at a fast pace. Take my word for it, it's pretty impressive.



So, I thought my kids would like a little taste of the speech meet culture, this is why we were at Riverton High School. They were pretty impressed by the Wolf statues (Riverton Silverwolves), and the common's area steps were really good for running and jumping.


Carter kept yelling, "I FEED THE WOLFSES!" At the top of his lungs. Which was barely audible with all the other speech student related noise.




Trying to keep these two off the statues was futile. I finally gave up, and just started taking pictures. Cali didn't want to leave, and ran off into the catacombs of the high school halls. She was eventually located by the concession stand girl. I didn't know if I should hug her or beat her.






Here he is, famous debate coach and writer extrodinare. Take a look at all the "stuff" thrown everywhere. This is just part of the speech meet life. Dump your stuff and run off to your rounds to get your debate on!



In all seriousness, I must say that my dad has been doing this for literally all my life. He holds the record for the most trophies and competitions won in the history of college debate. I think he won almost 200 trophies in less than 2 years. No small feat. He has been improving the public speaking skills of generations of students. He has also written 20+ original humerous readings, many of which have won state competitons.

Happy Birthday Brittany!

My sister-in-law Brittany is serving a mission in Sweden. Today is her birthday so I thougtht I'd post some pictures from the last time we saw her. Both Cali and Carter were sad to see her go, but they are happy and proud that she is on a mission. She is a great sister and friend, and is taking the country of Sweden by storm.

Churro: The Sign of a True Costco Member

Speechless

What would you do if you walked into your daughter's (Cali not Carter) room and saw this scene? What kind of conversations do you think this picture may bring up in the future? I was speechless, and then I couldn't quit laughing, and then I grabbed the camera.

Stick to What You Know

The title of this post is a High School Musical reference. You HSM lovers will recognize it from the musical lunchroom scene where kids are being pressured to "stick to what they know". This is my very favorite part of the whole movie. The song is catchy, the dancing is great and I'm a sucker for musical productions. Especially when they spontaneously erupt in a lunchroom. Also because it's really easy in life for us to "stick to what we know". It can be hard to try new things.

Well, in an attempt to try something new, I give you painted wood blocks!

Ok, so it's not that impressive to most, but I have NEVER painted anything (except walls). A friend of mine (Adrienne) kept asking me if I had any interest in taking up a wood painting hobby, my reply....NO! Then I decided it might be fun to try something new. Here's how it went down!

• Went to the Wood Connection (90th ish South and somewhere between I-15 and state)
• Nearly had a panic attack at the sight of all the wood, wood shavings, wood paints, project ideas and wood fumes.
• Picked the most simple and least expensive thing possible.
• Sat the blank wood blocks on my table for a few days and just looked at them.
• Picked the paint colors from Adrienne's endless and massive supply of paints.
• Waited a few more days and just stared at the blocks and the colors.
• Finally went her house for my first painting lesson.
• Stained the blocks, painted the letters, painted the blocks, glued the letters on the blocks, let dry for a few hours.

Will I paint again? Not sure. Was it worth trying something new? Sure!

Papa Sprinkley

I'm not entirely sure where we (my family) came up with the name "Papa Sprinkley", but over the years it has become our term of endearment for President Hinckley. I was saddened last night to hear of his passing, but felt a sense of peace as well. I am so glad that I was able to grow in the gospel as President Hinckley moved the church to new heights during his presidency. Although my kids will never know him, their lives will be effected by the good work he did while on the earth.

"Forget yourself and get to work!"

We Are Freakin' Freezin' Here!

There's really not much else that needs to be said. Other than, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU Adrienne and Dave for letting us use your snowblower!

Tiny Fists of Fury

Carter loves to "play" the Wii at grandma Vicki's house. He really gets into it, and it's pretty hilarious. Check out out his arms and face in the following pictures. Boxing is serious business!

Painting Day

We have to have a painting day every so often. There was paint, paper and children everywhere. It was fun for everyone!

What Do You Want To Be When You Grow Up?

Today Cali said to me, "mom have you ever thought about what you want to be when you grow up?" I told her that I was pretty close to being a grown up, and I still ask myself that question quite frequently. Then she said, "Well mom here are some options. Teacher, missionary, astronaut or a singer." I asked her which one she was going to be and she told me that she is going to be a singer.

I thought about it for a while and came to the realization that by being a mother I could be all of those things. I am definitely a teacher, or at least I try to be. I could also be a missionary, just getting my kids to sit still in church is a mission in and of it's self. As for the astronaut, if you consider all the personal mental and emotional exploration we do as mothers, then I'm sure I've been to the moon and back. And like Cali, I can be a singer too. Although not a famous one, I have been known to sing primary and silly songs all day.

So, what are you going to be.......today?

Oven Mitts

Last week we decided to make chocolate chip cookies. A very dangerous thing at our house, mainly because I have no "off" switch when it comes to baked goods. Cali took a couple dozen to preschool for her sharing bag treat, and Christian ate a bunch while I was at work. So, thankfully most of them were gone by the time I got home.

However, that's not what this blog post is about. It's about oven mitts. You know what they are, and you might even have some old wedding gift ones in your drawer. Like the ones Carter is sporting in this picture. For some reason both of my kids have an obsession with oven mitts. When Cali was a two year old she fell in love with the Arby's mascot. At the time it was an oven mitt. She named it "Ovie" and carried around an empty Arby's cup with a picture of the oven mitt printed on the front. I guess Carter is following in her footsteps. Although, he hasn't gone so far as to name his. The drawer is just in the right place for him to open and fish out any random mismatched oven mitts.

When he saw me taking the cookies out of the oven, he had a perfect chance to get his hands on some oven mitts. He wore them the rest of the night. The only reason he took them off was because he couldn't pick up his cookies with them on!

Oquirrh Mountain Utah Temple

Temples are not at all uncommon in the Salt Lake Valley, or in Utah for that matter. You can pretty much drive down I-15 and see at least four from Bountiful to Provo. However, it's not everyday that you see one built from the ground up. This is a picture of the Oquirrh Mountain Utah Temple. It's located on 118th (ish) South and Bangerter Hwy. I see it everytime I go to Target or the Hobby Lobby. My kids enjoy seeing all the construction and love to take note that it's getting bigger and bigger.

My mom wanted a few pictures of it for a talk she was giving, so I snapped these last week. I may start taking a few each month and posting the progress as it gets closer to completion. If you want to see what the finished product will look like, click here.

Think Before You Speak

Think before you speak. It's something that my mother taught (or tried to teach) me at a very young age. She always said that there was a flap inside your brain that stopped your thoughts from coming out of your mouth (I'm a visual learner). She said that some people don't have the flap and some do. Some of us that do must constantly make sure that we use it. Which means we should think before we speak.

Case in point. A month or so ago I went to a church program for the young women in our ward. Afterwards we were cleaning up the chairs and putting the room back together. A member of the bishopric said to me and Audrey, "So what's this blogging thing all about? Is it like the new soap opera or what?" Not missing a beat I said, "No there's not near enough of sex." Or something just as ridiculous implying that blogging couldn't be the "new soap opera" because there wasn't enough sex in blogging. I know I know. It's about the dumbest thing ever to say to someone. Let a lone a member of the bishopric. To make it even worse. I had totally forgotten about the whole exchange until last night at card club (more to come from the card party). Audrey and Tami were talking about it, and I seriously hadn't thought another thing of it until last night.

So tonight I am asking myself. Self, what is worse? Making thoughtless, obnoxious and random comments. OR. Making them so often that it takes a month before you even remember that you made one. How many other ridiculous things have I said that I don't remember? I obviously need to work on this area. My mother would be so disappointed to know that my flap was not working at all that night.

I am recommitting myself to think before I speak. To put a little more thought into what I say, and not just let everything I want to say fly from my mouth. I'll let you know how it goes.

Princess Polly Pockets (Say That Three Times Fast)

Cali has been in love with all things Disney Princess since she was just a little girl. I forced my love of Disney on her before she even knew what it was. Now that she's actually been to Disneyland the love has just grown stronger. While we were there we bought a Cinderella polly pocket-like play set. She played with it while we were on our vacation and we made it home without losing one tiny piece. In fact, to this day she's never lost a piece....not even a tiny shoe. This year for Christmas she got Sleeping Beauty (from Carter), Belle (from Grandma Vicki), and Ariel (from Grandma Gwenny). She plays with them all the time. Hours and hours of quiet enjoyment for the both of us.

Party Peacocks

When we went to Castle Dale for our post holiday partying Carter got into Grandpa Neal's shot glasses. Now, here's the real irony. Grandpa Neal is not a drinker....and never has been. So why the shot glasses you ask? Well, he started collecting them a long time ago. When we were on vacations, or when he would go different places, he would always buy a shot glass from that location. You can usually pick up one for under $10.00, so it turned into a really affordable way to get a souvenir from EVERYWHERE. The collection has grown over the years and is pretty massive. It's fun to look through them and remember all the fun places we've been as a family. Carter loves them. He lines them up and looks at the pictures on each one. He's careful to hold them without breaking them (which is a pretty huge miracle right there). This particular visit he really got the idea of putting them up his lips and throwing his head back. It was pretty hilarious.


ps. These are some of the first pictures I took with my new camera. So I'm not sure what's going on with the scary shiny eyes, but whatever!

Good News and Bad News

Which do you want first? The good news or the bad news? I'll start with the good.

Good News! Christian and I got a new camera for Christmas.
Bad News! My computer (trusty, yet old) is too outdated to upload the pictures directly from the camera.

Good News! I can get my pictures put on a disk at Costco and use them from there.
Bad News! This will get old and will slow down the blog quite a bit.

Good News! I need a new computer.
Bad News! I need a new computer.

Cali's Christmas: Round Two

Cali got a pair of Nike Shox from her grandma Vicki. Have you ever seen someone so excited to get a pair of shoes? A girl after my own heart.

Carter's New Favorite Shirt

He tried to open everyone gifts while screaming ,"Cars! More Cars!" He was very excited when a gift had some "Cars" in it.

How many days in a row should a two year old wear the same shirt? If there's not a maximum capacity on that, then I'm going to just keep putting it on him in the morning.

Speaking of a two year old. I went into Carter's bedroom on Wednesday morning because he's usually up by 7:30am. (I hadn't heard him jumping around in there) I opened the door and said, "Carter? Are you still fast asleep?" He shot up out of bed and said, "No mom, I'm fast as you can." And that's how we started the morning.

Side Note

I either really love my hair like this or I really hate it. I was going for a sexy-messy-slept on-but styled look. I don't really know if I achieved this or not. I think I may have just created an ode to San Rafael Jr. High (Go Bulldogs!). Not sure?

Back From a Blogging Hiatus

The first few weeks of this year have been just as crazy as the end of last year. We always celebrate Christmas with our families after the New Year. It's become a family tradition and just when you think Christmas is over........we have a repeat........twice. Here's a quick run down.

December 31: Drive to Price to party with the Pollastro's. Eat too much food. Open more presents. Give the presents that have been sitting under my tree for an extra week. Eat more. Party all night playing the Wii (I either really need to get one of these, or I really don't. Things are always more fun after 2:00am.)

January 1: Wake up at 7:00am. (Yeah, that hurt a little). Drive to Castle Dale to party with the Peacocks. Eat way too much....again. Open presents, give presents, have a small nap (not me, Christian while "watching" football) Meet my brother's girl friend (would you be intimidated if the person you were dating had 4 feisty sisters) she held her own. Put the PJ's on the kids and drive home through the night.

January 2: Wake up at 7:00am. (This one really hurt) Get Cali ready for school. Take her to school (her teacher probably thought she was drunk). I will be blogging about a funny story that happened on this preschool day. Hang out the rest of the day. Clean up the rest of the Christmas crap. Cali and Christian hit the mall (now she's really drunk and tired and ready for bed).

January 3: Wake up at 5:00am (By this point I don't really know if I'm coming or going). Go to work. Work. Come home. Work out (It's about time).

January 4: Wake up at 5:00am (Seriously, it's getting a little ridiculous). Have a stabbing pain in my side. Pretty sure that I need my appendix removed. Go to work. (The pain goes away, probably just really really bad intestine problems from my eating, lack of sleeping, and only one work out). Go to Park City after work. Shop into the night.

January 5: Wake up at 6:00am (Who really needs sleep at this point). Work out. Bethany and Tyler come over (They live in the SLC now). I may blog more about this too. Drive to Ftn. Green to visit my Grandma Cook (aka My favorite person ever!). Hang out with her all day. Drive home.

January 6: Church. This is always an adventure.

January 7: Happy Birthday Jayna!

January 8: Finally got my you know what together.....sort of.