Happy Working Song

I have a lot to do today.

Lots of things to finish up.

Lots of things to gather up.

Busy as a bee - that's mee!

Anyway . . . . .

I decided to do my work

to the Happy Working Song.

It helped the work go faster - much faster.

Now I'm done - hmmm - what shall I do now?

I'll tell you later.

Happy Fourth of July!

Let me be the first to wish you a very happy 4th of July! We went to the 43rd Annual Firecracker Softball Tournament. At 9:00 on Friday night they have fireworks. The teams who are playing at the time just stop their games and assemble in the outfield for a great view of the show. (It sort of reminds me of the movie "The Sandlot".) They tournament is the weekend before the 4th of July - but make no mistake it is a great 4th of July fireworks show.

We headed over to Rose Mofford Sport Complex at about 8:10. This year Dad remembered his APS badge so we had lit and gated parking. We walked in with camping chairs, a jug of water, and our camera at about 8:40. But instead of setting our chairs up in the first field we came to we just kept on walking. We were going to watch a little softball before the fireworks. There was lots of space on the bleachers. We climbed right up to the top row. We saw one pitch and a young girl swing for the fence - but got nothing but air. Then the umpire started standing on the plate and fidgeting and stalling. The lights on the other fields were going out and it was apparent that the show would be starting soon.

The beauty of this show is that there are no crowds to speak of. We parked very close by with tons of parking options. The walk to the bleachers took maybe 5 minutes. It is FREE. And you are very close to the fireworks shoot off spot. I mean anyone in the park would think they had VIP 1st row seats. Some of you might worry about the heat - after the sun goes down it usually isn't that miserable - and don't forget "its a dry heat".

Anyway, enjoy the show! (You might notice a beautiful full moon in the videos.)

HAPPY 4th of JULY!!!

Tiny Frog

This tiny frog greeted us at the door of our fancy hotel in Orlando. Cute!

Actually it greeted us one too many times.

The second time it didn't quite hop away fast enough.

It became a flattened tiny frog - SORRY!

Sick

We must be sick.

Our house seems to be filled with fever.

World Cup Fever!

Scott has it really bad.

Luckily for us we'll be all better after July 11th.

SOCKS

Does anybody remember the socks Scott got for Christmas? Lindsey or Rob? Do you remember? Yes, those ones - the soccer socks. Have you tried to forget?

Let me fill everyone in. Lindsey and Rob were here for Christmas. They bought a gift for Scott. A thoughtful gift. A nice colorful pair of soccer socks. And we all know how much Scott likes soccer (World Cup, big party at our house, watching 5 am games on the Spanish station, face tattoos, etc.). Back to the story. When he opened the socks we sensed something was wrong - very wrong. And sure enough the socks were a little small. Actually they were kids soccer socks. We all got a good laugh out of that.

Well, Sunday was Fathers' Day - not Ultimate Fathers' Day - just Fathers' Day. And so there were gifts here for the Father of the house - Doug. He got a couple of shirts and a pair of pants from me. Scott wrote a nice poem and gave him a gift card. Then Isaac gave him some - wait for it - socks. And immediately I sensed something was wrong - very wrong. They were small - very small. I started to giggle and couldn't stop. Then the giggle became a real belly laugh. My eyes started to water and , well you know. I was having a laughing fit and couldn't stop. Everyone was looking at me with blank stares. I tried to explain that I was remembering the soccer sock incident - but that was probably a little white lie. What I was thinking was this - "We have another soccer sock incident happening here."

Now in Isaac's defense when he bought socks I told him to make sure they weren't really big ones. Doug has small feet and sometimes that is a problem. So I told him to look close and be sure to pick out smaller socks. And sure enough he did just that. Doug put the socks on and assured us all that they fit him. But I still had my suspicions. Later in the day when I was alone and upon close inspection of the label there was a background picture of a kid on it. So my first impression was correct. He had indeed bought kids socks for his dad. And they probably will fit him at least until they go through the wash a couple of times- a grown man wearing kids medium socks - not information that everyone needs to know. Oh well, it's too late now.

MIM

Holly is Scott's friend. They went through the same program at BYU together. She ended up here in the Phoenix area working at a museum - the MIM. The MIM stands for Musical Instruments Museum. The museum had displays and videos and instruments used in many different countries. The displays were grouped by continents and then countries. This museum was getting ready to open and Holly gave Scott some free pre-opening tickets. I expressed some interest in going so we arranged to meet out there one day at lunch. It is waaayyy over in Scottsdale. But we met up over there and went in. We were issued some earphones and a receiver and given some verbal instructions and were off.

Mom and I have quite a lot of experience with using earphone devices from our time in England. But with those we always had to make sure we started our device at the same time so that we were listening to and looking at the correct items at the same time. The earphones at the MIM were automatic - as you approached a display the information from that specific display was being broadcast and the receiver would pick it up. So that you could look at the museum in any particular order and get the correct information because it would receive it as you approached any of the displays. Pretty Cool!

Anyway, one of the main things I wanted to see was the Octo Bass. That means a bass that was 8 times the normal size - something like that. We ran into that right at the beginning. That was neat. Then we were off to see all the country displays. We really enjoyed it and thought everything was cool. We were a little limited in time there because Scott had to scoot off to work - but on the way out we met up with Holly and she showed us a really cool area downstairs that we didn't know about. It was the hands on area with instruments to handle and some you could try. The giant gong was another one of our favorite stops.

When we left they let us keep our free entry tickets to share them with anyone else who we thought might enjoy using them. I gave one set to the Marbles in the Black Canyon Ward - she loves music and instruments. I don't know if they ever used the tickets or not. But I gave another pair to a friend at tennis. She loves music too. Turns out her sister was in town from Colorado and they were looking for things to do. Better yet - her sister plays the bass in the symphony where she lives. They did go to the MIM and totally loved it. Then this lady took her gentleman friend with her a different day and loved it even more. So that was a real hit.

I guess I need to thank Holly for the tickets. The MIM is a unique museum with a good hook - music and instruments from around the world. I bet it is a hit for field trips for schools.

Dead Plants

Due to Evan's Graduation, Zachary's Birth, and the Atlantis' Launch I was away from home for nearly a month. I had cooked quite a few things ahead so the guys here would have some easy dinners ready to go. I mean the freezer was loaded. Do you think watering my plants while I was gone would be asking too much? I didn't have many - 3 outside on the porch and 3 in the kitchen. A little sip every once in a while would have kept them alive. Let me answer that question with this picture:

I had been doing great in keeping this poinsettia alive and looking healthy. But sadly this guy didn't live through my absence. The other plants managed to hang in there and have revived nicely. But I do miss my poinsettia. Now I'm down to 3 plants outside and 2 plants inside.


Note to self - I still need to write notes so jobs get done when I am out of town - especially if I want to avoid coming home to dead plants.

The Grill

Our full-sized propane grill didn't do well when we moved one year ago. It is in pieces in the backyard - why is it still here? Anyway, it hasn't functioned for at least a year. So we haven't been able to do any grilling. I think we used it quite a bit - we really need to replace it.

But in it's absence I still wanted to have hamburgers and hot dogs for dinner tonight. The missionaries are coming to dinner and I thought they might like them. So I got my ladder and got up in the highest cabinet that I have and retrieved an electric grill that mom bought at her community yard sale some time ago. I never tried it - but for some reason today I remembered it and decided to give it a whirl.

It grilled the burgers to perfection!

And the hot dogs were perfectly cooked on the rotisserie accessory. Enjoy the pictures and videos that support my two-thumbs up evaluation of the grill.

Yes this little grilling appliance is definitely a keeper.

Thanks MOM!

P.S. One of the best parts about the grill is that it completely disassembles so that each piece can be cleaned up with ease. Wonderful!

The Launch

You all know that the main reason we planned a vacation to Florida was to watch the space shuttle Atlantis launch into orbit.

We did it and here is our video record of that event.

We were there with just 40,000 other people to watch the launch.

Jumping Fish

On our first day to Florida we went to the coast to check out possible launch viewing spots. As we were leaving we noticed something plop in the water. It turned out to be Jumping Fish. We stopped to check it out and this is what we saw.

The size of the fish is still being debated. My guess is closer to 8 inches or maybe 10. Doug usually spreads his hands way out to nearly 2 feet. Uncle Paul seems to be in closer agreement to what Doug says. I guess we'll never know for sure.

P.S. No worries - I am starting a comic book to document this trip but I can't put a video in the book. So I thought this blog entry was needed. Plus my "free time" is less now that I'm RS President so don't hold your breath. I'll get it done when I get it done.

Temperature Check

It is remarkably cooler than yesterday. It is 2 pm and the thermometer is reading only 87 degrees. I'm pretty sure the windows will be opened tonight.

P.S. USA vs. England just ended in a tie!

Should I?

I finally got my account of our Florida Trip typed up. The question is this: Should I make a comic book or not? Anyone who wants to vote must leave a comment. I may be persuaded to make a comic book version if I get enough "YES" votes.

Relief

Hey, remember my blog about how hot it is getting here? Well we are getting some relief. The weather forecast for today is only 98 degrees - not even 3 digits! Then tomorrow is 91 - we'll see if that really happens. And maybe one more day under the 100 mark.

All those 90's spell:

R E L I E F ! ! !

Stroll

This early morning when I took my leisurely stroll down the driveway to retrieve the newspaper, I was made plainly aware that we live a short stones throw from a cattle ranch. One whiff and my stroll became a jog - that's not easy to do while holding your breath. PEEWWWW!!

The Heat

After having a gloriously mild May (I wouldn't know because I was gone for almost the whole month) June is, ummmm, well, HOT!! Yes folks the heat is here. It has come in force and I'm sure it plans on staying through September and probably into October. Heck that's only 4 months from now. We can hang in there that long.

The thing is, we know it is going to be hot. We plan on about 6 months of heat. We accept it and learn how to deal with it. But sometimes we just have to complain a little bit about the heat anyway. The other day it got to about 110. That is really hot. To me - once it hits 110 it doesn't matter how much hotter it gets. It is just plain unbearable. But to be out and about at 7:00 or 7:30 at night, with the sun down, and the darkness making a quick march across the valley - you wouldn't think it should be still be 100 degrees still. But it is. There is no relief from the wall of heat that settles down on the valley.

These days we just try to keep things comfortable in the house without going broke - sometimes that is a challenge! We tend to stay inside a lot. We also pray that the Air Conditioning keeps working, that the electricity doesn't fail us, and that the temperatures don't get into the 120's.

That, my friends, is ridiculously hot!

Catching Up #6 - Reams

Is a trip to Springville complete without a trip to Reams? I think not.

I did make a few trips to Reams in the car. But the memorable trips were walking with Sadie.

Here was the routine:

1. Every time we went it was cold and windy - sometimes a little rainy too. So we would get all bundled up.

2. We would exit the back door and into the sagging garage to get to the jogging stroller - not that I planned on jogging. I would pump up the back tires as much as possible. Then we would load Sadie, strap her in, and be off.

3. We always went the same way. We would see the same pretty flowers. The trees had some nice smelling blossoms on them. Crossing Center Street sometimes took a few minutes - the traffic was unusually heavy due to construction on 4th East. We were "greeted" loudly and vigorously by a very big and aggressive dog. We would see the kids playing at the school we passed. Then we knew we were almost there.

4. Sadie always wanted out of the stroller in Reams but I brought a sucker and that seemed to keep her in the stroller and occupied. I quickly picked out the needed items stacking them carefully on and around Sadie. Then a quick stop at the bakery for 2 delicious doughnuts for the road.

5. After paying for the groceries and tucking them in the stroller we would exit the store. I would pass out the pastries and we would eat them on the way home.

6. I always got Sadie a sugar doughnut and she loved it. She would eat it much like a cob of corn - making sure she had a good sugar load in every bite. It was messy - but oh, so good! That doughnut got us all the way back home - past the kids at the school, the guard dog, traffic on Center, and the flowers and blossoming trees.

7. Sometimes on the way home I would discover that one or both of the back tires were getting dangerously low on air and would resort to jogging so that I would arrive home before the need to pump up the tires again.

8. Once home we needed to de-sugar Sadie. There was sugar in the stroller seat, on Sadie's pants, on her hands and fingers, all over her face, and even in her hair.

That, my friends, is your successful trip to Reams.

Catching Up #5 - Sleep

My trip to Utah and sleep:



1. Calvin doesn't sleep much during the day. I'm not sure about his night-time sleeping - but his naps were scarce. Getting him to nap took some concentrated effort. Then when he did fall to sleep you didn't dare put him down or shift him in any way. That would instantly cause him to open those pretty blue eyes and refuse to sleep any longer.

2. Usually when Doug and I travel to Utah we bring our own blow up air mattress and we have sweet dreams while commandeering the Kevan's living room floor. But having traveled to Utah by airplane didn't afford me that opportunity. So I commandeered their couch for my place of repose. And for the most part I slept very well.

3. I think Rob and Lindsey were on sleep deprivation mode during most of my visit there. They welcomed little Zac into their home and he immediately altered their sleep patterns. I heard him once in a while but he didn't wail or scream enough to make me lose my beauty sleep (thank goodness because I need all that I can get). But in the morning when it was time to get up I could see the evidence of night awakeness. Usually it was the 4 or 5 diapers sitting in the hall that had been filled up during the night that gave it away. But despite their lack of sleep they managed to keep it all together.

4. Sadie and sleep. I could write a book. She is a character. She has a toddler bed that she can get in and out of. She has that thing packed as full as she can with her things. She can't sleep unless every one of her things are present and accounted for. Sometimes she takes inventory after she is put to bed and is missing something she calls for help with getting it just right - one way to make adult contact after bedtime. A partial list of her things: several dolls, various blankies, bucket of specific books. an empty bowl (because she had the throw-ups once and now can't sleep without the bowl), her "guys" (small plastic people), a sippy cup of water, I know there was so much more but now I can't recall any more.


Anyway, I will detail specific incidents below:


A. When I got there they had a knob cover on the inside of her door so she couldn't come out on her own. Then if she needed some attention she would knock on the door and they would come answer it. But her knock was so soft. When they left to the hospital I was in charge and didn't know if I could hear that tiny soft knock so I left the door cracked. She did pretty good that night. She came out a few times but I used the Nanny method and before long she stayed in bed.


B. When her parents came back there was no turning back to shutting the door - SORRY. So they had to work through her new freedom. She would get up and play in the bedroom. She kept coming to the door. Sometimes she would just stand there and look through the crack. But back and forth it went. Patience was needed. Lindsey and Rob did very well with it all. But sometimes this went on for hours - literally. She would go to bed at 7 and by 9 she would still be roaming in her room and at the door. Sometimes she would get into the dresser drawers and inventory her bibs. Sometimes she would take off her own pull-ups and put new ones on. I mean she was busy in there. The main thing was they needed her to stay in bed. So when they had pretty much run out of patience and I was just trying not to laugh about the situation we came up with a plan. Put her to bed with the warning that, "if you get up we are going to have to take something from your bed." They made it clear. It took her about 3 seconds to follow them to the door. So Lindsey put her back to bed and took a pair of doll shorts that were not on the doll but just laying in the bed. Screams followed. How could she sleep without those? Sadie's life had been shattered! She ran to the door following Lindsey out - screaming all the while. "Oh, oh. Now I have to take something else because you didn't stay in bed. Darn." She went back and found something else like a spoon and took it. She screamed and cried louder and harder but she stayed in bed. And before too long the crying stopped and she was asleep. Anway, this method seemed to work pretty well. It was pretty fun watching it all take place. Now I am laughing about the whole thing.



Sadie is pretty smart - so Lindsey and Rob have to be smart too and just stay one or two steps ahead of her. If they don't, Sadie will be running the house and pretty soon - she'll be taking over the world!


Pinky: "Gee, Brain, what do you want to do tonight?"The Brain: "The same thing we do every night, Pinky—try to take over the world!"