Crappy Day

A friend emailed this video to me. I have had some pretty crappy days in my life. However, I don't think I have ever had one that compares with this. I am thinking that the only one who wears a white shirt and tie on a construction site is the inspector. It looks like some workers are about to have a pretty crappy day as well.

Listen for the "GOLLY, GOLLY, GOLLY"....who is that, Gomer Pyle?

New Threads

I was going to take Tinkerbell dress shopping this Saturday evening. She has a ton of church dresses, but is running low on cold-weather dresses. This year, however, we have yet to really need them. About an hour or two before I was going to take her, my sister showed up with the dress pictured above. Tinkerbell loves dresses and gets very excited any time she gets a new one. She couldn't wait to go to church this Sunday and she looks beautiful in her new dress.

Babies, Babies, Everywhere

Today we went to the zoo. I have to tell you that we have fun at the zoo, but our zoo is not a spectacular zoo by any means. They are trying to fix that by really updating it, but right now it is not that much different then it was twenty or more years ago. But, this trip to the zoo was probably the most eventful one I have EVER had!

Ashley and Tinkerbell on the carousel
My two favorite girls

A Mommy snow-leopard with her new baby. They were sort of hiding in the brush, so I had to reach clear out and take this picture blindly. (baby #1)

Two of three new baby tigers

All three new baby tigers. One off to the left and two wrestling. There was one cute baby tiger who loved to antagonize the others and playfully wrestle with them (including the Mommy tiger). If McQueen were ever magically turned into a tiger, it would be that one. (babies # 2, 3, &4)

Baby giraffe resting comfortably while Mom and Dad stand near the garage doors (baby #5)

Zuri, the baby elephant (the baby we actually came to see, and the only one we could see that had a name). (baby #6)

I am not normally a sap. I like to think of myself as a sort of macho, yet sensitive, male. I rarely find a use for the word cute. Having said all of that, this baby elephant is about as cute as it gets. It was so fun watching this thing. It seriously is something you would love to take home as a puppy, but never keep into adulthood (squashed house anyone?)

It was "career day" at the zoo. This girl apparently is one of the caretakers for the giraffes (among other things). After seeing what she was holding, I started to wonder how much effort she really puts in at her job. I hope this is not one of the giraffes she cared for. It is an actual skull from a giraffe. I was really quite amazed by it. I think it would be even more impressive though if she was carrying around a giraffe neck the next time we go.

So, the baby tally that we saw was 6 new babies. Here the zoo is only advertising the baby elephant and they have a ton of other new babies. I thought watching the baby tigers interact was by far the most entertaining thing. We heard rumors that there were ten species of animals that had given birth since July. While we didn't find all of them (and I am sure some of them are some special species of butterfly or something), but it had to be the best visit to the zoo I have probably ever had. I never remember ONE baby being born at this zoo when I was a kid. Now they have at least six? I recommend checking it out if you have the time before these babies grow up or move away to another zoo.

What Matters Most

I found this video on the church website. I love that the church has started doing these videos, and I especially love this one. What a great message from our Prophet. I hope all the people in my life (whether they see this video or not) know that they are "what matters most" to me. I will strive to show it more convincingly in the future.

Born into Freedom

The other day, I set up some medical equipment. I noticed that the Father was absent from the home. Not knowing the situation, I didn't ask any questions, but just went about my job. In talking with the family, I learned that the Father was stationed in Afghanistan. He was able to come home for a few days surrounding their baby's birth, and then had to go back. It made me appreciate once again the sacrifice of our men and women in the armed forces, and their families, who protect and serve each one of us so selflessly. It made me write the following poem.

When I was born my Daddy came

to be right by Mommy’s side
As I entered so small, into this world

their love could never hide

They held me close and they both cried

as happy as could be
They had been blessed with their first child

in their little family

A couple of days, and I got to see

the door to our little house
Daddy was there, always taking care

of me and his sweet spouse

He showed me love as he held me close

within his big strong arm
I smiled at Dad, as he looked down on me

I felt safe from any harm

He loves both of us so much I thought

within my growing mind
He waits on her, he’s there for me;

he is always so gentle and kind

Then after a week of this sweet bliss

confusion starts to set in
Daddy is leaving, his bags all packed

a frown has replaced his grin

He holds me close just one last time

and then kisses my little head
I look at Mommy, as he holds her close;

her eyes are so wet and red

Then one last kiss, for both of us

as he walks out our front door
Where is he going? We need him so much

Why must HE fight the war?

Mommy tries to explain to me,

his sacrifice so true and so brave
Freedom he protects for us here

and other people he tries to save

Times are tough all while he’s gone;

we miss him so very much
Hearing him from a phone far away

never compared with his touch

Both of my parents sacrifice so much

for people they don’t even know
I realize my Daddy can’t be here

to be with me as I progress and grow

The question comes as I think:

Daddy could die from the bombs and debris
I now know those who sacrifice all

are the ones who make freedom free

My only hope is people can serve

their families while they are away

Remembering the soldier and the family

as we exercise our right to pray

Across the Street, Around the Globe

DHL: "Across the Street, Around the Globe"

So sure, that is the company marketing slogan, but is it true? On a random day, on a random street (the off-ramp of my work that I literally think I may have traveled on one million times), I put the claim to the test. I noticed the off-ramp especially congested. It seemed the off-ramp had backed up the freeway for over a mile. When I finally got to the bottom of the ramp, I saw the above to be the culprit. Yep, that's right. This truck ain't moving "across the street," therefore, I would imagine it would have a hard time going, "around the globe." They had better retire this barnacle to the bottom of the sea if they want that slogan to stick. I don't claim to be an advertising executive, but I am a thinker.

Backwards and Forwards

I am obviously a huge car person. I think cars are great and I would love to have more time and money to restore older cars. Overall, I think I am an optimist and can find good in almost any situation. Rather than focusing on what I don't have (lots of time and money), I can focus on what I do have. Sure, I am not "restoring" some old antique vehicle, but I am "de-storing" the vehicle I have into a classic antique. Next year, this old girl will be hitting the big 10 year old mark! This post is not merely about my love of cars though. It is about what is showing on the odometer: 155551. Some may wonder why that is significant. Is it because it has 4 fives and two ones? No. It is because the ones are making a "five sandwich"? No. It is because I have agreed to once again participate in NaBloPoMo (national blog post month). Therefore I must come up with 30 posts in thirty days. Accordingly, I thought one of the posts could be the fact that you could read the odometer backwards or forwards and it would still be the same number. Pretty neat, huh? By the way, I don't know what is wrong with my speedometer. I am sure the needle must have just faded out in the sunlight. I am sure I was stopped when I took this picture, and I certainly would NEVER go faster then 65!

Scenery

As I drive around for work, I sometimes get to see some really beautiful scenery. Other times, I get to see, and smell, the back of some 1986 Honda that is blowing blue smoke across six or more lanes of traffic. Here is some of the better scenery, seen through the dinky little lens of my camera phone. They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Maybe that is true, but some things are better left viewed then talked about (did that statement just come from me?). In this case, a picture is a big pile of crap compared to the real thing!

Halloween Weekend

Saturday morning, I practically cried as I realized that we really needed to get the boat winterized. Summer seems to go too fast and I never seem to get as much boating in as I would like. Tinkerbell was complaining of an upset stomach since they came back, so she mostly just laid on the boat seats. McQueen loved helping me. Here he is pumping all the old oil out of the engine, so that we can put new oil in for winter. The kids always seem amazed that I can start the boat's engine without it even being in water (with a water hose connected of course).
Getting ready to go trick-or-treating. McQueen was Luke Skywalker and Tinkerbell was Alice in Wonderland.

We even brought Ashley's dog, Buster, with us trick-or-treating. He dressed as a pirate dog this year. We mostly trick-or-treated around her neighborhood this year because we happened to be in the neighborhood.

Ashley had the great idea of having soda and dry ice, to make a witches brew for the kids. We also made homemade pizza. Later in the night, both of the kids were complaining of upset stomachs. McQueen threw up and Tinkerbell had problems on the other end. Most anyone would probably think I gave them too much candy, right? WRONG! Tinkerbell had one piece of candy and McQueen had none. They came back feeling sick. They were both sick through the weekend, which forced us to stay home from church as well. Poor kids. By the way, no, they didn't have the miss piggy flu. They must have just caught one of the bugs that is going around. Despite their bad weekend, they told me they were all better when I talked to them Tuesday.

Pumpkin Carving

McQueen chose to carve out a bat
Tinkerbell loves this little kitty face

Scraping out those pumpkins

Right after dinner on Sunday, we hurried to carve pumpkins before having to take the kids back to their Mom's house. Luckily for the kids, Ashley helped them a lot, or I am not so sure their pumpkins would look as nice as they do.

• While having dinner with Grandma and Grandpa on Sunday, we mentioned that Grandma was 65. McQueen then in an astonished voice said, "OH MY GOODNESS, THAT IS SO CRAZY!!!........." then lowered his voice back to a normal tone to say, "I can't even believe that Grandpa is two years older."
• There is a new little girl in the kids Primary class. Their family sat behind us during Sacrament meeting last week. This little girl was coloring all of these pictures for McQueen all through Sacrament meeting. She colored anything he wanted, but loved to color him pictures of them holding hands. She would then draw hearts all around the two of them. I was laughing, because he seemed to be oblivious to the fact that this girl was very infatuated with him. He would even ask the girl to alter pictures that she would draw, so that he could give them to Tinkerbell. At dinner, I said, "so do you like __________in your Primary class?" He said, "yeah, she is nice." I said, "do you think she likes you?" He VERY nonchalantly said, "oh yeah, she loves me." I said, "why would you say that she loves you?" He said, "because she kept drawing me all of those pictures of us with all of those hearts." Okay, so maybe he is not as oblivious as I thought. I am suddenly much more concerned............