The Becks

Saturday, our great friends, the Becks invited us down to hang out with them. We had grand visions of going to a park and playing. We had plans for a meal, with meal assignments all worked out. We couldn't wait for the day to come, and get together with these friends once again. So, the plans were set!........................................................

Have you ever had one of those days?

We experienced one of those on Saturday. It seems we were just running late for EVERYTHING that day! Instead of meeting up with them at 3:00PM like we planned to, we didn't get there until after 4PM. That only left us two hours to play, instead of the three or so we had planned on. We were already running a tiny bit late to begin with. Then, we experienced the kind of Saturday traffic that should only be reserved for horror films and the "Twilight Zone." The traffic became so bad, that the person driving our car, started backing down the ON-ramp of the freeway, just to get off of it. When they were a 1/4 of the way down, a policeman with flashing lights started to come up behind them. The quick thinking individual stopped the car (his hazard warning lights already on) and turned to his 5 year old son and pleadingly said, "hey buddy! We have been in the car a long time, do you need to go to pee right now?!!!" Of course, the child could not help indulge their parent in their sin, although previous to this, he seemed to cherish every drop he has left near a roadway. He replied, "no" Luckily, the policeman went right past us, and the itsy bitsy parent backed down the ramp again. Finally we cruised down on the frontage road to see that a Wal-Mart semi had tipped on its side, on the OTHER SIDE OF THE FREEWAY!! I can't stand how bad these rubber-neckers are! Keep driving unless their is something in your lane! On the way home, we expected the mess to be cleaned up. Instead, we ran into all too familiar traffic. There happened to be another on ramp, and a little devil on a certain parent's shoulder, so down they backed again. Whizzing by on the frontage road, we saw another Wal-Mart truck loading all the spilled cargo from the first. I was disgusted that they might actually sell the merchandise that was once scattered all over the freeway. It was at that moment, that I decided I would no longer associate Wal-Mart with the likes of Dillard's, Macey's, and Nordstrom. No, no; now it is like I consider them to be a poor man's Target or something.

Anyway, we had a great time playing with the Becks, no matter how short our stay was. Leave it to the Becks to make a hectic, crazy day a lot of fun. The food and company was excellent, and we cannot wait to get together with them again soon. Sorry, the stay was brief, but rest assured we will darken your door step another day!

Swimming Party

Tonight, some friends invited us over for a bbq/swimming party. It was a lot of fun to spend some time together and go swimming in their pool. The food that everyone brought was excellent, and we all had a great time. We spent quite a bit of time hanging out, laughing, and having fun. The kids even got to play with their "Shaggy Dog." They thought he was the best, especially since they just saw the old version of "The Shaggy Dog" for the first time recently. We played a few games of "red light, green light" and the kids loved it when I pretended to be a shark, swimming under them to grab their feet. I taught McQueen in true perfection what a cannonball is. Everyone asked me to stop after my first one shot all the water out of the pool. It appears they have outlawed whales in their pool, and forgot to tell me before I jumped in.

In the video above, you can see McQueen demonstrating his very first cannonball. Not bad for his first time. Some of his subsequent cannonballs could only be described as............well...............belly-flops. I love that he is so light, that he barely even gets his hair wet when he jumps in.

Kindergarteners!

My camera's battery died (always happens at the worst times, doesn't it?), so I could only get this picture with my cell phone. Despite what is pictured below, McQueen is not at all sad to start school. He is instead thinking it is funny to not pose. Sadly, I was unable to get any other photos that were not blurry. Tinkerbell seemed extremely worried about her hair and her clothes for the first day though.

Yesterday the kids started their first day of Kindergarten! I cannot believe that I have kids that are old enough to be in Kindergarten! I drove down to see the kids off to class on their first day. I had a lot of fun walking with them to their classes, seeing their classrooms, and seeing their teachers. They seemed so excited for their first day. They have only seemed more excited by school as I talk to them each day. I am sure it will wear off eventually, but for now they are loving it.

Tonight I went to Back to School Night at their school and got to know their teachers. The first thing I found out was that McQueen got his first bee sting from a wasp that morning at recess. He seemed to handle it well, but it was so sad to hear, as the teacher told me what happened. Later, I found out that the kids have been trying to find a Gingerbread Man that ran away. It was so fun to hear the kids excitement as they told me about this. Their teachers are great and I am very confident they will do a great job, and will really love the kids. Tinkerbell's class has a pet guinea pig named Golden Boy. McQueen's teacher loves fish and has everything "fish" throughout the classroom.

• The Sunday before their school started, I gave each of the kids a Father's blessing. I gave Tinkerbell her blessing first. Right before I was going to give McQueen a blessing, he said, "don't make it a really LONG blessing." I said, "well, we will have to see how many blessings our Heavenly Father has for you." He said, "okay" and sat in the chair. After his blessing was finished, he said, "Holy Cow! I DID NOT know Heavenly Father would have so many things to bless me with!

Movie in the Park

Tonight for fun, we went to one of the free movies in the park. They have had these all summer long, but we have been busy doing other things every time. The feature film this time was "High School Musical 3." I had heard the kids mention it before, but I didn't realize that my five year old little girl LOVED it! As she told me all about Troy and Gabriella, and the other characters in each movie, I was lost in thought. I kept wondering when my five year old turned into a teenie bopper. I was also fascinated to hear all the details of the first two movies, as I had never seen either one of them. I found out that the kids had only seen the first two movies and half of the third, so it was a real treat to bring them to the full-length, third movie. Overall, we all had a great time. I have learned that one big blanket will not suffice in these situations. The kids were constantly playing tug of war with it, even though it was over EIGHTY degrees Fahrenheit outside, AFTER it went dark! When I think about it, there is something to be said to cuddling up in a blanket to watch a movie.
This would be my impersonation of what the kids do when they are told to smile and "LOOK AT THE CAMERA!!!!"

During the last song of the movie, Ashley and the kids decided to dance. It was awesome to see them tapping their toes on the cool green grass.

Amused by Wierdos

EXAMPLE #1
THE SITUATION: This would be a picture of some one's fence. I could not fit the whole thing on the frame of my camera phone, but as you can somewhat read, it says the following: "PLEASE Do Not Write." This is followed by some wanna be thug writing: "OK!"

MY TAKE: Isn't the point of not wanting graffiti is that it makes your fence/property look trashy. I mean is it really what is written on it that is the problem? I am thinking it is more of an issue that it does not enhance the beauty and go with the surroundings of your property. Maybe that is just me. On the other hand, I can see a frustrated homeowner having enough and just finally declaring that it is his freaking fence and if anyone is going to tag it, by George, he is going to be the first!


EXAMPLE #2

THE SITUATION: As I was driving around for work, I noticed a lemonade stand. What was different about this lemonade stand is that it was by a local high school, and put on by that school's cheerleaders. The bigger thing I noticed is that there were all of these 30+ men pulled over, standing around the table, talking to the cheerleaders, and drinking lemonade.

MY TAKE: Why not just call it the pervert lemonade stand? I mean I would have taken a picture, but I couldn't because I was driving. I would have circled back, but then I could be considered one of them! I can only imagine what these losers were saying to these illegal teens. I came up with some possible conversation: "I know your boyfriend has a car, but I have two cars, a wife, three kids, two dogs, a mortgage, and twice as many years under my belt. Don't you think I am by far the better catch?" Or what were these girls thinking? "Dear Diary, today I met a bunch of guys my Dad's age. I know it is funny, but I thought his ten year old minivan and wing tipped shoes were sort of attractive. Does that make me weird?"

What do I really think? Here goes:

1. Seriously cheerleader girls, a freaking lemonade stand? I mean come on, is that really profitable? What on earth were you thinking? Did your coach approve it, and better yet did your parents approve it? How would your Dad really feel, to know that possibly his co-workers or friends would be purchasing something from you on a street corner. I think any minor over the age of 12 selling lemonade on the street corner, may get too comfortable and sell other things on a street corner one day. I am just saying!
2. Perverted forty year old men: GO HOME! You are the biggest whack jobs in society. Go home before we throw you on the sex offender's list. You shame every other, normal man alive!
3. If you happen to be married to a decent man, do not treat him like a freak. Just because there are pervert freaks in our gender, does not make him one. Instead, hold him close and appreciate him for not being one of those losers.

EXAMPLE #3

Dear Guy in the green 4RUNNER on Tuesday night on I-215,

As you may remember from driver's education classes, it is okay for someone to pass you when you are going slow. Doing 60 mph in the fast lane at 9:30PM is usually frowned upon. It is perfectly natural for someone like me to want to pass you on the right when you will not move. A good indication that you are going too slow is when you see a minivan in your rear view mirror coming up quickly. It is not appropriate to swerve and cut them off when they can only pass you on the right. It is further not appropriate for you to give me the Hawaiian good luck sign with your middle finger after YOU have cut ME off. This practice is not only unacceptable, it is also illogical. While your bad driving can only be topped by your bad manners, I want to thank you. You see, every time some whack job like you does some weird, obscene thing, it only gives me blogging material. This behavior only causes me to laugh about what kind of weirdos we really have in the world, and how illogical their actions can be. So, thank you very much.

Sincerely,

Kent

P.S. I apologize if you were not really giving the Hawaiian good luck sign. If you swerved and then stuck your hand up to compare who has a bigger finger, I am sorry I misunderstood. Just so you know, I won that competition. When you stuck that puny finger in the air, I could barely make it out. My hands are way bigger then yours brother!

Campout/Boating

Friday night to Saturday morning was our ward Father and kids camp out. While most wards probably have a Father's & Sons/Priesthood Commemoration camp out, we do not. If we were to have one of those camp outs, there wouldn't be many kids. Much of our ward has entered, or is well into, the geriatric stage of life, therefore they don't have kids running around, and may not be campers any longer. As it was, there were eight Dads and about 25-30 kids running around camp. We stayed at the church's Heber Valley Camp. I guess it is normally used as a girl's camp. It is really a nice, nice facility. We had three cabins with 8 (sleep 16) wood (no mattress) bunk beds. There was also this huge pavilion. It has electricity, running water, a room with refrigerators, showers, bathrooms, etc. The weather was VERY rainy, and if it wasn't rainy it was VERY overcast. It really didn't bother anyone though, and we all had a great time. Tinkerbell ended up coming into my bunk with me, and McQueen slept above us. He kept asking when he could "get beds like these." We also brought McQueen's remote control Hummer to share. It was a hit among all of the kids. Someone also brought a computer, a projector, and a sheet. The kids were able to watch a movie or two in one of the cabins. Okay, so it really wasn't ROUGHING it, but it was perfect for a handful of Dads to bring their little kids on a little retreat.

Here, McQueen is demonstrating just how well his Hummer can fly off of logs on its way down a staircase. After letting a million kids do the same thing, Santa Clause should be very happy that the elves have made a very, very strong remote control vehicle.

We towed the boat up to the Heber Camp so that we could just hit the lake the following day. We planned for some friends to meet us and have a great time on the lake. I heard the report of "scattered showers" and focused more on the "scattered" and less on the showers. Everyone kept giving me a hard time that we would not be able to go. I kept the faith and held out hope that everyone except me would be wrong. The following morning came, and the clouds looked thicker. The rain descended and I started to lose faith. The time came to pack up and leave, but I was still holding on to the smallest chance that the boat would have water underneath it, as opposed to pounding the top of it that day. As some of the other guys were leaving, they mockingly said, "Have a good time waterskiing Kent." As I was driving through Heber, I saw my dream become a lost hope. I called the friends and cancelled. As we passed the lake I was cursing and condemning the gray demon clouds and the windy waves below. Had it not been for a fun camp before, I would have gone home a depressed and downtrodden man. As I started to ascend the back part of Parley's Canyon, a strange thing happened. The clouds broke apart to reveal a blue sky. The sunlight broke through, and what were once dark and gray, were now white and fluffy. Ahhh, what was this?!! I quickly called the lake. An Indian man (no, not a Native American, an Indian) answered the phone. In his sweet accent he said, "dark clouds and rain gone away, wind has died down some, might be a good day for you to bring yourself to lake after all." I have NEVER wanted to kiss an Indian man more in my life. I headed back to the lake as I quickly scrambled to call everyone. In thirty short minutes almost everyone found something else to do. It is like they had given up hope when they saw the dark, dark clouds and heavy rain or something. It's crazy, I know! I called around to other people, but they were all busy with one thing or another. If it was possible, the kids were more set on going boating then I was. McQueen kept reminding me that I promised we would go boating if it stopped raining and we could see blue sky. Indeed he was correct, that is EXACTLY what I promised! Luckily Ashley was still able to come up. She has become quite the wake boarder and boat driver as of late. We did a ton of tubing, some skiing, and some wake boarding. The kids have now learned all about the flag and the rules surrounding it. We really had a great time on perfect water, with blue skies, with just the four of us.

This video is great. Ashley has not spent much of her life on a boat, let alone behind one. This season is the first time she has even really attempted to wake board. She is progressing really well. After she had been up without falling for going on three minutes, I started recording as I drove (luckily there were almost no boats on the lake). She had the board turned sideways. That is almost ALWAYS an inevitable and guaranteed, HARD face plant! I was recording because I could not, and still cannot, figure out how she went so long before the face plant. Sadly, the face plant finally did pull her eyelids over her whole head (that is what a face plant on the water feels like). Listen for my reaction and sweet recording job in the moments immediately following the crash.

Been Behind in Blogging

I truly and humbly apologize for being so far behind in my blogging. It was not until today, a full WEEK later, that I am posting about the happenings of last weekend. I do not know if you can forgive me, but I want to make things right. In the subsequent posts below, I have included information, pictures, and videos that you may find useful, helpful, and informative. In this post, I also included this video. I do this with the hope of it helping in your ability to open your heart and forgive me. So, I would just like to once again ask your forgiveness.

Yes, this post is directed right at you. Yes, you, the person in Kent, Washington, who thinks this blog may have something to do with his city. May the heavens shine down upon you for being my one and only, ever loyal, reader. You so willingly give up so much of your valuable time to read something everyone else (including me) considers SO boring! So, here is a big thanks from me to you, Ben Dover!

Biking Day

Today, we just did some chores and errands here and there. We mowed the lawn, cleaned the car really well, etc. Later in the day, we went for a really long bike ride. It was fun to bike all around. McQueen always seemed to be way out in front. Tinkerbell wanted to stay a little bit farther behind, so as to not accumulate too much speed. It is amazing to see how fast they progress. Less then a year ago, I used to have to push them to get them going again every time they stopped. Now they are cruising around on two wheels with virtually no help at all, except for when crossing busy streets. I used to think it was retarded when people would comment on how fast kids grow up, until I had my own. Then, I had my own and I saw it first hand. Now I say it all the time. In fact, I now say it so much that I think it is retarded again, and that it is just stating the obvious. History really does repeat itself doesn't it......

Surprise Day

Today we surprised the kids by inventing a new thing called, of all things, SURPRISE DAY! Here is how it works: I take one of the kids for the first part of surprise day to do something fun, while Ashley (yes, that is her name; ANNOUNCEMENT: we will be getting married someday, unless she dumps me first; that is all I am going to say for now; more details will come one day in the future) takes the other one. We tell the kids nothing of what is going on, or where we are going, or what we are doing. We simply drive, and they find out when we get there. We then do our activity, meet together for ice cream, and then switch kids. So, here is what we did:

At first, Ashley took Tinkerbell to get her nails painted. They also picked out some new earrings and even a cute little toe ring. Then, they walked around and shopped and looked through all of the stores together.

MEANWHILE.......

I took McQueen and we headed to the Nickelcade (think arcade, but with nickels instead of quarters). We had a great time playing a ton of games. His favorites by far were a boat racing game, and this motorcycle game. He even kept winning so much that he unlocked a bunch of new tracks on the boating game. A kid after my own heart.

After we met up for ice cream, we swapped kids.

THEN.......

Ashley took McQueen to the bowling alley and they had a great time bowling. Afterwards, she took him to the toy store and he was able to pick out a toy.

IN ANOTHER PART OF TOWN.......

Tinkerbell and I went to a place where you can pick out a ceramic item. You then get to use their paints and brushes to paint it however you want. You leave it with them, and then come back a couple of days later after it has been fired. Above are pictures of the pre-fired and post-fired artwork. Tinkerbell really did an amazing job. Just a thought: I wonder if the employee that operates the kiln is a big "The Apprentice" fan. They probably get this sick little laugh as they close the door, turn the switch, and then, in their very best Donald Trump impersonation say: "You're Fired."

To end the evening, we went to a church BBQ at Ashley's stake center. What a great day surprise day turned out to be. It was a really fun to spend one on one time with the kids, and also to make them feel special in their own unique way. We have plans to do surprise day periodically, but not so often that our time is not meaningful.

Anderson Day

Our really good friends the Andersons came back to Utah this weekend. We used to hang out with them all the time, until they packed up and moved to O-freaking-HI-O! It was so much fun to hang out with them, and all of us picked up right where we had left off. We couldn't believe how big their kids have gotten, and they couldn't believe how big Tinkerbell and McQueen have grown. We ate at Cafe Rio (a long standing favorite of ours), and then went swimming with them. The kids and adults loved the slide. We also played a couple of games of pool basketball. I don't remember pool basketball being nearly as tiring when I played it as a kid. I think everyone had a great time, but it was honestly a lot of work for me. I could hardly enjoy myself as I thought of all the ways I could get them to move back here! I finally came to this conclusion: Jason, I will not post the video of you going down the slide if you move back within six months. I do not consider that blackmail, only persuasion. Anyway, just let me know.

The HOLE-IN-ONE video