laser tag

We took the youth to play laser tag tonight and the Bishop told us we should bring the boys along. They had a blast, especially Special Agent Eli who, unfortunately, didn't get in the picture. Here's Nathan and Liam all geared up and ready to go. Nathan held his own, as well.















Here's a picture of the youth we took. My favorite part of the picture is the Young Women's President in the lower left. Poor Norma, I think she was up past her bedtime.

It's the thought that counts

Jenny and I in our not-yet-ending search for financial independence from student-loan debt wish every Christmas that we could afford to buy each other a boatload of gifts, things we don't really need but would be wicked cool to have. This Christmas we started a new tradition. We're calling it the "It's the thought that counts Christmas exchange."

Here's how it works, the sky's the limit. We "buy" each other whatever we want regardless of the cost. Anything and everything we think the other one would like or wouldn't buy themself. Then we wrap it up and put it under the tree for Christmas Day. We had so much fun "shopping" and even more fun watching each other's faces this morning as we unwrapped our gifts. This way we get all the satisfaction that comes with giving and making the other's day but without the cost.

This is what Jenny got me this year:

Fantasy Football for Dummies: this is the topic of most male conversations at work which means I end up swapping cleaning tips with the ladies because I have no idea what Fantasy Football is. I was invited to join a while back, but I didn't know what it was.

Destination trip to the 2008 Tokyo Marathon: This is on my list of marathons to run someday, and Jenny thought '08 should be the year.

and finally,

wait for it....

A 7-night Exotic Eastern Caribbean cruise on the John Tesh Radio Show Cruise! Jenny listens to John Tesh on the radio at work and I always make fun. I think they listen because it's safe that they're not going to hear something nasty unlike other radio shows at night. If she knows what's good for her, she'll bring me one of those leash things people put on their kids at airports because after a couple hours at sea with John Tesh, I may be tempted to jump overboard.

And now for what I "bought" her.

- A new roof and a bathroom remodel

- A KU hoodie (was actually going to get her one for her birthday, but couldn't find the kind she wanted

- A haircut and spa treatment. And not at Great Clips, either.

- A trip for two to NYC for New Year's Eve complete with a cruise of the Hudson and accomodations at the Hilton Time Square

- A $4,000 camcorder since ours is broken, and what's $4,000 when it's a fake gift anyway?

I can't wait to see what she fake gives me for President's Day!!!!

Santa's on His Way

Eli said he felt left out because we'd posted a video of Nathan "brushing" his teeth and one of Liam shaking his booty, but none of him. So he auditioned a cast and produced a re-creation of Santa's flight in painstaking detail. So without further ado, here is "Santa's on His Way" by Eli.

Merry Christmas!

Sunday art workshop

I stayed home from church today due to a bout of flu (head and stomach) and the kids stayed home with me. Eli was asking if he could do some drawings, so I pulled out one of my "pieces" from high school for him to look at. See below.





















That was mine. Below is Eli's.

Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas

Jenny and I have been talking about how obnoxious it has gotten that people say everything BUT Merry Christmas anymore. People are so paranoid to mention anything relating to Christ for fear of either offending someone or being criticized. I've had enough of the Season's Greetings and Happy Holidays, and feeling like I'm walking on eggshells of political correctness. So from now on, if I'm going to greet someone, I'm going to acknowledge what it is I believe.

Here are two examples of people taking a stand that really inspired me today.

1. Boot shop in Tennessee (I tried to find this on YouTube to embed, but all I could get was this link - hope it stays up on the site long-term). They offer a discount for customers that say Merry Christmas. I'm not crazy about the idea of the discount itself, but I appreciate the message they're trying to send.
http://www.kmbc.com/video/14872149/index.html?taf=kc1

2. Mike Huckabee campaign ad. I'm leaning toward Mitt Romney based not on religion, but on his record in education, business, and leadership. However, I was very excited when I saw this ad from Huckabee. Talk about standing for what you believe in without fear. Pretty bold in the midst of a presidential campaign, but high-five to him for doing it.



So Merry CHRISTmas to everyone!

Welcome, Welcome, Sabbath Morning

Saturday, 9:47 pm: the Bishop calls saying that church is cancelled because of the ice storm.

Sunday, 8:04 am: the monsters awake and come asking if there's church today because they just looked outside and it looks slippery

Sunday, 8:23 am: the phone starts ringing because the phone tree has kicked into full gear. Rumor has it that the singles ward doesn't use a phone tree, but rather everyone texts one another. Kids and their technology.

Sunday, 9:12 am: find that Liam busted into the candy meant for some Christmas projects today and needs to be bathed because the sugar has already liquefied and been rubbed into his hair.

Sunday, 9:20 am: conditions are deteriorating rapidly. The monsters have already exhausted every imaginary game they know and have started wrestling. I've discovered we can watch Music and the Spoken Word live because of our high-speed internet when it comes on in an hour. In the meantime, I've tuned into BYU streaming radio.

Sunday, 9:31 am: as "Love at Home" plays, Nathan is wailing because Eli pushed him down, Liam just threw a container of Jenny's sewing pins up in the air and the floor is now like downtown Baghdad with it's land mines, and I'm enjoying the angelic voices coming from my new Dell Dimension PC, oblivious to my surroundings.

"while visions of Spiderman danced in their heads"

Remind me again why we spent money for bunkbeds...

[didn't get the title of the post? look at what's "floating" on the wall above Nathan's head.]

Minty fresh

He'd better get a good report when he goes to the dentist next week.



This would also explain why his chin always smells so minty fresh.

Christmas OrNaments

Maria tagged me on her post about Christmas ornaments. So, I picked three ornaments that have meaning for me. I couldn't figure out how to take decent pictures of them on the Christmas tree, so I just hung them on a decorative tree, and you can see the real tree in the background. And no, I didn't fat-finger the N key in the title; I purposely typed the N in caps to make a point. Add to my list of linguistic pet peeves (example - I hate it when people replace C's with K's to be cute) it really bugs me when I hear orDaments instead of orNaments. I don't mean to be a grinch, just say it right already.

So on to the orNaments. From left to right:
- Wreath made out of dough. This was a gift from my Kindergarten teacher for Christmas 1980.
- Japanese Nut Monkey. I don't know what else to call it. It's a monkey made out of some kind of lacquered nut and has a bell in it. I got it from someone in Japan on my mission.
- My half-marathon medal. Jenny hung my one race medal and all of the boys' fun run medals on the tree this year. I think it's a cool idea. I wanted to put my 1st place finishers plaque from the Chief Joseph Run on the the top instead of that star, but she wouldn't hear of it.

In addition to the ornaments, I've also posted a picture of me from the time period of each ornament.

This is me and my little brother Josh at my grandma Wright's house in 1980. It was the tradition at Christmas that all the kids would dress up and play Santa, giving the adults presents if we'd heard they were good that year. As the oldest grandchild, I got to be the real Santa and all the other runts were allowed to wear cotton-ball beards, but I ran the show. I see a lot of my oldest-child tendencies in Eli. I'm not sure what I had in the paper bag, but it wasn't the Glenn Miller Carnegie Hall Concert LP you see in the rack on the left in the back. I wonder when grandpa graduated to 8 Tracks, because that's what I remember them always listening to, and it was usually the Tijuana Brass band 8 Track.

This is me on my mission in Japan. I still can't figure out why more people wouldn't answer the door or talk to me on the train. I went to great lengths to be one of them.

This is me with my half-mary medal. I hope to get many more in the years to come. I'm also thinking about sewing all of my race bibs together to make a tree skirt. If I can't have the top of the tree, maybe she'll let me have the bottom.

Maria tagged just about everyone in the family except for David (I know, I know, but I'll be the one to tag him. We miss you Dave and Mel - please post for Christmas). I don't know who Jenny'll tag, so I'm just going to tag Heather Apples, GR (although he doesn't have a blog, he's got a wicked cool nutcracker collection that I'm sure K8 would let him post his favorites on her blog), and finally, a special challenge to any lurkers with blogs - I've given you so much "quality" over the years, don't you think it's time to give me something in return? Just leave a link to your ornaments post on the comments page so I know who you are. If you do, I'll send you a vintage cotton ball from 1980. I can't guarantee that all of them will be the from mustache portion that have snot on them, though. Those are first come, first serve.