What my 3 year old thinks of me

This could be the funniest picture I have ever taken. I could see this on the front of a greeting card, maybe not a very nice card. To start there is the obvious single finger salute, coming from a three year old=comic gold. Then you combine that with the chocolate covered mouth and spoon in the other hand. What truly makes the picture is the eyes, look at those eyes, what mischievous eyes those are. You can almost picture a little devil sitting on his shoulder, whispering in his ear to give his dad the finger. I didn't see anything but the chocolate when I snapped the picture, it wasn't until I checked that I noticed everything else, and then about fell over laughing. To be fair he doesn't know about flipping the bird, he actually points with that finger (a habit I'm trying to break). And the picture came out that way because he was licking the chocolate off his finger and I told him to take it out of his mouth. Guess he showed me. Looking at his eyes does make me wonder if he didn't have a little clue of what he was doing. The picture is much funnier without the context, but I felt I should explain to lessen the idea that I am a degenerate parent. So enjoy and make up your own story to go along with the photo, it's better that way.

Mid-life peanut butter crisis

The other day my wife asked me if I was going through a mid-life crisis. Did I go by a sports car? Start dying my hair? Try dating college age girls? No, I changed the kind of peanut butter we get. I guess it's not quite that simple. I've been exercising (which she's been trying to get me to do more for years) and trying to eat better and buy healthy food (kind of driving the family a little crazy with that, i.e. quinoa instead of rice recently). I also haven't cut my hair in 3-4 months, but nothing that would constitute a crisis. Really what this change stems from is a book I've been reading, The Omnivore's Dilemma. It's a fascinating look at what and how we eat, and where that food comes from. It's not like I've suddenly turned vegan (not that there is anything wrong with that), but I'm trying to be more aware of what kind of food I buy, where it comes from and how it is grown. I even just purchased a half share in a CSA (community supported agriculture) for the summer and fall, so that we get fresh locally grown produce. My wife will tell you I have become a little obsessed about the book. For me, I just find it so interesting, that I want to talk about it, with any body and everybody, anytime they will listen. For instance, I knew the U.S. grew a lot of corn and that it was subsidized by the government to a great degree, but to get the history of the corn and how it came to be such a huge part of everything, was eye opening. I also never knew cows were not supposed to be eating corn, that their stomachs can't process it and that's a large part of why they need so many antibiotics. It shouldn't have surprised me, but I never realized how industrial "organic" growing had become. I don't want to blather on and get preachy, people can eat however they want, I just want to try and make good decisions for not only my families health, but for the better health of the earth too. Right now that means peanut butter made from peanuts (and maybe some salt), with nothing hydrogenated in it. Hopefully the boys and J can live with some of the changes to our diet (they aren't fond of the new peanut butter), and be healthier for it in the end. As far as the hair goes, not sure why I haven't cut it, that may be a sign for the mid-life crisis. Maybe I should start wearing my earring again, or get a tattoo that says organic in Chinese letters. In the meantime, I highly recommend The Omnivore's Dilemma, thanks to all that told me about it.

The date that ended all other dates

Yesterday was the 18th anniversary of my first date with my wife, so I thought it a good time to remember that fateful day. A few days earlier at work a cute girl had come in with her mother shopping. At the prodding of her mother she asked me out for the following Saturday, and with that, fate had been set in motion. Due to the little we knew of each other, we decided to both bring a friend to make it a little more comfortable. We met up in a central location, and then went all together in one car. We parked across the street and then walked to the Salt Palace (see how long ago this was, back before it was the convention center, goodness I am getting old!). We were there to attend a very special event, the travelling version of American Gladiators! That old TV show was so good they made a new version a couple of years ago, and they hardly ever do that with old TV shows. I haven't seen any remakes of the A-Team! What's that? There is a new movie coming out? Oh. What about Knight Rider, that was classic. That too? Dukes of Hazzard? Bewitched? Never mind, there is no originality left in the media. Back to my story, we attended this holy event, I really don't remember much of it. I know they had local people competing including some local frat boys. I do remember liking my date, and that our friends were far from hitting it off. So after the show we ditched them and continued on together. We must have eaten something, I'm sure my wife could tell you what and where. I should have done a fact check with her before I wrote it, but where is the fun in that, much better to have things as I remember them. After dinner we went back to her house and I met her parents. J seemed quite conservative (read LDS) to me so I was quite happy to see her dad drinking beer when we met. Not that at 19 I drank beer, because that would have been against the law (just in case my boys ever read this). It went well, of course it did, parents always loved me. I know we ended up watching Saturday Night Live, and I think I got lucky too. Okay not really, there was no way that was happening. I can't even remember if I got a kiss, but if I did that was waaaayyy out of character for J, and probably was me taking one. She was/is much more sweet and innocent than I have ever been. After that I went on one date with another girl and that was the end of it, there was no comparison. What started as an all-day date, ended up being an all-life date. I couldn't be any happier or luckier for that. So I write this to commemorate the last eighteen years with the love of my life my wife. And a big thank you to my mother-in-law for picking up on me for her shy daughter and forcing her to ask me out. I will always have a fond place in my heart for those American Gladiators.

Trippin to Utah State

Last week my wife and I went away overnight without our boys for only the second time ever. For a quick twenty-four hour trip it sure seemed to require a lot of planning. However, there was not enough planning on my part, since about an hour into our drive, my mother called to inform me I had not provided a means for entering our house. After some phone calls to my in-laws on vacation in Maui, we were finally able to procure a key for her. Fortunately that was the only hiccup for my mother and the boys, except for O and her mutually deciding his act class attendance wasn't necessary.

As for the getaway for my wife and I, it was nice, stressful, and over very quickly. The drive up was nice, quick and uneventful, just like any good drive should be. We checked into our hotel, which was nice, and then left for dinner with some other speaker and administrators from the conference my wife was speaking at. We were a little late, but not too bad. We had introductions and everyone was quite nice, but I was quite disappointed that no one was drinking (wine or beer). So I went with the flow (or lack there of), and just drank water. As we talked through dinner a couple of things became apparent, why they weren't drinking (all but one were LDS), they were all intelligent and well spoken, and the other guest speakers were much more experienced than my wife. One had written over forty books, one had written books plus invented a couple of things, and another was flown in from Virginia to speak. My wife was a little intimidated and nervous on our drive back to the hotel. So for her the trip was quite stressful, since she doesn't really speak in public and her nerves were rattles anyway. Neither of us slept well, her from nerves, me from discomfort. Despite her nerves, J did a great job with her speech. I'd post some video of it, but I don't think she would like that. I was able to spend some nice quiet time reading while she was in other seminars. As a reward for the good job she did, we got her ice cream on the way home. It wasn't until we were home with our boys a few hours later that we realized we didn't have her lap top. Needless to say she freaked out a little bit, since not only does it have all her stuff on it, but also our personal tax returns she already worked three hours on. She was able to find someone, who found it for her the next morning and sent it to Salt Lake with the speaker from Virginia who was going to the airport to catch her plane. All in all, a successful little trip, and I actually didn't mind being away from the boys. I just have to remember not to lock them out of the house next time.