John & Amy Visit

My lovely wife has gently chastised me for not blogging like I used to. "I don't even know who you are anymore," she said, eyes welled with tears on the verge of overflowing. "You used to love blogging... now all you do is sit on your lazy butt drinking a root Beer! I want to live, Will. I want to LIVE!!!... via your incredible blog postings!" Gently, I stroked her hair as she sobbed in my lap. "Hush, little pup," I whispered, "Why, from this day forth..." I stood from the sofa resolutely, my wife's head flopping down to the cushion, "I promise TO YOU, CHALLENE..." The Battle Hymn of the Republic softly yet penetratingly played in the background as a soothing light silhouetted my frame. My arm raised in triumphant resolve. "I PROMISE TO BLOG! AS I HAVE NEVER BLOGGED BEFORE." I turned to her. Her hair strewn across her smooth face. "FOR YOU, MY LOVE!" I slowly return to the sofa and tenderly kiss her pouted lips.

So. I'm gonna blog more.

Way back in late December, I believe, our good friends from Portland began their long journey to move to Payson. They stopped at our house on the way and stayed the night. We had a rip-roaring good time as we always do with the Marshalls. I had recently acquired Guitar Hero for the Wii and we all enjoyed rockin' out to such hits as: "Heartbreaker" by Pat Benatar, "On The Road Again," by Willie Nelson and even modern day hits by Blink 182, Linkin Park, and Korn. Each of them, including my wife, were very impressed by my matchless skillz on a pretend guitar.

As midnight approached we began to become weary. We can always tell when the Marshall's are getting tired because the amount of swear words in their vocabulary increase exponentially. In fact, I found a graph.


Just think of Aberration as time. The % variance relates to the increase in swears.

As it was, we decided to finish our Guitar Hero escapade with one final song. "Will," they pleaded, "I want you to play a song on the Hard level." Who am I to deny adoring fans? I chose "Livin' on a Prayer" by Bon Jovi and set it to EXPERT level. I sniggered to myself as I thought, "they want a show... I'll give them a show!"

Imagine, if you will, fingers working the makeshift fretboard so furiously, that they were merely a blur. Ponder, if you can, a strumming action so precise and so quick it resembled flashes of lightening in the night sky. Despite desperate efforts to sway my attention (including derogatory comments regarding my undeniable manhood) I rocked the EXPERT level of that song.

Just like in Rocky IV where The Italian Stallion was able to sway an entire stadium full of near rabid Russian boxing fans (including the prestigious governmental leaders) into rooting for him and a glorious American victory, I swayed my little audience of three into cheering me to a magnificent finish.

That's when it happened. I struck the last cord of the song in true rocker fashion, knees bent, arm in the air, sweat dripping down when we heard what sounded like a loud explosion. Attention was taken from my magnanimous frame and turned to the window. Another explosion and an eye piercing flash of blue light rocketed through the windows and shook our very cores. The power went out. A transformer had blown and the power went out for the entire block. Including the "You Rock" signage that appears right before it shows you the score. All that toil, sweat, and pure rocking was for nothing!

At any rate, we had a new problem on our hands. Irresolutely, we decided to get ready for bed. It was then that we heard the beep. It seems that the land lords failed to change the batteries on nearly all of the smoke detectors in the house. Why is this so important? Because at 12:05 a.m. when the power goes out and you haven't changed the batteries, the "low battery life" beep will sound every 60 seconds. So it was with us.

What's the deal with putting smoke alarms in nearly impossible to reach places? We hadn't an adequate ladder so we tried to improvise.

Pay no attention to my white belly. Yes, I'm reaching for the battery with my grilling tool. The power was off, right? Sadly, My height, John's shoulder, and the grilling tool all came up short.

Fortunately, John had an LED headlamp which helped us find a broom and some duct tape. So, being the innovative scout he is, he suggested taping the grilling tool to the broom stick to lengthen our reach. He's such a good Eagle Scout. That's only the second time in my life I've wished I was an Eagle Scout. Only then would I have been prepared with an LED headlamp and been able to come up with such a wonderful plan.

You can see here that it worked perfectly. I popped out the battery with no injuries to anybody! You can tell by the circle of light on the ceiling that John's attention was focused on the job at hand and not on my crotch as the picture may appear to depict.

We finished with that one when another one went off in my bedroom. Again, durn vaulted ceilings made an interesting game of that one too. I think there was one or two more that we had to pop the batteries out of. We have yet to replace those batteries. Anybody have a 20 foot ladder we could borrow?

But we had a fantastic visit with the Marshall's. Ethan was especially excited to see them. Following are some pictures of the kids. If you've made it this far through the post, you deserve some pictures.

Joshy and Chloe. Josh is in awe over the awesomeness being displayed in the form of mock guitar. Choe is... eating something.

Ethan and Gwen. These two are just so darn cute together.

Josh stole Chloe's "baby". I'm next to positive that he took "it" as if a hostage in order to finagle a ransom out of Chloe. I'm sure that's why.

Joshy between the girls. That's more like it, Josh.

Well everybody, thanks for making it through the post. Challene, I hope this helps!
Adieu!!!

I Made Bread!!!

The first part of February I went to an enrichment night activity on how to make bread. I went to this activity knowing nothing about making bread. I was interested in learning about it but, I had this idea that bread was hard to make so I was a bit leery. I love to bake I just have never tried anything with yeast before (I guess you can say I have been intimidated by it). I really enjoyed the class and was way excited to give it a try. That week I had even bought all the ingredients. However due to life, which includes a good week of being sick, I was unable to do it until today.

The class was taught by an amazing woman Nita Smith. She is just one of those women who seems to be able to do it all. Which I am sure has to do with her doing and trying things until she gets it (she even mentioned this when she was teaching us, that she has been doing it for 20 years and it has been a lot of trial and error). I just love her. Anyways she was called to teach the class last minute and she did a great job. She gave us a great recipe and all the in's on the best products/ingredients to use. So I don't know if bread making isn't as hard as I thought, if Nita is an amazing teacher or if it was just pure beginners luck but my bread turned out great! However I know Nita was a big part of it. Without her I really didn't know how to do anything.

The finished product. The two in the middle of course are the prettiest!

The boys testing the finished product. They gave me thumbs up. It has to be great if a 4 year old and a 2 year old like it, right?

The Hubby testing!

The Hubby liking! Well at least he said he did, which I'm going to believe because I thought it was good myself.

Anyways just bragging a bit I guess. I am just really proud of myself. It is always nice to succeed, especially at something you are trying for the first time.

Oh and I can't forget about Amy she helped me out when I called her a couple times for help with the bread. She's always there for me when I'm in a bind! Thanks Amy!

Ethan

I was downloading some pictures to our computer/our blog when I came across these cute pictures of my big boy Ethan. I love them so I thought I would share.

So Handsome!

Ride'em Cowboy!!


This one is of Ethan playing Guitar Hero. He loves it, especially the drums but we didn't have the whole set yet just the guitar.

Here is his score, not bad for a 4 year old!

HIDE AND SEEK

So today I was playing hide and seek with the boys. Ethan seems to get the idea but Joshua just likes to jump out and yell "boo" whenever you get close to him. He is too cute and always makes me laugh! At one point in the game it was Ethan's turn to count while Joshua and I hid. Mind you he counts really fast so that does not give much time to hide. I grab Joshua and ran to our half bathroom on the main floor. Which is just around the corner from the living room where he was counting. So there I am standing in the corner of the dark bathroom holding Joshua when Ethan see's me in the reflection of the mirror and say's to me almost sarcastically, "Mom, that isn't a very good place to hide. I can see your reflection." So my mouth dropped and I was in stunned silence for a moment. I just can't believe how grown up and smart he is. So I finally pulled myself together and told him how smart he is.

Missing Oregon

I really really really miss OREGON!!! I have to say I never thought moving back to Utah would be such a hard transition. I was very happy with my friends and with every part of life in Oregon. I miss the waterfalls, the ocean, and quite frankly the green. I am so sick of the cold white snow.

I have been meaning for quite some time to post these pictures of just a few people that I love and miss from Oregon. It was such an amazing ward there are many women that are not in these pictures that I truly miss as well.

The wild bunch from left: Gwen, Joshua, Chloe, Ethan and last but not least Liza.

From left: Me, Martha, Amy.

The Chiro Guys from left: Jared, Jesse, Will, John, and Dan.

The Girls: Lindsey, Amy, Me, Holly, Beckie, and Daya.

And last but not least Me and Lindsey.

What a wonderful experience and part of our lives. We were so blessed to have been able to have these women/families be apart of our lives. We made bonds that will last us a lifetime.

Ethan's birthday... take 4!

Tuesday, January 27, 2009 was Ethan's 4th birthday. I cannot believe he's so old. His primary presidency dropped off a delicious oversized red velvet cupcake for him. You can see the want on Joshy's face.

Boy, that's a big cupcake.
Joshy and me. Not sure exactly how or why this one got in here.

So, we had a party for Ethan on Saturday. He had some friends from Oregon (Gwen and Chloe Marshall) come. Plus, Amelia Johnson, Brooklin and Ryan Giddings, and Peyton and Bryton Harrison. It was a wild crowd, but they were good for the most part. The party theme was based on the Backyardigans. A cartoon featured on Nickelodeon. We don't have Nickelodeon, but the Marshall's did. In a sick and twisted act of guised friendship they gave us a copy of some of the episodes. 18 annoying mind-clinging songs later Ethan was hooked. The party was specifically based on Pablo, the propeller beanie, bow-tie sporting, duly recognized quasi-leader of the group, blue penguin.

Here we have Joshy donned with a phantom of the opera style blindfold affixing Pablo's bow-tie to his ample belly. Peyton, in a truly selfless act, was ensuring Joshy's sticker fixing.

Group Shot! From the left: Josh, Bryton, Gwen, and Brooklin.


Ah, presents. His grandparents spoiled him beyond belief. He ate up every minute of it, too!

I'll admit it. Sometimes, I'm jealous of my kids' toys. The Marshall's gave Ethan this nerf popper gun. I lovingly dubbed it, "The Enforcer" a not-so-tongue-in-cheek reference to my threat to popping the kids if they act up. Didn't take, though.

You faithful blog followers will know of Challene's ill-founded passion for creating special birthday cakes for our children. Ill-founded, I believe, is an apt description in my opinion because of the hassle it takes on her... and indirectly, me. However, the cakes are such a hit it usually makes up for it in the end. Here we have the Pablo cake. I thought she did a wonderful job. She wasn't so happy with it. The kids loved it, though. Bravo Challene!

Singing Happy Birthday. John Marshall and I sang the high part at the end, a la Michael Scott from The Office.

What better way to end a birthday than by a decapitation? Poor Pablo, didn't even see it coming. Word was that his torso kept twitching for an hour after the head was removed. Those fad-fangled Nickelodeon animated penguins just don't know when to quit!

Happy birthday, Ethan!

Birthday Boy!

Will's 30!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's actually Ethan's birthday today (HAPPY BIRTHDAY my big 4 year old, I will blog about it after his party on Saturday) but Will turned 30 on Sunday so I thought I would blog about that first. For the life of me I could not get Will to tell me what he wanted to do for his birthday. I asked and asked and asked and all I got was "I dunno!" I had already used up my surprise party idea for his graduation so that was out. It's his 30th so I was trying so hard to figure out something great to do, but I was getting no help. So I finally just emailed his friend Quinn and that got things rolling. We ended up having a game night with a half dozen friends at our house. For Will's b-day I got him the Rock Band set for the WII so that's what we played all night. It was fun and Will had a great time and that's all that matters.

So with his present already given to him and his birthday on Sunday I decided to do a little birthday tribute to him. For every year of his life I found out something that was significant that happened to him. I made it into a game like an Easter egg hunt. Since our Church isn't until 1pm I let him sleep in and that's when the boys and I hid the birthday tributes around the house. Once he got up he, well actually the kids found them and gave them to him to read. (Thanks Myrna for your help with the facts for the game). Here is that tribute if you would like to read it.

1979 – You were born, then blessed on March 4, and you walked at 11 months old

1980 – Fell out of a stroller that was being pushed by your older brothers and hit your tooth. Your tooth then turned brown and from then on was deemed “The Golden Tooth”. You got 4 quarter from the tooth fairy for that tooth.

1981 – You had a stuffed animal you called “Donkey Hotey”.

1982 – Finally got potty trained.

1983 – Attended a neighborhood preschool.

1984 – In kindergarten you got on the bus because you thought it was going to the Zoo. You scared your mother to death.

1985 – You take after your Grandpa Dalley when it comes to your art.

1986 – You loved to write stories. I think I heard you mention one about a little Purple Smurf.

1987 – You were baptized January 29 and became a Cub Scout

1988 – You thought you were Catholic

1989 – You played Soccer.

1990 – The symphonic band from junior high came and played at your elementary school. This started your love of classical music.

1991 – You won a Geography bee March 5.

1992 – You started Junior High and received your “Arrow of Light” award. Started playing the French horn.

1993 – You were blonde until you hit junior high.

1994 – You started High school

1995 – You got your drivers license. You received the Aaronic Priesthood (priest)and your Patriarchal Blessing January 29.

1996 – Attended Europe trip.

1997 – You graduated from High school. We started to fall in love at the band party, and not to long after that we had our first date June 13th. You played 2nd chair French horn in the University of Utah Symphony Orchestra, November 21.

1998 – Served a mission in Seoul Korea

1999 – Continue to serve and see beautiful South Korea.

2000 – Returned from your Mission. We resumed dating and got engaged on October 31st

2001 – We got sealed for all time and eternity in the Salt Lake Temple May 16th and then we had a lovely time in Hawaii on our honeymoon.

2002 - 1st Anniversary in Bryce Canyon.

2003 – 2nd Anniversary Park City, first hot air balloon ride.

2004 – Built and moved into the yellow house. Decide to become a Chiropractor and apply to schools

2005 – Become a father of your first-born son Ethan on January 27. Moved to Portland to go to WSCC.

2006 – Become a Father of Two Sons, Joshua was born on September 26.

2007 – Be an amazing husband and throw your wife a fabulous surprise birthday party.

2008 – Star as the fabulous Valet in the “Twilight” movie. Graduated from WSCC. Met your goal of graduating before you turned 30.

2009 – Became an officially licensed Doctor! Oh and Turned 30!

Happy 30th Birthday Will!!!!!!!!!!!

I love you!

Best Husband Ever!!!

So I am really not trying to brag it is just the truth, I have the BEST HUSBAND EVER!! Out of appreciation of all the sacrifices and hard work of taking care of our children while Will was in school, he (Will) decided to give me a wonderful SURPRISE VACATION. Boy did I have him fooled, because even though it was at times really hard it also was a really great time. So Will who never takes time off of work and I mean never! Well, unless he is absolutely ill. Anyways Will took two days off, and this is what we did. First off I knew something was up because a couple days earlier I had been bugging him about his birthday and what he wanted to do for it. I wanted to get somebody to watch the kids while we went and spent a night somewhere... anywhere. I didn't care I just wanted/needed some time with him. You know with out the screaming/demanding kids. Love them to death, truly I do. Anyways so he just kept trying to change the subject but finally getting frustrated and telling me we can't because he had a surprise date for me planned on Monday. So of course after that I kept grilling him and asking what we were doing and he would not for the life of me tell me what it was. So all I knew was that he had Monday off and we were doing something around 1pm. Finally Monday rolls around and I was so so anxious I didn't know what we were going to be doing. So 1pm finally rolls around and we were off, first to my pleasant surprise we dropped the kids off at his parents and then again we were off and I didn't know where. Finally after what felt like a long ride which really was not I just was anxious we finally arrived at a theater. He took me to see The Yes Man, with Jim Carry. Yea, I felt dumb. Here I was all anxious and we were just going to a movie.

The movie was okay, it had one really funny part and the rest was just entertaining, well other then a couple crude parts which I could have done with out.

Next we had a little time before our dinner reservations so we hit a couple of local shops before dinner. One was a little boutique the other a furniture shop. Then we went to Jasoh for dinner it is a restaurant in Ogden.

Again it was okay. You who know me well know that I am a very picky eater. What I have figured out from this evenings food is that I do not like what I would call stuck up food or fancy food some might say. I like regular old food. They had stuff like duck, lamb and yak. I just want chicken, beef or maybe even pork. So sorry just not my thing. But I loved the time with my Hubby.

After we were done at the restaurant we got in the car of course and this was the funniest part. Here is what happened Will started to fuss with his seat. I really didn't think anything of it at first but then he pulled over and got out that's when he pulled out a Michael Bubble CD that he had bought me. I don't know you probably had to be there but I just started to laugh. It was like a Magician pulling something out of his hat. So of course I was like what else are you hiding under there. I am sure you had to be there but we had a good laugh.

And last but not least we took a really long ride up to Providence Utah (it's just south of Logan) and spent the night at this quaint little INN called the Providence in. Here is a link if anybody is interested. http://www.bbonline.com/ut/providence/ On the way I started to wonder where on earth we were going, we just kept driving and driving so of course I started to ask. He at first denied all question but soon filled me in that we were spending the night somewhere. At this moment I had this really sad feeling come over me and it was that I wasn't going to see my kids that night. I just was not prepared for that. I almost started to cry. So I pulled myself together not wanting to freak Will out and just reminded my self that this is what I had been wanting and of how nice this was going to be.

We had a really nice evening. I would recommend this place, it was quiet, they served us cookies and hot chocolate, popcorn and free movies. And I can not forget the huge breakfast we got. I had a really, really great time. I wished I was still there. Which of course is way ironic because I could hardly stand it this morning I wanted to see my boys so bad.

Oh and I got a dozen red roses also. Thanks Will I had the best time! I love you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!