Happy 5th Birthday Ethan!

5 years ago on January 27th I was rudely awoken by Challene who said, "Uh, William... I think my water just broke!"

Turns out, it had!

We called our Nurse Practitioner and rushed to Lakeview Hospital (where ironically both Challene and I were born). Challene had previously decided that she wanted Ethan to be born Au' Naturale; a decision I supported. The contractions became increasingly painful for her. She ended up asking for an epidural, but was told that it was way too late for that. They gave her some Fentanyl to "take the edge off." Having been invovled with Fentanyl in my Pharmaceutical Manufacturing days, I knew that Fentanyl was a drug mostly reserved for cancer patients undergoing painful radiation therapy. A very powerful, very controlled substance. It didn't even touch her as far as taking pain away.

It was one of the hardest things in my life to see my wife go through that. But she did it.

Lots of pushing, a vacuum, a panicked call to an OB, and a pair of forceps later, Ethan was born.

A healthy 7lbs 6oz bald boy. We were scared out of our minds as to how to take care of this little person, but knew he was meant to be with us. We'd been trying for 2.5 years to become pregnant.

We had Ethan's 5 year birthday party on Jan. 30th. As with all birthday parties, Challene asks the birthday boy what kind of cake he would like and the party just develops around that. Ethan wanted a castle cake and so the midieval theme blossomed around that.

The boys in their knight costuems. The costumes turned out pretty sweet, but the sword design concept was flawed from the get-go. That's ok. While not practical in the pretend sword fighting arena, they were quick to be sheathed. And really, what more is there when playing swords beyond making that cool metal-on-metal sound when unsheathing your sword. Something the boys learned quickly.

That, plus the shot-gun pumping sound (you know the one). Two staple sound effects for any boy 3 and up.

Ethan with the castle cake. He absolutely loved the cake. Challene did awesome! Sadly, this picture does not do it justice, but Challene did amazing.

The trick candles were a hit. I just love this picture.

Of course, present time was afterward. All the kids gathered round closely and intently watched as Ethan opened the gifts. He got spoiled, once again, but he loves all his gifts equally...

All... but one...

On Wednesday, Grandma Colleen brought Ethan his gifts. Here, you can see him fresh from opening his new Super Mario Bros. Wii game. Ever since my brother brought it over he had wanted to play. Now... now that he has it. All he wants to do is play.

Seriously.

All day, everyday, "Daddy (or Mommy), can I play Super Mario Brothers Wee-hee?"

Constantly.

We've had to try to limit his time because he will literally spend hours playing. He never tires of it. He's gotten quite good at it. Josh too.

I got home from work today and saw that they weren't playing the game. "Well," I thought, "every kid losses interest in his toys eventually."

"Where are the boys?" I ask my beloved.

"Upstairs playing, "she replied kissing my cheek softly.

"Boys?"

"Yeah daddy?"

"What are you doing?"
"playing..."

"What are you playing?"

"We're pretending we're the Super Mario Brothers Wee-Hee!"

There's just no getting away from it.

All in all, a terrific party. I can't believe my little boy is 5! That means... gasp.... school!

Who's Birthday Is It Anyway?

It's my birthday on Monday. I'll be 31.

31 years old.

I don't feel 31... but I fear I'm starting to look it. Receding hair, protruding abdomen, and flecks of gray starting to congregate strategically throughout my locks. I'm done with school, I have my own business... I'm responsible for a family. I'm old! I don't feel old, but everything else in my life makes me think I should be feeling old.

31...

Just after Christmas Challene started asking me what I wanted for my birthday. I had no idea. Another sign of getting old. But really, I didn't need anything... Couldn't think of anything I wanted... I couldn't give her an answer. "A Wii game," she asks. "I haven't hardly played with the ones I've got." I reply. "Clothes?" she questions knowingly. I hate getting clothes as a present. Hate it.

Obviously frustrated, she stopped asking me.

Last week, I got a call from her while at work. "Which would you prefer," she asks, "tickets to the symphony, or an evening of hilarious improvisation with none other than Colin Mochrie and Brad Sherwood?"

Both of these options surprised me. The first because Challene hates "the arts". Even the Desert Star Playhouse makes her cringe. The latter surprised me because of the line-up. Colin Mochrie and Brad Sherwood of ABC's Who's Line Is It Anyway?

I've loved that show since its inception. I think improvisation is the purest form of comedy, not to mention the most difficult to master.

I don't think I've laughed any harder than I have with any other television show out there. Honestly, I greatly appreciate the other cast members: The quirky Ryan Stiles, and the amazingly quick witted Wayne Brady. Their both great, but Colin Mochrie has always had a very special place in my heart. I like his style of humor. I appreciate his dry wit. The Green Screen scenes are some of my favorite.

Brad was just ok in my book. Certainly no Greg Proops.

So, when I heard we could go see Colin Mochrie and Brad Sherwood LIVE, I jumped on the opportunity.

The event was to be held at Abravanel Hall in downtown SLC. So you know it had to be classy, right. I bet Challene before the show that there would be over 10 Mormon jokes.

We were both enjoying poking fun at Dale Chiluly's glass sculpture in the lobby when the 5 minute chime... well, it chimed.

Filled with anticipation we entered and took our seats three rows from the very back wall.

We didn't care, though. We heard the 1 minute chime and girded ourselves for hilarity.

Suddenly, the lights dimmed... then it was dark. Pitch black. We then heard the rapid crescendo of the opening to Wake Up by Rage Against The Machine.

Colin and Brad are announced and in they walk, in time to the music, and strangely similar to the '80's WWF sensation; The Bushwacker's. They did a silly choreographed bit which was funny just because Colin is so old. I knew then, that this night will be magical.

They started off by doing a classic Who's Line game where two audience members move the actors throughout an entire scene. The scene itself was probably 6-8 minutes in length, but my cheeks were very sore and I had a "laughing headache" after it. Challene was crying.

I had written this blog detailing each and every scene in their entirety when I realized that it just wasn't doing it any comedic justice. Suffice it to say that we had a fantastic time and enjoyed every minute of the show. Sure, some scene's were funnier than others, but really it was all gold.

I mentioned earlier how much respect I had for this type of comedic stylings, and I still stand by that. For this reason, I do have to mention one other scene.

It began by Colin and two stage aids placing 100 set mousetraps on the stage. Colin and Brad removed their shoes, donned blindfolds and began an opera scene about a stolen shoe. They strolled along the stage during the scene with 100 mousetraps slamming closed on their toes.

The intellectual quality lowered during that bit, while the slapstick quality rose. I still laughed. Seeing Colin and Brad revert to blindly tossing set mousetraps at each other was entertaining, yes, but it felt... a little desperate. They are better than that. Colin nailed Brad in the privates with one. The crowd went wild.

The evening ended with a hilarious parody of Frank Sinatra's My Way that summarized the night, the skits, and their time in Salt Lake City.

We left Abravanel laughing, smiling, and with memories that will last a lifetime. Plus, not one single Mormon joke.

Hands down... the BEST birthday present ever.

Thank's Challene!

Temple Blessings

Bountiful Temple

Those who know me well know that I grew up in a very small family. This family basically consisting of just my Mom, Sister, Grandparents and two Great Aunts. On April 15 of 1998 Aunt "Afty" (Afton Ruffin) passed away at the age of 87 due to age related illnesses. She was an amazing women. She did marry but was never able to have children. She was very active in the community and in the Church. She loved music, she sang and played the guitar and organ. She also loved music boxes and had many through out her home. Most people can cook or bake but she could do both really well. I remember when I was young she would make my birthday cakes. Her baking cakes for me is a the reason I do it for my kids. During her life she wrote poems and loved to garden. My fondest memories are of the smells of her beautiful roses in her yard. I can't smell a rose without thinking of her. She was an amazing women and still missed to this day.

Her Sister, Aunt Venna was quite the opposite. Maybe in her younger years she was happy and contributed to society but when I knew her she didn't have the most optimistic personality. She never married and never had any children. So again this explains why we had such a small family. During her life she smoked and due to this was never active in the church. To be honest we don't even know if she was ever blessed or baptized and confirmed a member. But even though she wasn't the happiest person, I loved her. She was my Aunt. When we were little and we would visit her, I remember playing word searches with her and my sister. I always would get so upset because BreAnna would always get more words than me. She is older and so she was faster. Growing up I would go in and clean her house for her. Granted this really was more forced upon, but she paid really great. At lunch time she would make me a tuna fish sandwich on butter bread. I don't know maybe this is common but to me it was really weird. However I would eat it and to be honest it really wasn't that bad. Even though most of the time together was forced upon us, I am so glad now that I had that time with her. Growing up for some reason my family put us into categories. I was Aunt Venna's favorite and BreAnna was Aunt Afty's. So when Aunt Venna passed away on February 11th of 2005 at the age of 90 of age related illnesses I was very sad. But that is life and she had a long one.

But to be honest this wasn't the last moments we have had together. During the last 5 years Aunt Venna has been literally visiting me in my dreams. I would say she has been in at least a good half dozen dreams. I know this may just be guilty conscious but I would rather believe that she was visiting me to tell me she needed me to do her Temple work for her. The dreams all had the same basic plot. Aunt Venna was wherever I was in my dream with me. She never spoke but I always told her she wasn't supposed to be here with me. I just knew even in my dreams that she was in the wrong place. To be honest they have been a little bit disturbing. And the last two have had Aunt Afty there with her. They were really trying to get me to get the work done I guess. So finally after 5 years Will and I went to the Temple on January 16, 2010 and did her Temple work. We spent the whole afternoon at the Bountiful Temple, just the two of us. I did everything for her from baptism to sealing her with her parents. It was such an amazing experience to go do Temple work for somebody I knew and was so close to. It was such a peaceful day. I know in the Temple you aren't supposed to worry about the outside world or anything. And that was exactly how the day went. I didn't think twice about the time of day or anything outside of just doing her work. I feel so very honored to do her work. I miss her so much. Even more now that I have done this, ironically. I am sad to be done but I am glad for her, I hope she still visits me.

Christmas 2009

Belated Christmas!

So, we dropped Internet Explorer because it was giving us so much trouble and opted for google chrome in its place. If anybody has this internet thing figured out, it would be the good boys at Google, I surmised. All in all I think I was right. That is, until we decided to post our Christmas 2009 blog. For some reason we cannot rearrange the pictures after putting them on. "So just put them on in the order you want them." Hmmm... sound advice, except that they go on completely random. That's right, I have no say in the order that they go.

That being said, here is Christmas 2009 in a semi-random order.

Below is my little Joshy playing with his new Leapster game system. It's actually pretty cool. Now we can officially absolve ourselves of any responsibility to educate our children. Technology has solved all of our problems. Thank goodness.

Actually, the "games" are designed to stretch their little minds, which I like, plus it keeps them out of Challene's hair when she needs to get things done... which she likes. All in all, 4 big thumbs up.

My dear wife decided to brave the Black Friday crowd at Toys R Us in Layton. They got these little cars that move, not via remote control, not via radio control, but via laser control. That's right, folks. Just point the laser where you wish and this little guy will do his best to drive there. I know what you're thinking, "so what's the big deal, my radio controlled car can do that." You're right to think that, but wrong to assume you're correct. You see, Air Hogs brand Laser cars can go... wait for it... on the walls and ceiling! Ha! Eat that remote and radio controlled car lovers! Mostly its cool, but sadly the retro-trend of texturing walls and ceilings kind of make it hard to control. Also, the novelty does seem to wear thin pretty quickly.

Question: when dealing with normally noisy 3 and 4 year old boys, what Christmas gift will help calm them and hone their energy into neuro-stimulating activities?

Answer: NOT an electronic drum set. Turns out it just makes them louder. I call false advertising!

The walkie-talkies were a little beyond their age, unfortunately. After saying, "No, you have to push the button to talk, let go if you want to hear", and hearing, "Josh... come in, over." 84 million times we decided to hide them and maybe bring them back out in a few years.

Perhaps for a 10th birthday party. Re-gifting (even if it is given to the same person twice) is a fully legitimate source of birthday presents. In fact, we can compare smiley faces with Christmas 2009. See which offered more immediate gratification and which they enjoyed in the long haul. I'm thinking an inverse relationship.

I think these were crayola crayon sets. Classic.

What better way to spend Christmas than letting the boys duke it out on the ol' Playstation?

Before Christmas, we put together some gingerbread paraphernalia. Ethan and Challene made a gingerbread house, and Joshy and I made a gingerbread train. Admittedly, my gingerbreading skills aren't quite up to snuff. Fortunately for me, I was working with a 3 year old. To him, I'm freaking Frank Lloyd Wright! ... or perhaps Thomas Savery would be more appropriate. At any rate, here's the fun:

I think this is Ethan's finished product. Note the unilateral use of "candy balls" on the eaves, in the window, and round the "peppermint oculus" (sounds like a punk band name: "Here they are with their latest hit... PEPPERMINT OCULUS! Crowd goes wild). What better way to balance the cumbersome chimney? Is he a prodigy? Perhaps.

Intermission.

Say, is that Thomas the Train? The little engine that could? The train from Dumbo? Nope, just a little something something (read: sumpin' sumpin) we put together. No big deal.

He is obviously very proud of his train. So am I.

All in all, a good Christmas. In actuality a difficult one for Challene and I due to certain employment related fiduciary sequelae; vis a vis occupational misappropriation, newly assumed, ill-timed, and costly business ventures, and not being paid for over a year. You very quickly realize just how much emphasis is placed on the commercial aspect of Christmas. We really tried to stress this year just what the meaning was, and why we celebrate it. I hope the message sank in.

December Fun

Since we have not bloged in a while I thought I would just catch you all up on what we have been up to so far this Christmas season.

First we have been decorating for the holiday's. Below you will see what the boys were doing while Will and I were trying to decorate.

Here is the boys with their list to Santa. They also drew a picture on the back for Santa.

Santa showed up at our ward Christmas party.

And last but not least we went down this last Monday night to Temple Square for family home evening. We weren't the only ones with the great idea either. It was a busy night and cold! It was more of a brisk walk through. We went straight from Will's office downtown, that's why he's dressed up so nice.

He is getting way to big!

Happy Holidays Everyone!!!!!!!!!!!

and

Merry Christmas!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Halloween 2009

Join me, if you dare...

Costumes

Ethan and Josh were excited after picking their skeleton costumes out at Wal-Mart. Little did they know that it was all part of my plan... See, they would go to the Halloween party as members of the Cobra Kai in their skeleton costumes and I would go as Daniel LaRusso in a shower costume. After a sensual dance with my Challene, I would excuse myself to use the restroom. After observing members of the Cobra Kai in a bathroom stall engaging in the consumption of illegal substances, I'd dowse them all with a hose and then take off! They would inevitably chase me and in an epic show-down would gang-up on me and beat me down. The battle may be there's, but the war would not be over!

Well, that's what I wanted, but as you can see from the picture above Joshy's costume was to big, Ethan's costume was too short... and it was green. Clearly not Cobra Kai material. Devastated, we took them back.

So we went a different route.

Here's Joshy as Bumblebee the transformer.

And, here's Ethan as Wolverine (comic book version).

These seemed to work well for the boys. Sadly, it no longer made sense for me to wear my shower costume so I threw it over the fence into the field behind my house. It's pumpkin food now!

The primary presidency decided to throw together an impromptu party for the kids.

Primary Halloween Party

Second game (pictured below) was musical chairs... well, musical halloween pictures.

In fact, she and Joshy got into a little skirmish during one round. The result was Bumblebee damage in the form of a ripped off helmet and chest plate! Ok, none of that is true, he just wanted it off.

Pin the nose on the jack-o-lantern.

And what would a primary party be without a "fishing" station? Not one that I would go to, that's for sure!

It ain't a holiday in our house without having some sort of superficial head wound!

First was Ethan. We were eating lunch. I was busying myself in the kitchen when I heard a crash. I look over to see Challene rushing over to Ethan and a broken chair on the floor. She picks him up and notices that he's bleeding from the back of his head.

There's a lot of densely packed capillary beds on the skin of the skull and when punctured can bleed a lot. It scared Challene and Ethan... but not me.

He's trying his hardest not to smile!

Not to be out-done, my little Joshy thought he would fall (never did really find out what happened or how he fell). But he hit the side of his face above and below his lips

Well, with the injuries safely behind us, we were free to have some family fun.

Pumpkin Carving


I asked him to make the face that his pumpkin was making in this picture.
Ethan picked out the pattern for his pumpkin and actually did much of the work. I was surprised with how long he actually sat and worked at it. He did a great job.

Challene went for the bats

Kind of hard to see, but I went for the Frankenstein pumpkin. Not too shabby!


Trick or Treating

I was happy that our ward did not do a Trunk-or-Treat. We live in such a good neighborhood! It was like the good-ol-days. There was tons of kids out trick-or-treating, having a good time, gettin' free candy!

It was a fun Halloween.