The Yack Attack

Well..this morning Lisa started throwing up. Then when I took the three kids to church, Tanner started joining the fun. Natalie had it a week ago - I guess Sydney and I are the lucky ones.

Sun in Night

Sydney's life has become a musical lately. I'm suprised how many songs she's learned at pre-school and primary. She tries to sing like Ariel on The Little Mermaid and she makes up songs about whatever she is doing. Today she was singing "Silent Night" for me. She only knows the first line and sings it like this: "Su-un in Night, Su-un in Night." I can imagine these are kind of confusing lyrics to her, but I'm not fixing it because it's so cute. I'm sure she'll learn the right words next year.

Snow day in Oakley

Yesterday we went up to Aunt Jenny's family cabin in Oakley for a day to play in the snow. It's a really fun tradition we do every year. I should have taken a picture of the cabin because it is the coolest cabin I've ever seen. Sydney has been really into playing in the snow this year. Her older cousins are so great to take her on their sleds with them.

Here's a picture of Sydney and her cousin James. James has gotta be the best big brother a kids could have. He even made a point of telling me how much fun he had sledding with her later that day.

Here's a picture of Sydney and her cousin Ally waking back up the hill. And a picture of just Ally because she's so darn photogenic and thought this picture was really cute.

I haven't written anything about my littlest children in quite some time. They did a bit of sleeping during this event. Tanner and Natalie have great party manners. They are always so quiet and well behaved when we go out in public. I suppose they must get pretty bored and tired of being at home so much. If they are not being quiet they are often singing. That's been their thing lately. Natalie's sometimes sounds like a high-pitched garbage disposal, but its still music to my ears. Tanner sings his dada song. It goes like this: "Dadadadadadadadada." We've been working on a mama song, but no luck yet.

Quote the Sydney

Daddy: Sydney - if I were an animal, what would I be?

Sydney: a cow.

Daddy: Sydney - if Mommy were an animal, what would she be?

Sydney: a pretty cow.

RC Willey: part 2

Thursday, December 27:

11:15AM: Corporate called back - said the couches have been found and delivery is scheduled for Monday morning. Secretly I wonder if they're just buying two more days to find them :)

If they don't come Monday, would you:
1. Cancel the order. Get your money back and never go back.
2. Wait another day. You've already waited two weeks.
3. Demand more than the piddling $50 off the couches and Get Gephart or report to the Better Business Bureau (thanks Dave for the suggestion).
4. Hide under a rock and die, knowing that your life will never be complete with these couches.

RC Willey - what are you doing?

Wow. I don't know what else to say? If you want the short version, we ordered custom couches, they setup a few delivery times after they came in, I missed half of a family party, and we still don't have couches, and they don't know where one of them are. Here's the sad long version:

Monday, December 17:

8PM: R.C. Willey leaves a message on our home phone that they received our custom couches from the manufacturer, and that we can come pick them up whenever we want.

Tuesday, December 18:

10AM We call R.C. Willey back to say we picked up the free dvd player but that the couches were to be delivered, as it said on their records. They realized they read their own ticket wrong, and setup delivery for Friday (21st).

Friday, December 21:

8AM: I called to see what time they were going to deliver, they said 7:30 - 10:30.

11AM: I asked why the driver hadn't called, they gave me his number and told me to call him (what's up with that?). I call the number they gave and left a message on the driver's phone. He never calls back (first promised callback that never happened)

2PM: I call R.C. Willey again, they think it's dumb the previous time I got the driver's number, say they'll look into and call me back within an hour. (second promised callback that never happened).

9PM: I call R.C. Willey again, they said the loaders didn't put the couches on the truck, as they read the ticket wrong (again), and that they'd scheduled delivery for tomorrow (Saturday the 22nd). She said they'd also have a manager call to apologize (third promised callback that never happened). I called back and left a message on the store manager's phone about my "unpleasantness".

Saturday, December 22:

8AM: I call to see what time they'll be delivered. They say delivery between 10-1. My family Christmas party is at 11:30, but I figure if the drivers call and say 10 or 10:30, we'll leave right after.

10AM: The drivers call and say they will deliver between 11 and 12.

12:45PM: I send Lisa and the kids, as I feel this might be a while.

12:45PM: I call R.C. Willey, asking what happened. They said they'll call the driver and call me back within 30 minutes (fourth promised callback that never happened).

1:45PM: I call R.C. Willey again, she said they were just looking for my phone number to call back, that the driver said they were in the middle of a delivery and would call them back but didn't for half an hour, then just finally did (note it's an hour later). R.C. Willey said that the driver didn't think he had my couches on the truck. I asked them where the couches were, they said they were in the process of looking, but think they're either on another truck, or still in the warehouse, and that they'd call me within two hours when they found them.

1:45PM: I call the store manager to leave another message, as I'm driving to make the last half of the family party.

4:00PM: Since we drove up separately, Lisa called me on my cell to say the store manager called to apologize, that they still couldn't find our couches and said we'd get a fair price on new couches if we came into the store to pick out new ones. Fair price?

Monday, December 24:

10:00AM: I called to see if they found my couches yet. Nope. They transferred me to the main warehouse to have them track them down. They said they didn't have them and they're transfer me to customer service, who could help me track them down. I interrupted that to say I just talked with them, but they said it'd be the warehouse customer service. I waited 25 minutes on hold to find out it was the same people. They said they'd call within two hours. (fifth promised callback that never happened).

Wednesday, December 26th:

10AM: I called to hope the warehouse had made progress. They said they found the love seat but couldn't find the other one. They said they'd have my original salesman drive the issue. They transferred me to him, I told him the story, he commiserated, and said he'd drive the issue, be the pointman, and call back within the hour to tell me what happened.

1PM: (three hours later) I called the salesman back, said he was just looking for my number (this seems to be a common line) and that he talked to the manager of the warehouse, not just the one over inventory, and they said they needed a day to look for it. I called back the manager of the Murray store and left another message.

Thursday, December 27th:

8:15-9:31AM: Called to check the status this morning. I was on hold for an hour and eighteen minutes. I talked to corporate customer service, who said they'd look into it and call me back in a few minutes.

I'll edit the post when new changes occur. Not that you want to read more...

Merry Christmas

Well Christmas day was a lot of fun for our family. It started off a little rocky. Natalie got sick Christmas Eve and threw up a few times. She slept well at night with no problems but when I nursed her in the morning she threw up all over her and me. Tanner somehow managed to stay clean through that. So she had a bath, I had a shower, and by the time we were all ready Sydney was up and ready to see what Santa brought her.

Sydney finally understood the Santa thing this year and was very excited. We actually had to go see Santa at the mall twice this year because the first time she was so excited and nervous she forgot what she wanted to ask him for for Christmas. She's really been wanting a big ball with Dora on it. So the first time she saw Santa she only said she wanted "presents". That afternoon all she would talk about was how she forgot to tell Santa about the Dora ball. So the next week we were at the mall again and made another more successful stop to Santa. Anyways, Santa did get her the Dora ball. She was very excited about it.

Josh sent me on a video scavenger hunt that morning for my present. He has been so excited about my present this year and with good reason. He got me a Nikon D40 digital camera! So now I can take some AWESOME pictures! I spent most of Christmas day trying to figure out how to use it. It's going to take me some time to figure out all the features.

After the unveiling of all our gifts Grandma and Grandpa Moore came over to visit. It was so nice of them to drive all the way out to us and Sydney loved showing them all the things she got.

We went out to my parents' home that afternoon. My mom had a special surprise planned for all of us. She gave each family gift bags and made us all wait to open them at the same time. Inside them were marshmallow shooters for each family member and a bag of mini marshmallows. And the war began! It was hilarious. Josh wants to build a snow fort in the front yard and shoot the neighbors that go by.

Sydney also got a box of princess dress-up clothes for Christmas. I think I may have a hard time getting her to wear anything else for a while. Natalie will have a lot of hand-me-downs in practically new condition.

Leisure time

What do you do on your leisure time? According the the U.S. Department of Labor's American Time Use Survey (ATUS), if you're 15 and over, this is the national average of leisure time on an average day (note that this includes all days of the week):

Watching TV: 2.6 hours
Socializing and communicating: 46 minutes
Reading: 22 minutes
Participating in sports, exercise, recreation: 17 minutes
Relaxing and thinking: 19 minutes
Playing games; using computer for leisure: 19 minutes
Other leisure activities: 29 minutes
Total leisure and sports time per day: 5.1 hours

More findings:
Employed adults ages 25 to 54 who live in households without children (under age 18) engaged in leisure and sports activities for 4.3 hours, about 53 more minutes per day than employed adults living with a child under age 6.

Yet using the same survey, most fathers with children under 18 at home said they spent 3-4 hours a day with the children.

On average...do you have 5.1 hours of leisure time?

Full article

Use New Media

Earlier this week at BYU-Hawaii, Elder M. Russell Ballard encouraged the students there to use "new media", more specifically blogs and responding to online news reports.

“We cannot stand on the sidelines while others, including our critics, attempt to define what the Church teaches".

Read the full article

Just a reminder about my LDS Quotes blog.

There's an RSS feed for the LDS Newsroom from the first link, including articles about how measles has dropped 91% from Africa, helped partially from funds donated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

Happy Anniversary!!!

Well...as most of you know, when asked how old I am, I respond with how many years I've been married. This makes it easier than remind myself I'm starting to get old (27) and that it's fun to think about being 5.

Sure '5' isn't a big number, but it feels great. As many of you know from my past posts about acquiring telescopes and my astronomy blog, I'm really getting into astronomy. Well, this morning I unwrapped my anniversary present.

This is what the sky looked like in Salt Lake City the night we were married. It's really pretty. You can see the moon, Jupiter, Saturn, Pleiades, etc. The fun thing is Jupiter, Saturn, and the moon are all aligned ;)

Thanks Bean - love you big time.

Happy Anniversary to us!

Well we made it! The big number 5. I'm not sure why 5 years seems like such a big deal to me. Especially when you look at people married for 50 years. I guess I just thought this day was SO far away 5 years ago. When you get married and the longest you've dated anyone is about 5 months it's hard to imagine lasting years and years with the same person. But it's been a great half-decade! I'm the luckiest girl in the world to be married to the sweetest, funnest, smartest, most patient guy in the world!

We don't have huge plans for our anniversary. We're going to dinner and a movie. But really it doesn't matter what we do, a night out with just the two of us is fabulous no matter what. Thanks mom and dad for babysitting! Josh got me this beautiful watch and matching bracelet from Brighton Collectibles. I love their stuff! And he's so smart to get a bracelet with the watch so the babies can slobber all over that instead of ruining the watch. Very clever.

I was pretty proud of my gift idea for Josh this year. Since he's so into astronomy lately I found an online store that will print out what the night sky looked like on any given night at any given location. So I gave him a picture of the night sky over Salt Lake City on our wedding night. The sky that night was actually covered in clouds because it was snowing, but had there been no clouds this his what it would have looked like. We noticed this morning that the moon, saturn and jupiter were all lined up which looks pretty cool.

Sunday Fun

Today was quite busy but a great day. Normally our Sundays are really laid back after church, but I scheduled four home teaching appointments today. I've had little luck getting my companions to go with me, so two of the Elders Quorum Presidency helped and went to two each. Each of the four families are really nice and we always have fun catching up and talking about the gospel. Church was 11-2, and I had appointments at 2:45, 3:30, 4:15, and 5:00. When I got home, Sydney gave me a big hug and said "Daddy - I need some daddy-daughter time." It was really cute. So Tanner is in bed, and Sydney, Natalie, and I just finished watching the old-school Rudolph movie...twice. A good hour of chocolate popcorn and snuggles.

The importance of examples

Yes. I know. Hero week has come and gone and we're at least 40+ weeks away. However...

Several things have led up to this blog entry. Lisa and I, on recommendation from a good friend, watched "The Ultimate Gift". I highly recommend it. Okay...maybe it doesn't directly apply (it's late...I'm already rambling).

Lately I've been learning a lot about telescopes, and more recently binoculars. I want a quick way for Sydney to enjoy the stars without having to wait 30 minutes for me to get all the scope stuff ready, eyepieces, etc. I go to a cool site called Cloudy Nights (www.cloudynights.com) to learn about all sorts of stuff. The realization comes later that the only time you're reading it is when there are cloudy nights, otherwise you'd be out under the telescope! Anyway there's a guy who knows all there is to know about binoculars, what there is to know, and why it's important. I learned a ton after doing a few posts on the message board and he was very helpful. At the bottom of each of his posts (the signature) it says "Teach a kid something today. The feeling you'll get is one of life's greatest rewards."

One of my greatest rewards is being able to help my dad, on rare occasion. He has been through a lot with me, much less the "minor things" like installing sinks, calls about sprinklers, and such. It's such an honor to be able to help with computer problems, or anything I might know more about...yes...that does limit it to computers :)

There is something great to be said for those who always give. I'm sadly one who always looks for praise (like a dog, or a 3 year old) for doing something nice. Why I need verification it was good, or the pat-on-the-back, I hope I figure out soon so I stop. Anyway - here's my long entry for a short topic from EdZ: "Teach a kid something today. The feeling you'll get is one of life's greatest rewards."

10 sentences of background

Last Thursday Lisa and I went to the Mandarin in Bountiful while Grandpa and Grandma Moore watched the kids. We are so grateful. It felt weird to have so much time where we weren't going anywhere, we didn't have the kids with us, and no electronic devices kept our attention. Something brought up the subject of one of my crazy, zany, or otherwise roll-your-eyes ideas. Don't get me wrong - it's not 1) good, 2) appealing, or definitely 3) intentionally funny. I don't know if it's tactlessness, short-term memory loss...hopefully in kind words you'll have an answer. It's hilarious to everyone but Lisa, except afterwards when she rolls her eyes and laughs because it's in the past and she can't do anything to prevent it again. One of them is that I always give ten sentences of background when no one really cares how we got there (like I've just done) and could have just skipped to the next paragraph. Let me give an example she likes to use:

So since I don't listen well or notice the needs or wants of my wife very well (there's a clue), when Christmas time, her birthday, our anniversary, etc. comes along, I ask her what she wants. She'll get that look like "here we go again", and then proceeds to remind me what is about to happen (or sometimes she plays along, like we haven't done this before). She reminds me that every time I ask, she gives me several good ideas, I decide it wasn't my idea and/or now it wouldn't be a surprise, and decide to get something else altogether (like is happening for Christmas).

I think Alzheimers is right around the corner...or was that last week? Anyway, we were talking about this over dinner, and I (mistakenly) asked her what other crazy things I do. She had so many available (not that she doesn't love me), but we left that restaurant laughing so hard we probably couldn't spell 'sober'. The sad thing is, this is the only one I remember.

What is the goal? Like I told Lisa to do over dinner - she needs to blog about the crazy things I do. I swear Lisa's mom has the best time listening on the other end of the phone as Lisa 'tells her a new one' or 'it happened again' (I just guessing...these aren't actual quotes). Send Lisa an email and request more. She's being kind not doing it, but if everyone gets a good laugh and it helps me remember not to be...ooo...I hope the word isn't "ditsy"..that we'll all have a good laugh.

My little copycat

Sydney is growing up a little faster than I like. Yesterday, she was being an especially big copycat of everything I do. After I walked on the treadmill in the morning she got on her "gym shoes" (a.k.a. slippers) and walked for a few minutes and then went to get us both some "gym water" (sippy cups with water). After I put on make-up she also put on make-up and looked like she had a black eye the rest of the day. I tried to wash it off and I wish I'd taken a picture. That girl is going to be a make-up artist for horror films some day.
Later that day I saw her dragging my enormous nursing pillow into the family room with her baby doll. My mom gave her a baby doll a couple years ago for Christmas I think and it's become part of the family. Sydney announces to me, "I'm the best mommy!" A few minutes later she says "All done!" I look over at her and she's got the nursing pillow around her with her baby and her shirt all unbuttoned. She really is the best mommy!
I took all the kids to Sam's Club that afternoon to pick up Christmas cards and groceries. They were all being so good. The twins especially love to go shopping because there is so much to look at. I was taking my time and enjoying the absence of crying. Sydney likes to talk about everything she sees at the store. Then she says, "Okay mommy, you pick ONE more thing and then it's time to go home." Well I was actually all done but the whole way up to the checkout she's reminding me, "ONE more thing mommy, just ONE more and then we're all done." She gave me quite a few good laughs for one day!

Doing telephone interviews about telephone interviews

Whether you're following the 2008 Presidential campaigns closely or not, you've got to love this article. Not only does the article say most people hung up on automated phone calls about the election, they were only slightly nicer to actual people on the other line doing the same thing.

How did they get this data: doing telephone interviews about telephone interviews.

Now if you want something really funny - read a great article about how one reporter does his polling. Let me just point out a few key phrases you'll see: nuns, those wearing hats, punks on skateboards.

Family Home Evening

It's on, it's off, it's postponed, it's missed. Family home evening is never what it was in my parent's home: consistent. We're working on it. Lisa is quite amazing. Scroll back to hero week and read the entry about her and we'll assume you think she better than sliced bread too and add to it with this entry. On Monday, Lisa brought home a gingerbread house kit, and we were all excited for FHE. Okay...so some of us (especially Tanner) couldn't keep our eyes off the treats, but as you can see - the candies made it on the house. But that's not the best part of Monday. It was Lisa's turn for the lesson. We sang songs like "when the family gets together" and "listen, listen", and had a wonderful lesson on baptism. Sydney's favorite cousin (on Lisa's side) is Mary. Mary is getting baptized on Saturday, and is anxious to see it. Sydney has seen a few, but I'm never sure how much of the explanation of why makes it through. Lisa used pictures from the Gospel Art Kit (the wonder pack of 600 photos (something like $15 at the distribution center), and we had a great time. This morning on the way to school Sydney said "Dad..when I turn eight, I'm going to be baptized." It was really cute. Okay...what you've been waiting for: pictures. Sorry - our camera stinks indoors. I turned on and off the flash, but they were all sorts of blurry.

First Snow

Well we got our first big snow of the year last weekend! I'm so glad we did not need to leave the house that day. It was an all day thing. Sydney played outside with her friend McCoy while Josh shoveled the driveway in the morning. I painted the bathroom while the babies slept and in the afternoon I went out to play in the snow with Sydney. We started what could have been a very cool snow fort. But Sydney started to get really cold so we had to come in. I guess the boots I bought her are not waterproof. Neither are her gloves. It was fun to get outside and play like a kid again. The best part is coming inside and taking a warm shower and having hot chocolate.

Journaling

Since October 8th I've been writing in a personal journal. I have an Outlook reminder each morning to remind me (it's been two months and I still need it). I added it up, I'm 34/53 days, but considering before this, I wrote 8 days in my life, it's definitely an increase. I'm up to 14 pages. I was surprised how much I had forgotten things that happened just a week ago, much less a month and a half ago.

Here are a few highlights from the past two months (in order of occurance):

1. Sharing the Book of Mormon with a good friend.

2. My new telescope. (brrrrr...it's cold outside)

3. Hero week on this blog.

4. Getting donuts from Macey's with Sydney, who loves the car carts.

5. Thanksgiving Point with Mo, and standing in line for 45 minutes for a pretty weak train.

6. TV and cable modem go POOF.

7. Personal revelation.

8. Halloween excitement.

9. Friends lunches.

10. Microsoft interviews.

11. Star gazing with Sydney.

12. Macaroni Grill and Bourne Ultimatum with Lisa.

13. Rachel's pregnant!

14. My parents came home from their mission!

15. Jazz game with Matt.How many things can you remember from the past two months?

Crayon Physics

Here's the download

Jazz Game

On Friday afternoon, I got a call from my brother-in-law Matt Fankhauser. He said they had an extra ticket to the Jazz game that night and wondered if I wanted to go. I haven't been to a Jazz game in ten years, but that's definitely not from the lack of wanting. I was thrilled and Lisa was kind enough to take the kids for the evening. She took the kids out to her parents' house and had pie. The game was awesome. We were on the 11th row ($130 tickets)! Despite being down by five most of the first half, the end of the first half gave them a lot of confidence and pulled within one. They opened the second half with a 16-1 run and ended up winning by thirty.

Since we only get the very basic cable package, we don't get FSN-Utah, Versus, or anything other than KJZZ to watch the games. It was a great time at the game, and fun to spend a little time with Matt - we rarely get together other than family activities.

Thanks again Matt!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving was great! We had a few times of the kids getting up throughout the night because their shots were hurting (vaccines yesterday), but they seem to be adapting well. We went up to Matt and Ann’s around 11:30, had some appetizers watched a little football, and spent some quality time catching up and having a lot of laughs. Mom and Dad were so great. They each would trade off with each of the grandchildren. When Sydney first saw Grandma Moore, she gave her a big hug and wrapped her feet around Grandma’s waist, and just snuggled for a few minutes. She had that “I’ve really missed you” look on her face – it was so sweet. It was so great seeing Sydney with Grandpa Moore, always his little shadow. Whenever she was more than five feet away, she would come up to me and whisper “I want Grandpa Moore”. Tanner was just cooing while being held by Grandma Moore. He only snuggles Lisa and grandmas that way. Our family has been so blessed by their mission, and it continues with their presence in our family. The meal was wonderful (we forgot to bring the veggie tray, just the other stuff), but we all enjoyed time together as a family. Dad and Mom, Rich’s family, Matt’s family, and our family were there for most of the day, with Nate’s family coming up for pie later (spent Thanksgiving with her family).

It's hard to say what was best, as the food was awesome! It was neat to see Ally getting in on the cooking, but Wende made stuffed mushrooms (Jenny's recipe) and man, those are delicious. Despite the attempts to continue stuffing ourselves, we couldn't help but pause to keep saying how great the food was. Hopefully Wende will post pictures of the stuffed mushrooms and our fun day.

Hope your Thanksgiving went as well.

They're home!!!

After a long seventeen years (okay, a year and a half), my parents have arrived home safely from the Uganda Kampala Mission. Sydney has been so excited for their return, carrying their picture around the house with her. When my parents left, Sydney was in an extremely shy stage, so they weren't expecting Sydney to run up and give them big hugs. We had a fun night catching up with my family, and are excited to spend Thanksgiving with them. It was so hard to leave their home last night, despite it being an hour past the kids bedtime, but after my parents 8 hour flight from Kampala to Entebbe, then yesterday's flight from Entebbe to Salt Lake City (via Chicago), I can't believe they were still awake.

What a blessing to have them home safe. Hopefully they'll have a few days to adjust before we overwhelm them with stuff to do together.

Starry Nights

For Josh's last birthday he got a telescope. He quickly outgrew this telescope and upgraded to what Sydney calls "daddy's HUGE telescope." We had no idea Sydney would be so taken with astronomy. She'll likely be one of the voyagers on the star ship Enterprise someday. She goes out with Josh every night the sky is clear to look for constellations. She tells me about galaxies, nebullas, and star clusters. She has a star chart Josh printed out for her which she has colored and is working on learning a few of the galaxies on it. Most nights they just lay on the lawn and look at their charts. Sometimes they get out the HUGE telescope and look for things. (One of these days I'll snap a picture. The flash will probably blind them.) Sydney is really patient for a 3-year-old. She'll just sit out there in the coldand watch her daddy get everything put together and aligned so she can look through it for a few seconds. The other night she came running in the house from the cold all excited and said, "Mommy, I saw the moon THREE times!!"

Acmed the dead terrorist

I apologize in advance for a few expletives...and for your tears of laughter. Thanks to Kevin Carter

OPML

No. It's not a drug. If you frequently read any blogs, hopefully you're using an RSS feed reader to notify you of new content. Your local list of RSS feeds are stored as a group in an OPML file (or at least can be imported or exported that way).

What does your OPML contain? Me? Here are my main groups:

Astronomy

Church

Comics (Dilbert!)

Family (Lisa, sister in laws)

Friends (Kevin Carter, Chris Okelberry, Trent Himes)

Politics (USA Today, Washington Post)

Sports (Jazz, Avalanche)

Sure, most of what I see I skim through quickly, but a few I always read straight through. How could you miss entries like this?

What does your OPML say about you?

Taking a hobby to an extreme?

How cool would this be? Sure, the images are free from NASA and the hubble telescope, but $30 for the frame as well as printing costs. Still...it'd be pretty sweet assuming you chose a sweet image, etc.

I've been TAGGED!

I've been tagged by my dear Aunt Barbs. Here are the rules to the game of tag.

Rules:
A. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning.
B. Each player lists 6 facts/habits about themselves.
C. At the end of the post, the player then tags other people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

1. My fingers are "double jointed." Apparently, double jointed is not a real thing. It's just extreme flexibility. I can bend the pinky finger on my left hand backwards so far that the tip of it will touch the back of my hand. This is not as easy to do as it was when I was younger. I remember attracting a lot of attention from it in elementary school.

2. I used to collect alarm clocks. I had 5 or 6 in high school. It's because I would get so used to the alarm on each clock that I would learn to sleep through it. So I would rotate through them. I would sleep for an hour through an alarm going off right next to my head. It would wake up everyone in the house but me. My dad used to come in my room and dump water on my face to wake me up. So I learned to wake up to the sound of my door opening. The alarm would be going off right next to me and I'd be out, but as soon as I heard the slightest squeek from my door I was up!

3. When I was 8 years old I decided I wanted to be a piano teacher when I grew up. At 15 I started teaching and just recently stopped teaching so I could take care of my kids. I don't think a lot of people actually become what they wanted to be when they were 8 years old.

4. I love doing the budget for our family. I will spend hours organizing and tracking all our financial matters and making long and short term saving plans. It's almost an obsession. I think I get this one from my mom. It's not so much that I am obsessed with saving money. I really enjoy spending it, but I like to see where it's all going and where we'll be later.

5. I have a very hard time sleeping alone. Funny because when I first got married I had the hardest time sleeping with someone else in the same bed. Now I have the hardest time sleeping if Josh isn't there. It's a good thing he doesn't travel for work. When he is gone I don't fall asleep until really late and get very few hours.

6. I am very spoiled. I have a husband who treats me like a queen and does everything he possibly can to make me happy. He works hard and provides for our family so I can stay home with our kids. And he is the best dad a kid could want. He gets so excited to do the things Sydney loves to do and turns into a kid himself. It's so fun to watch. I have 3 kids who are just little miracles to me. They are always quick to smile and love any attention they can get from their mommy. I have great parents who taught me everything I know that is good. They are always willing to help with anything they can and are so fun to be around. And I married into a great family who I've had the pleasure of being a part of for almost 5 years now. I think my Heavenly Father forgot to include trials in my life. It doesn't seem quite fair, but I'm not complaining.

I tag Wende, Roseann, and Sara!

Yard work

Is anyone excited by yard work (except when it's done)? :) A few weeks ago, we borrowed the neighbor's chainsaw and sawed down most of the crazy apple tree (odd, misshapen). This morning, it was nice weather so Sydney and I went out to go cleanup all the leftover apples, and (I) cut up the branches. It was a lot of fun singing the alphabet song, the theme song to "Super Why", counting to 15, counting backwards from 10, and just having a ball with Sydney. We're really been growing closer together and getting stuff done at the same time. I feel bad lately that to get work done on Saturday, Sydney and I spend time together while we do projects, and Lisa and the twins don't get as much time. However Saturday afternoons I've been spending with the twins, where the football game is on, but it's like it's just the radio, as we're playing, tickling, putting binkies back in, etc.

Astronomy excitement

On Monday for family home evening we took two blankets, two pillows, and an astronomy guide called Night Watch out on the front lawn to get more acquainted with constellations. Sydney was so thrilled that the book showed on one page an image of the night sky and on the other, connect-the-dot-ish constellations. She was even more thrilled when she realized that they "matched" the actual night sky. It was a lot of fun to spend quality time with Sydney, and Lisa read a little bit with us once we came back inside.

So tonight after dinner, Sydney looked over at me on her way to the front door informing me she was going out front to look at the moon. She is such a cutie! She knows daddy too well. Sadly it's a new moon, so it wasn't visible. We went out to look at the stars again like Monday, then got out "huge telescope" and looked at some really sweet stuff (galaxies, star clusters, etc). To keep a log of what I view astronomically, and soon to add images, I created my third blog. It has been so much fun to share a common hobby with Sydney other than the love of tickling, reading books, and good flicks like "Cars", "Toy Story 2", and "Curious George".

Microsoft

About three weeks ago, I was browsing LinkedIn to check for any new contacts I knew. I noticed one of advertisements included a job opportunity at Microsoft for an SDET. It really peaked my interest, so I submitted my resume, traded a few emails with the hiring manager, and before I knew it, I had an email setting up my interviews at Microsoft. Being really comfortable with my current job, co-workers, pay, etc. I was comforted that if it wasn't what I was looking for or if they were looking for someone else, it wouldn't be a big deal.

Thursday, I flew up to Washington, catching up on some reading I've been slowing been doing. I frequently try to get time in to read my dev and testing books (Lisa calls them my 'geek books'), but normally other things come first. Anyway, the flight was nice to get some reading in, as well as after dinner.

Friday morning, I worked out, showered, and did a bit more reading before heading up for my interviews. I first met with the recruiter, who was kind and helpful in understanding the position, who I would interview with, etc. I was really excited to see what team and project I would be working on, but obviously won't be discussing it (NDA). She sent me to my first interview, and I sat waiting, getting more nervous as the seconds went by. My first interview went horrible, as my knees were knocking, the worst part being either I looked like an idiot and apologized for my nerves, or the fact that I thought I wouldn't be nervous and was mad at myself.

I felt the second interview went pretty well, as we ate some hot clam chowder that really calmed my nerves before getting into the actual interview. The test and dev scenarios I felt I demonstrated good answers for, and was passed to the third interviewer. He was very kind as we discussed my past positions, etc. During my meeting with the recruiter, she mentioned if I made it past my third interview, it was a really good sign. So after the third interview seemed to be iffy, I asked how I could improve by what he had seen and heard, and we discussed a few items (including my frequent apologies), after which he asked me to wait while he went to speak with his boss (my fourth interview).

That interview I felt went well. After that concluded, I went back to speak with the recruiter, and was on my way back to the hotel. The flight back was nice and calm, minus the fact by this point my voice was almost gone. We'll see if they want me and are willing to make it worth my while to relocate me to Washington. If I would have been less nervous and ready to go on the first interview, I'd feel it was more likely, but we'll see. There are other issues to deal with like selling the house, finding new residence, etc., but that's for thinking about after I hear back.

We won!

Every year our realtor throws a client appreciation party by renting a movie theater and showing a new movie. He does a drawing and gives out some pretty cool prizes too. Almost everyone wins something. He also does a referral incentive program each year and presents the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners their prizes at the party. This year we won 1st prize -- a vacation! It's actually a travel voucher for a vacation for $2000. So I've been browsing my options and can't decide if we want a cruise or trip to the caribbean somewhere or a cruise to the caribbean or something else...Anyone have any suggestions? Also, any volunteers for babysitting? And if anyone needs a good realtor, use ours. We'd be happy to win again next year!

A witch, a devil, and an angel

Aren't they cute? Everyone likes to ask if I favor Natalie when they see what costumes I picked for the twins. I think they really are appropriate though. Natalie is an angel 99% of the time and Tanner is a handsome little devil. Sydney is not really witch in real life, but she picked her costume this year. We took her to gardner village and got some great shots of her with the witches there. While we were there my mom found this fabulous hat and decided to be a witch this year too. I think she and Sydney were the best dressed witches ever!

Picture Day - Take 2!

Sorry for those of you who are tired of looking at pictures of my kids! However, this is my blog and I can write what I want. I was somewhat irritated with my lack of pictures from kiddie kandids last week. 5 pictures just didn't cut it. I have more frames to fill than that! So I decided to try a few techniques I learned from watching Wende take pictures of our twin a few months ago. I snapped these with my little point and shoot camera in our living room a couple days ago. Yes, they are on a sheet from our bed. I think they turned out pretty good all things considered. I have yet to get a good one of all three of them, but I will not give up!

Oddities of life

I've set myself up for this one. April 6, 2007 I started my LDS Quotes blog, with a few goals in mind:

1. Have a repository of my favorites quotes from LDS talks, general conference, etc.

2. When I ran out of posting my favorite quotes, it'd mean I'd have to keep reading conference talks, BYU speeches, etc., which means I'd be learning more, etc.

3. Hopefully other people found them useful for talks, lessons, personal use, etc.

The two months before conference, I averaged between 100-120 hits per week. After conference, I'm averaging 10-60 hits per week.

By now you should be asking why I care or why I'd spend my free time looking each week (or perhaps you didn't make it this far). I've been wondering whether to keep it as a blog or not. I guess it doesn't hurt, just takes time to add one daily, formatting, links, etc.

Picture day

Well they turned out cute in the end but, wow, what an ordeal! I thought some indoor photo shots would be cute to do before they got too much older. I should have learned my lesson by now not to take such small children to a photo studio. It's funny how they'll be so smiley and giggling one second, but the second you put them in front of the photographer and the lights they turn stone-faced or suddenly their feet are incredibly interesting (that was Tanner.) I'm speaking mostly of Tanner and Natalie. Sydney is past that stage and absolutely delighted to pose for a camera. She was the same way as the twins when I took her to get pictures done at their age, though. Anyways, it took a long time, but we eventually got a cute one of each of them so all's well that ends well!

Our TV

Saturday night Josh and I rented Transformers, which we had not seen yet. We were right in the intense fighting seen at the end when there was a huge crash outside, the lights flickered, and our tv went blank. We assume it was lightning but it sounded like a bomb. I think for a tenth of a second I thought maybe the movie had caused it. It really was amazing timing. We still haven't found out what it was exactly. But whatever happened it fried our tv, literally. We had it checked out today and it's a complete loss. The good news is it will be partially covered by our insurance. So, new tv for us!

Scarecrow Festival

October is a month of traditions for us. We always get go to the pumpkin patch to pick out our pumpkins and check out the witches at Gardner Village. We've added a new tradition this year - the Scarecrow Festival at Thanksgiving Point. We heard this was a lot of fun from my cousin Shannon. It was a blast! Sydney got a pony ride, a train ride, and all the jumping she could handle. They had over a dozen of those huge blow-up bouncy pads and slides all lined up on one end of the festival. And I must say, she is quite the dare-devil. I know I would have been scared to go down some of those slides but she had no fear. I think kids must be made of rubber. Some of them were bouncing all over the place on the way down. I'm just grateful Sydney slid down gracefully. Tanner and Natalie also had a good time. They love to get out and see new people and places. It was well worth the few bucks to get in!

Shocking events

Lisa and I were watching the new Transformers movie at home when at 11:30pm Saturday, a huge boom was heard and a blinding flash. The power tripped, the tv started to smell like smoke, and we are now out a big screen and a cable modem, both which were on surge suppressors :( State Farm is working on our claim right now, but the hardest part was not having the internet Sunday. I never realized how nice it is to check the forecast, email, blogs, and let Sydney play games on pbskids.org. The good news is we're all safe (the kids slept through it all), and after our deductible, a new tv should be coming in a week (once we figure out how much we're getting reimbursed).

Changes, changes, changes

There were several great things that happened in the past little while that I thought of during hero week, but was spending my 'blogging time' on hero week. Anyway, here are a few highlights:

Twins sleeping through the night. I'm not sure when this changed - I'm still waiting for brain cells to return, but it seems like it's been two weeks. It's so great to put them to bed at 8:30/9 and get up around 6:30/7.

More work hours, no sleeping in. It's been a big change not to sleep from when the twins were getting up (6:30/7), to about 8:30, and then working later. Now, I'm starting work between 6:30 and 7, and being finished around 3. What about the extra time, you ask? Some days it's overtime, some days it watching the kids while Lisa goes to the gym, scrapbooking class, store, etc. The only issue was last night I was so exhausted I went to bed before two of the three kids :) It's the first time that's happened in quite some time. The next item might also explain why I'm up late and need to go to bed earlier on occasion, although the weather's been quite bad for viewing lately.

My new telescope. About two weeks ago, I bought a new Orion XT10 Intelliscope with the object locater. It's so sweet! Sydney, whenever she comes downstairs to tell me about dinner, etc. says "that a HUUUUUGE telescope, daddy!" It's such a sweet scope. The finder scope is more powerful than the binoculars I was going to get to help find objects, and the tube itself is 4 feet long! The scope is 55 lbs, but it's easy to take off the OTA and carry separately, then reattach (two screws) once you've reached your destination. It's amazing how much more light this gathers than my 5", but the 5" is still fun to do planetary viewing and have the motorized GOTO. I'm excited to get a very inexpensive camera and just take simple solar system photos. Here's the difference between the two (650mm vs. 1200mm):

Hero Week: Part VII: Lisa

Lisa. Bean. Evil Bean. So many thing describe my hero it's hard to pick and choose. It's like asking you what your favorite movie, song, and thing to eat, and just describe it in a few paragraphs. Bean is my hero. She brings such stability to our family. She's the one who works the hardest and asks for the least. She takes hard things in stride, and tries to make the best of me. I was trying to find a picture of just Lisa in our archive of pictures, but almost all of them include me, Sydney, or the twins (or a mix). She's always taking care of someone or something.

When we were first married, I was struggling with self-esteem (I'm not sure why - I was married to Lisa!). She was patient and kind, but didn't just sit back and let me drift. I remember the day we sat on the edge of the bed discussing things I liked and things I could do that would make me happy for a longer period of time. We started working out at the gym together, going on walks, and slowly, but surely, she made me see the good in me. It still amazes me the transition of our marriage. She is so smart, funny, and really hot. It reminds me of the Monk episode where he's talking about why his late wife married him. Speaking to his wife (invisible, like a memory) "Thank you for marrying me. What were you thinking?" I'm still not sure what she was thinking :)

Bean is the ideal mom. She's patient with the kids, always encouraging them in the smallest things. She has removed herself and put her family in the forefront. It's always fun to see Tanner bouncing on Lisa's knees playing "pop goes the weasel", or find her and Sydney chatting away while they clean the bathrooms. Bean works miracles, like many moms, taking care of the kids, making excellent meals, cleaning the house, etc. When we were first married, I took pictures of all the dinners I liked. The problem was, I was taking pictures every night...so I stopped. She's so supportive of my goals and aspirations, and loves to spend quality time with the family. She's the best wife and mom. No one would be luckier than to have a mom that lived their life for their children like she does.

Thanks Bean - love you!

Hero Week: Part VI: My Parents

Wayne and Eileen Moore. After becoming a father of three, I can't begin to imagine being parents of seven. It's been quite interesting to realize just what torture I must have been to my parents, as I learn daily the blessings and struggles of having children. The good news is that my children show the struggles within me, not that they're any real troublemakers. Sadly, I don't think that applied to me as a kid. My parents showed their true colors by working on graying hairs instead of pulling it out. Just like my earlier entry about Paul and Mo, they are examples of what we all wish we had the character, integrity, discipline, and drive to be like.

I can't imagine having six eagle scouts as sons. I can't imagine sending so many sons on missions, help with homework, teaching to fish, providing for, feeding, keeping reverent in church, etc. You'd think at one point they'd realize they had no time for themselves, and take a step back. But I am as impressed today as I ever have been, giving up times with grandchildren, comfort (that's an understatement serving a mission in Uganda), and many other luxuries most grandparents I'm sure take for granted. I'm so excited to have them return in just over a month from their third mission.

For their love for me, for the Lord, for the countless times they've made the best impression on me, for their diligence in what they must have wondered about me been a toss up whether I would turn out alright or not, and for their constant vigilance in doing what's right.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Hero Week: Part V: Dan/Jeff/Pete

Dan Aird. Jeff Eschler. Peter Tew. It's a funny feeling when you take people for granted for so long, and never realize what they have done for you. But I guess when you're as selfish as I was (and to a great extent still now), it was easy to overlook how much other people do for you. For me, these three great guys have always been my friends, from the day I met them.

I'm amazed sometimes how willing friends are to put up with a sulking, low self-esteem person who seems to focus on nothing but themselves. If nothing else, this should their highest praise. The three amigos (what they called themselves), were the best friends I could ever have asked for. All the rides to school, keeping me in the loop, and cheering me up in rough times. It doesn't just take a community to raise a child, it takes fierce friends who won't let go. We've had some really fun times since high school, getting together for great dinner and activities. I'm so grateful we still keep in touch.

Hopefully one day I'll be able to do as much in return.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Hero Week: Part IV: Justin McMurray

Justin McMurray. This guy is golden. After returning home from my mission and moving into an apartment, I was incredible blessed to find a funny, cool, yet crazy guy in the young adult ward. He was integral in keeping my workaholic nature under control, and to help me just get out and play. There were many rough mornings (after a long Saturday work day) where Justin would come over to make sure I was coherent enough to get ready for church. He was such a great example of what I wanted to be. Never forcing, always encouraging.

We spent countless hours talking "geek", playing "Chicken Invaders", and other stuff. Hiking to waterfall canyon in Ogden, hot chocolate and caroling, to single adult activities. I was never left to wonder his perspective on the gospel, friendship, or integrity. I wish I had started writing in a journal, or at least had my blog back then, as we had so many great times, that just writing this entry has sparked more memories. He has always been a great friend - a one man support structure.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Hero Week: Part III: Henry B. Eyring

Henry B. Eyring. Growing up in the same ward as President Eyring, I didn't feel anything out of the ordinary around him. He was kind and friendly, but I never really interacted with him. It all started when I was interested in my dad's audio tape collection of church talks. As a young boy of ten, I asked my father which talks he would recommend, and he let me take a few upstairs to listen to. I remember distinctly, sitting at my desk in the southwest corner of the upstairs. I had taken out paper to take notes, realizing I was making my Heavenly Father happy in learning about his gospel through his servants. When I picked up the pen after starting the audio tape, the pen went back on the table, and all I could do was listen in awe of hearing what I wanted to become.

That's when everything changed. When I heard other General Authorities speak, I felt the truthfulness of their words, but I never connected with anyone like President Eyring. It was a talk given at BYU called "Come Unto Christ". The talk starts out this way:

You have moments when you want to be better than you have ever been. Those feelings may be triggered by seeing a person or a family living in a way that lifts your heart with a yearning to live that way, too. The longing to be better may come from reading the words of a book or even from hearing a few bars of music. For me, it has come in all those ways, and more.

I had never listened to anyone who could convey the feelings of my heart. I had grown up in a family with parents I felt were perfect, and wanted to have the same drive, the same ability to sacrifice self and give more than I had. As the talk continued, I could feel the same desire he had, when his voice slightly cracked, from love and remembrance of how he felt when reading the same. From the tenth chapter of Moroni:

O, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God.

And again, if ye by the grace of God are perfect in Christ, and deny not his power, then are ye sanctified in Christ by the grace of God, through the shedding of the blood of Christ, which is in the covenant of the Father unto the remission of your sins, that ye become holy, without spot. [Moroni 10:32­-33]

That urge to rise above yourself is a recognition of your need for the Atonement to work in your life, and your need to be sure that it is working. After all you can do, after all your effort, you need confidence that the Atonement is working for you and on you.

I knew that day that I would ever be linked to this talk. Despite my failures and shortcomings, even to the obsession of perfectionism, I knew if I kept trying, the Lord would make changes in me. President Eyring then listed goals, not directly for us, but as a witness of how someone knew they were doing what was right.

This talk brought me to listen to more talks, whatever I could get my hands on, to listen how he obviously had accomplished the goals I was just starting. I learned to love the process of asking "how can I know" and "how will I feel". I thank him for always being willing to share how we can become like Christ, not just learn about Him.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Double the Cuteness

Well there are many things about having twins that are hard. But there is something extra cute about having two babies together and how they interact with eachother. Feeding times are especially cute. We try to have them always eat at the same time, whether it's nursing or baby food. I nurse them at the same time. I often feel like one of those mama pigs that just lays there (I sit though) and the little piglets gather around and find their spot. Maybe this is because my babies snort when they get worked up. Anyways, lately they hold hands while they're nursing. It's so sweet! I'd take a picture but, you know, not really appropriate. They are also very cute when we feed them baby food. For some reason I have no problem letting them share binkies and bottles, but when I feed them solids they have to have separate spoons. They look so cute sitting in their bumbos next to each other. As I've mentioned before, Tanner seems to be willing to eat at all times. So if he's laying next to Natalie and her hand or head gets near his mouth, he will try his hardest to eat her. She never seems to mind. One of these pictures looks like he's giving her a kiss, but he's just trying to latch on.

Hero Week: Part II: Paul and Mo

Paul and Mo. I'll never met a couple like Paul and Mo. Things that are hard, things that are complicated, are made to look easy. I remember the first time I met Paul and Mo, Lisa's parents, over five years ago. Mo was kind and fun, with a very warm and welcoming personality. Paul, with his quick wit and fun humor, quickly became someone I respected for his abilities to make rough times seem easy, because "[enter your issue] is nothing compared to [something horrible], so we can handle it", followed by a chuckle. Paul and Mo make doing the right thing (and rightly so) fun and exciting. I saw so much of Lisa in both of her parents, that I knew it was going to be a great relationship.

From the wedding plans to Sunday dinners, the early years of being married to Lisa went very smooth, as Paul and Mo were always there, not just to be helpful, but to be involved in the fun and work involving our young family. I remember the days them helping us move through our year of apartment-hopping trying to get away from the smoke smell at Carrington to the cruise around Mexico. It's great to be around such examples of the hard working and service-oriented people they are, as it just exudes confidence in their capabilities and your own hopes to be like them. Paul's knowledge of the scriptures and humble attitude complimented by Mo's amazing capability to take on and handle gracefully much more than I could ever imagine. Paul has frequently come over to help teach me how to do electrical/lighting, help with software development, etc.

But hero week is not just about great people helping out. Sydney's favorite two people (outside Lisa and I, and even then, sometimes) are "gramma and papa". I can't count the number of times they've taken Sydney to the park or the pool, on a walk, to get ice cream, to treat her as such an integral part of their lives. Now, with the recent addition of the twins, they just love taking one of the kids and giving them one-on-one special time. They have taken us into their home (literally), from recent weeks of Lisa's ACL surgery, to helping with the twins, Sydney for sleepovers, the list just goes on. Every time I feel we've pushed too far, that we've asked too much (or they just call and ask if they can come take her for the day), they step up and ask what more they can do to help.

It's not as though Paul (in the Stake Presidency and owner of Ruben Engineering) and Mo (Young Women's president), aren't very busy people. The phone is frequently ringing of people they've offered to help, or those who know they'll do anything they can, from neighbors and ward members...just anyone. They've blessed our home and family immensely. What examples!

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Hero Week: Part I: Frank and Jenny

I am notorious for thinking about how grateful am I for people and the things they do, a ways after they've been so helpful. You would imagine that after so many people have done so many things, I would become more grateful and more service-oriented myself. So today starts the beginning of Hero Week: the week where each day I'll pick people who have made a momentous change in my life and the lives of my family. My fear for having to leave people who have done a lot out is overwhelmed by my gratitude for the extent to which these individuals have gone further. Without further adu:

Frank and Jenny. Frank is my third oldest brother and self-proclaimed most handsome, strongest, etc. brother. There are several things I distinctly remember from my childhood, in between times I've lost a lot of my memories due to "rough times" and trying to forget, that I'm grateful to Frank for. Frank loves basketball, and loved to play more back when the knees weren't such a pain, literally. I remember several times when I was < 10, I would spend hours each day shooting hoops in front of our house. When Frank's friends would come over to play ball, or go over to the church and play, he frequently would invite me (not just let me) play. I thought it was because I was so good. The things you learn later in life.

When Frank came home from his mission to have work done on his knee(and return shortly thereafter), we stsyed in the same room for about a month. I remember it wasn't a painful thing for him (staying in the same room, not knee surgery). He'd have me push hard on his leg, and tease me about how hard I *wasn't* pushing, and spending time with me a lot.

When he was married and was living in Cedar City, and I was having self-esteem issues, Frank and Jenny invited me down for a week during summer break. I remember crying on their couch, with them patiently listening to what I was struggling with, and trying to help. I remember a few walks at night around Cedar City where we'd talk about anything on my mind, and how great I felt having such great friends.

When I lived with Frank and Jenny while mom and dad were on their mission, I remember many times of stuffed pork chops, watching Toy Story 2 so many times with James and Ben, going out to Jenny's parents for dinner on Sundays.

Since I've been married, Frank and Jenny have always brought meals when we needed help (baby births, Lisa's knee surgery, etc). I remember spending a night automating my sprinkling system, putting the big swing together, and many other times where Frank would bring the kids to help Jenny have a break and to teach the kids about service and helping others. After the twins were born, Jenny brought all four kids out to help us around the house, bring lunch, and play Wii, while Jenny and the boys took turns holding the kids.

This is a relationship I never want to lose. Calls to just chat, see how things are going, discuss the slow demise of the Atlanta Braves, just whatever.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

No RSS today

Obviously I have no sense of time, as it's 12:42AM, and I just finished doing a collage I didn't need to. If you view this over RSS, open up my main page and you'll see it up top. 7 Moore has a new image!

Explaining Why

We have been trying to teach our 3-year-old Sydney what the word "why" means. When we ask her "Why didn't you go potty in the potty seat?" or "Why did you fill up the toilet with baby wipes?" She just gives us this blank stare. Sometimes she answers the question like we're asking her where she did things. We've tried to get her to fill in the blank -- "I did this because..." I guess this is one of those things that they just have to catch on to naturally. Defining the word why just doesn't work too well. I don't even know how to do it without using bigger words that she also doesn't know. I'm sure once she figures it out she'll be asking me why all day long. I'd like to learn her reasoning on some of the random things she does though.

Candidate match game

In my RSS feeds, I include the politics/election content from USA Today and the Washington Post. Today, as part of the USA Today content, there is a "Candidate Match Game", where you answer 11 questions from Iraq to health care, and see who you match best with. Oddly enough, my top three are:

1. Mitt Romney (follow his blog - my choice)

2. Duncan Hunter (who?)

3. Mike Huckabee

Click here to play

My Day Off

I have such a super husband who insisted on giving me a whole Saturday off. It was fabulous! My mom and sister had been planning a craft day down in Orem for a while, and I got to join them completely kid-free. I love my kids with all my heart, but I think I really needed this day. And when I came home the house was even cleaner than I left it! We'll get him some tights and a cape and call him Super Dad! I think we've discovered a good little trading system to give us each a little more free time. He got a day earlier in the week and I got mine a few days later. We obviously can't do this every week, but every once in a while it's a good idea.

Utah Jazz

The new season is upon us. What better to bring a smile to the face is my favorite Utah Jazz moment: "John Stockton sends the Utah Jazz to the NBA finals!". It begs the question: where were you when it happened?

7 Moore

Wow...has our family grown. Despite your early disposition to say "they're looking to have seven more kids!?!", let me put your faint heart to rest and say, only one more. "7 Moore" is our current status, being 2 parents, 3 kids, 2 cats. My hope is this evening to get a 'latest' picture of each member and put the images as a collage in the title bar, obviously showing my curiosities are taking over useful things I could be doing. I'd claim lack of sleep, but the twins are doing much better recently (minus Natalie's cold). Normally I get so obsessed by whatever I'm doing, I finish quickly and spend time looking for other things to do. I think this has finally caught up to me, as I have a lot of time on the telescope yet needed before it gets really cold out. I haven't used my solar filter yet, and have had a hard time stepping away from work and the kids to view early morning or late afternoon. I'm in the middle of Zelda on the Wii, "Twilight" by Stephanie Meyer (started reading during Lisa's ACL surgery and then never finished), etc.

Baby smiles

Natalie and Tanner have the cutest smiles. They are both such happy babies and it's very easy to get them to smile. It's easy to get Sydney to smile now, but not so much when she was 4 months old. Daddy can get these two to laugh like no one else can. He says they have a ticklish spot, but I guess I can't find it.

Sydney's computer games

While I was recovering from my surgery I decided to teach Sydney how to use a mouse so she could entertain herself on the computer for a little while. She caught on pretty fast! You can see she concentrates very hard on her games. We are big fans of pbskids.org. She also likes to use Paint and makes me some very abstract artwork. I love the mess-free part of that kind of painting. The only downside to this new source of entertainment is that now I have to share my computer and take turns. But I'm a grown-up and I suppose I can handle a little sharing.

130 SLT

130 SLT
from Josh Moore by Josh
For my birthday, and after several years of calling it 'too expensive of a hobby' ($500 = telescope, solar filter, eye pieces, ac adapter)...I finally bought a telescope for my birthday. It's a NexStar 130 SLT. When it arrived, and the next day extra eye pieces, then the AC adapter - 2 extra long days of waiting for power - it was time to view. Obviously around lamp posts I'm normally grateful for around the house, and so many other lights around, many DSO's (deep space objects) aren't as bright, but I had fun anyway. I'm learning leaps and bounds about each eyepiece, how the GOTO works (automatically moves the scope to the selected target), and many other things. But after a few days of really cloudy weather, a nice birthday gift was a clear sky. The moon was just gorgeous tonight, as was Jupiter and the 3 visible moons (for my telescope anyway). So many more stars were visible by the naked eye, and the texture on the moon was just amazing.

I think my next purchases will be an attachment ($12) to allow your digital SLR take pictures. My telescope isn't meant for longer than 30 second exposure pictures (telescope is constantly moving to keep the object in focus), but I'm sure in the next few years, after I buy another small telescope that doesn't require power to move the gears (or have GOTO), and a small camera/attachments, I'll eventually get a bigger telescope. It's sad I just bought one and I'm talking about another, but the small one should be <>

They say going to a location of no (at least much less) light pollution, you can see many more DSO's, brighter, and more clear. I didn't want to buy an external power tank or waste batteries, but I think I'll get two sets of rechargables. Our family lives on AA batteries anyway, and it'd be fun to take the scope to the big park, or every once in a long time, to a place where there are large locations of low light pollution. No picture can describe what you see through a telescope.

Tanner's bananas

My Tanner boy is not a fat baby, though he does look huge compared to his twin sister. But he has quite an appetite! I guess that's the way it is with boys. It's hard enough providing enough milk for two babies, especially when one is a little pig! I've been having a hard time keeping up with his demands lately so we gave in the other night and offered him some smashed up bananas. We were only 2 days before the 4-month mark so I figured it was alright. I didn't expect him to eat much his first time but he LOVED them! He would try to lunge at the spoon every time it got close and he'd scream if we were too slow getting his next bite. He ate almost a half a banana. Very impressive.

The Fly

My daughter, Sydney, calls all flies "fruit flies" ever since I explained to her about why we should not leave watermelon sitting around in the kitchen. Last night I was resting on the couch with my leg wrapped, elevated, and icing when a fly landed on my foot. My natural reaction was to shake my leg to get it off. So I did and it nearly killed me! It's still in quite a bit of pain from the surgery and I've been moving it as little as possible the last few days. So my impulse to shake my leg (which barely even moved) not only resulted in a huge amount of pain, but failed to get the fly off my foot. So I was screaming because it hurt and yelling, "Get it off! Get if off!" My mom, Josh, and Sydney were all looking at me like I'd lost my mind. They didn't know how badly I'd hurt myself. So today, I did something - I think I may have tipped over my water bottle or something like that - and I gave a little yell. Sydney comes running over and asks, totally serious and concerned, "What's wrong mama? Did a fruit fly get you?"

Twilight

Well I'm convinced that vampires are real now. Kinda like reading Harry Potter makes you think your a muggle and there are witches and wizards out there, you just don't know who they are. I'm only about 2/3 of the way through this book. It's been one of my sources of entertainment whilst I lay here on the couch all day, recovering. Now I highly recommend this book. It's been very fun to read. But every once in a while I roll my eyes at the mushy, sappy romance stuff. Do people really talk that way? I guess I'm not your typical emotional girl. Anyways, I find those parts slightly humorous at times. But it's been fascinating story and I think I'll just stay here in Utah where it's almost always sunny and I will never encounter a vampire.

ACL Reconstruction

I'm just throwing this little piece of advice out to the world. When you go snow skiing be sure your skiis are properly binded. If you can kick your skiis against the wall and they do not pop off they most likely will not pop off if you fall while skiing. This was my experience 8 years ago. I had just bought a season pass and with one spectacular fall the second time down the slope I was in the first aid room with a torn ACL. So I had surgery a couple months later to repair it. A couple years after that I had another surgery to clean out scar tissue that was causing some pain. On the 4th of July this year I slipped on the steps going out to our garage. I tore it again! So I just had surgery again yesterday. Now when I was 17 recovering from surgery was difficult but I only had myself to take care of. It's been a bit more challenging with 3 kids. Apparently they do the operation differently now and my recovering should be a bit faster. I'll be on crutches for 1-2 weeks and the doctor says he hopes I'll be running again in 2 months. I feel very lucky to have a mom who's been waiting on me hand and foot and a husband who is so good with the kids. However, I'm very much hoping this is the last time I bust this knee.

First Day of School

We quoted a lot of Finding Nemo on Tuesday -- "first day of school! First day of School!" Sydney was super excited about going to her first day of pre-school. It's hard believe I have a pre-schooler already. On her first day of school she learned about the color red, the number one, the letter A, and about alligators. She brought home an apple paper bag puppet. She was so proud of all her school work and practiced writing the number one for quite a while that afternoon. Her class is on Tuesdays and Thursdays. So the second day of school was supposed to be today. Unfortunately, Sydney woke up with pink eye this morning and had to miss school. She was so upset and cried on the way home from the instacare. We'll have to remember to tell her about that later on in life when she complains about having to go to school.

Surgery complete

After an hour of prep, and about three and a half hours of surgery and recovery, Lisa's knee surgery was complete. We're now at Lisa's parent's house being spoiled with lots of help with the kids and Lisa. I'll be working out here for the rest of the week, and am guessing we'll return home Sunday or Monday, depending how things go. Sydney is enjoying spending even more time with grandma and grandpa. I bought the book "Twilight" for Lisa for her recovery, and didn't have anything to read while waiting for her in the waiting room. So I picked it up, and am 130 pages into it. It's definitely a girl book, but it's very interesting. She has a very great writing style that fits the genre and the plot. Anyway, Lisa's upstairs watching "The Office" season 3, and I'm getting ready for bed. She's excited for her books, but was too excited for the new season of "The Office". Sydney goes back to school tomorrow and is very excited.