Christmas

Merry Christmas, late of course. We got so busy with all the the holiday goings on that we didn't take the time until now to write anything.

We all had a wonderful Christmas. We went' over to the Ropers for Christmas Eve and when we came home the kids got to open one gift. We always get them PJ's with a new book.

Mason woke me up at 7:30 Christmas morning and when I went to go get him Ethan was not in his bed. I don't know when he got up but he had gone down stairs and turned on the Christmas tree lights. Ryan likes to already be down stairs before any of the kids so that he can video tape the kids coming down and seeing what Santa brought. Oh, well...

Ethan got a digital camera from Santa, the "Ben Ten" watch he wanted and some new super hero figures.

Holly got a doll daybed, swing, and stroller from Santa, a dress up chest and the "Little Mermaid" DVD.

Mason got a activity set and some clothes.

Toopher (our new kitten) has gotten really good at climbing our Christmas tree so we had to keep getting him out of the tree all day long.

We when down to Midvale around 5 pm to Ryan's parents house and had dinner with his family and a few gifts afterwards. Auntie Annie and Uncle Dan gave us a great sled for the kids which we tried out the next day. Holly got to have lots of rides around the back yard and Ethan learned how to make snowballs, which he loved to throw at his Dad.


All in all we had a great Christmas with family and friends.

Ninja Kitty!

Well, Christmas is indeed proving to be very intersting. Toofer has decided he likes the Christmas tree. Not only to climb in and sleep, but also to attack when no one is suspecting. The other day he sprung out of the tree at Holly....she started screaming, woke up Mason! Grrrr.....
He also likes to hang out under the dust ruffle on our bed and attack feet-the number one victim? That's right...Holly. Her little feet have scratches on them. She keeps pleadng for band-aids.
Barb took the kids to see Santa the other day. I was expecting to hear stories on panic-instead, they took to him like Grandpa. They loved it!
Rented a good movie tonight. "Rescue Dawn" starring Christian Bale (the new Batman) as a Navy pilot who is shot down over Laos in 1966. It details his internment in a P.O.W. camp and his daring escape. Based on a true story. Great movie. Four out of Five stars.

Guitar God

I was in YouTube tonight and came across this video of a kid playing a song by one of my favorite bands "Dragonforce" in Expert mode. This made me sick. It is all I can do to get through songs on the Hard level. Hopefully Santa will bring me Guitar Hero III. My hat is off to this kid though. It made my arm hurt to watch this.

Just when you think you've figured it out......

So today I was rather bored at work. It is the end of the year, my branches are all operationally sound and everyone is happy. I decided to come home from my office for a quick lunch and then head up to Logan for some quick visits. Barb and I decided that we probably wouldn't have any more interest in our home until after the holidays so we decided to pull out the Christmas decor and get things set. I think both of us could do without the tree this year, but this is such a special time for the kids and Ethan is especially excited. Why punish them right? So, needless to say, when I came home it was an utter disaster. The kids were all into the decorations and it seemed so messy.

As I was pulling out of the garage, Barb called me on my cell (amazing how we communicate these days-she could have just run out!) and told me the realtor just called her and said that a couple were coming over to view the condo. I told her that I would stay home, pulled back in the garage and helped her get the house ready. It was a miracle and we were able to have the house spic and span for our potential buyers.

Now as I am writing this blog, Ethan is making his 8th trip to the bathroom since family prayers. I really wish he would go to bed and fall asleep. He wanted to stay up with me but Barb said that he couldn't becuase he had school tomorrow. His response: "I don't care about school". I could immediately feel the surge of the angst of Jim Granquist rising. I remember the good old days of middle school with my "C" grades. I wish this wasn't starting so early. Well, I better go now. Have to wipe my son's bum.

Houston...We have a name!

After much deliberation we finally have a name for our new kitten. Toofer (too-fur). Now before you say "where on earth did you get that name from", we will tell you. Ryan and I have gotten into the NBC show "30 Rock" and there is a character named Toofer so...that is where we got it from and it fits the him, believe it or not.

The kids didn't really like the name at first because they both wanted to name him Elmo, but we just couldn't call him that. I tried and Ryan wouldn't even entertain the thought.

Ozzy has accepted him and faster than we expected. He let's Toofer play with his tail and they have already wrestled a little. Ozzy is good to not use too much force, or bite to hard and I haven't seen him even use his claws yet. Ozzy has even given Toofer a bath a few times. So things are going great with our cats.

I never knew I could be as involved in a pets life as much as one of my children. Go figure...

Blue Man Group

Well, I got back from St. George the last night. I had to go there for "Business Meetings"-the official way to now say Offsite. We do this on an annual basis-my manager takes all my peers to a location for "meetings" which usually culminate in eating too much food and not getting enough sleep. Wednesday night we all drove to Vegas to go see the "Blue Man Group" at the Venetian. Much, much better than "Mama Mia"-Euro Disco sucks!

It was way-cool. I've never been one much for avant-garde art, but this was pretty cool. The show was about two hours long and full of some great music and imagery. They had a cool band in the background that was playing that I initially thought was some kind of animatronics. They were actual human beings. I especially loved the "Rock Concert Manual" where they gave instructions on such actions as the head-bob and the fist-pump.

Hopefully one day I can take my kids to see them-way fun!

We got back to St. George a little after 1 a.m. I don't recall much of what happened the next day. Oh well, it is good to be back home.