First Steps

Recently Kennedy has been trying to walk. On Saturday, we captured some pretty funny video. Even though she isn't ready for the runway quite yet, she still has plenty of support - and a lot of love.

To view this movie, you'll need to download the Windows Media Player.

Brick Layer

After confessing my adiction to basketball last week, my church ball game yesterday brought me crashing back down to Earth. It's official - I hit rock bottom last night. We were playing against a bunch of guys that I've played with for a couple of years, so I wanted to play well. That didn't happen. I took my first shot, nothing but air. No problem I thought to myself. Next shot, almost broke the backboard. Still I kept shooting and shooting and shooting, and missing and missing and missing. By the game's end I shot 1 for 20 with a grand total of 5 pts. Of course we lost, but I think I just set a record for Church ball futility. I don't think I'm in such a hurry to play again next week.

The Birthday Week

Since joining my family, Jared has not only had to share his birthday with his twin brother Jason on January 22nd, but also with my sister Charlene (January 21st) and my brother Richard (January 23rd). Poor Jared. It was worse than usual this year. My sister turned the big 5-0 this year, so of course we had to celebrate big. We planned a big surprise birthday party at our house with the whole family on Saturday. We even topped it off with lots of "over the hill" decorations, black balloons (to Jared's dismay), black frosting, candles and cake and black presents. There were several geriatric items that showed up and even some nasty looking underwear. No one admitted to bringing those, but I have a hunch that my mom was somehow involved. I'm not sure if we actually surprised Charlene, but we had fun trying to pull it off. Everyone showed up and we ate lots of pizza, cake and ice cream and played Bunco (or as Jared calls it - "Mormon Gambling.") We all had a great time celebrating Char's 50th birthday.


Jared's birthday was Sunday and he celebrated by spending 9 hours at church while suffering with a cold. Then he came home to no leftover pizza (Kennedy was hungry and she loves pizza!) Okay, maybe I helped her eat some of it. Then we ate dinner at Jason and Kristin's house. The dinner was excellent, even if Jared didn't get exactly what he wanted. He did get the dessert he picked (after he and Jason did some bargaining). All in all, as Jared mentioned before, I don't think this will be the most memorable birthday for him, but come on, it was only 31, what do you expect! Happy birthday, Jared, Jason, Charlene and Richard!

31

Yesterday was my 31st birthday. Since I failed to even post about it yesterday you can tell that it wasn't really a big priority for me. There's nothing special about 31. No new decade milestone. I don't even change my status on the census (although they are probably hunting me down since our last encounter). There's no insurace break for turning 31. You can't find a birthday card that says "Happy 31st Birthday." Even the phrase, "So, how does it feel to be 31," sounds kinda stupid. So anyway, I'm 31. Happy Birthday to me.

One of Those Moments

Last night Tara and I went to the Temple with Evan and Alicia. We went to the Jordan River Temple which I think is the only place in West Jordan that's busier that WalMart on a Friday night! We sat down for the 7 pm session (both our Wards' selected session for the month) around 6:45 and we didn't even get in. After waiting around for the next session for 20 minutes we finally got to go on a session. Everything went well and we had a great attendance from our Ward (perhaps it was the change of venue, since we normally go to the Salt Lake Temple). As we headed home Evan told us about the funniest part of the session:

Evan: "Oh I had to tell you all about some guy who was sitting near me. I couldn't believe how loud his stomach was. Every time we stood up this guy sounded like some kind of battle was going on inside him! Man it was amazing!"

Everyone laughing.

Me: (sheepishly) "Um, that was me."

Isn't it great when your stomach goes crazy and you have no where to hide. I will always be known as the guy with the loud stomach on the 7:20 Session!

Confessions of a Basketball Junkie

I came to a sobering realization last night. Not only am I addicted to Reality TV (see Toral! Toral! Toral!), I am also addicted to Basketball. I know, I know this isn't much of a confession to most of you. Those of you you've known me for a long time aren't surprised to know that I love basketball. I mean, a lot of you know that I helped coach hoops at Hunter High. Many of my best friends and I have played basketball for years - that's one of the foundations of our friendship. I've worked scoring Rec ball games since I was 15. And then there's watching basketball on TV or in person; it doesn't matter to me if it's NBA, College (only the Utes!) - last night I even watched a few minutes of a high school game on ESPN 2 (No, I do not watch the WNBA). I know, I need help. I would guess that over the last 10-15 years there have been months where I spent 30hrs.+/week on basketball alone. I'm Sick!!

Last night I reached an all time low in my addiction. I played Ward Ball! Like they say, you have to hit rock bottom before the healing process can begin. The worst part about yesterday was that I actually looked forward to playing all day. The game wasn't until 8 pm, but I was dressed and ready for action at 7 pm! Again, I'm Sick!!!The game went well and the 4th Ward won! We won't talk about how I played; needless to say, my contract isn't in the mail from the NBDL. Oh well, everyone had a good time and there's another game next week. Help me - I'm already thinking about the game and it's 6 days away!!

Family Photo

I don't really have a lot to report today; I just wanted an excuse to use a semicolon and to show everyone our new family portrait. I don't know why we waited so long to have a formal family portrait (perhaps I am simply too cheap), or maybe we were just waiting for the right time to break out our red and black outfits. Whatever the reason, the picture turned out pretty well.

Cah-Cah's Birthday

So, Thursday was actally Coleton (Cah-Cah, as Kennedy likes to call him)'s birthday, but I've realized that celebrating his birthday is a bit like Mardi Gras. Before you know it, you've been partying for a week with people you don't really know in an area of questionable cleanliness. Let me explain. Last night we went to the second birthday party for Coleton this week. This time it was the friend birthday party at the Splash Zone in the Cottonwood Heights Rec Center. Don't ask me how we got invited to the friend birthday party, but let's say it gave me the chance to help herd 15 seven year olds around in 3 feet of water. Of course, let's not talk about the color of the water by evening's end. However, what do you think is going on when there are 15 seven year olds and only 2 bathrooms in the area? Needless to say we tried to keep Kennedy from drinking the water, but it was to no avail!

In spite of the cleanliness issues, the party was a lot of fun. Kennedy loved splashing around in the water and man, oh man, does she love her "Cah-Cah."

Happy Birthday Coleton!

Late Night with Kennedy

Usually Kennedy is a very good sleeper. She has been since she was two months old; however, over the past couple of weeks she's suffered from a cough which wakes her up at night. About 3 am we heard the following coming from her bedroom.

Cough, Cough.

Ba-ba (whimper) Ba-ba

MA-MA (louder cry) MA-MA!

At this point Tara got up to give Kennedy a Ba-ba (bottle) and to help soothe her back to sleep. Here's where my life changed. While Kennedy and Tara were leaving her room, I heard the following.

Cough, cough.

Daddy, Daddy.

For the first time in her life, Kennedy called out for me in the middle of the night. What a moment! She is finally moving from a Mama's girl to a Daddy's girl. To celebrate this monumental achievement I did what any good father would do - I rolled over and went back to sleep.

Saturday Night at the S & S

I know that some of you are getting tired hearing me talk about geocaching, but what can I say - I don't have a life. Earlier today I got together with my dad, Coleton, Ross (and his girls), and Jared Fawson (and two of his girls) - they were geocaching newbees - to go out looking for some caches. It was a ton of fun. We headed up North and cached in Bountiful and the surrounding area. Most of the finds were pretty simple and everyone had a good time, until it starting raining!

The real reason we went out caching today was to attend a caching event up North. I know it seems crazy, but we went to an evening picnic on the 6th of January with relative strangers who cooked authentic "hobo stew." I think the key ingredients to hobo stew is - everything. They put stuff in that stew that I wouldn't consider eating if I wasn't being polite, but hey when in Rome..... Still, it was fun to see some friends again and talk about the good times out on the geocaching trail.

Random Thoughts for a Thursday

I don't really know if any of this is blog-worthy, but here are three thoughts from earlier that pretty well sum up my day.

1. Something you never want to hear from a repair man, "This really doesn't look up to code." Tara and I had our dishwasher replaced earlier today and the installer took one look at the makeshift way in which I wired our garbage disposal into the old dishwasher and uttered the phrase "I can't touch that, it really isn't up to code." Needless to say he installed the dishwasher, but there's no power to the disposal.

2. Ever get one of those annoying calls, you know the ones where you check the caller ID and let the phone ring. Okay, I know we've all been there. Now, how about when the annoying calls you keep getting are from the U.S. Census Bureau? Don't ask me how we became so lucky, but we've been targeted to complete a random survey for the Census Bureau. They sent us some paperwork about a month ago to fill out, and like most things that look like junk mail we threw it away. Not so fast, a week or two later another packet came, this time with a bolded message which stated, "Failure to complete this survey can be punishable by law!" So now the Census Bureau is starting to get my attention. We have been working on the survey for about a week, but it really isn't a very high priority. Well tonight I received 3 calls from guess who? Who would ever believe that the one time in my life I've been hounded by the Government it's for failing to comply with the Census Bureau. That doesn't even make for an interesting story. Sorry!

3. After being out every night this week with either work or church I couldn't wait to spend the evening with Tara and Kennedy. About 3 o'clock this afternoon Tara left me a message at work.

Jared, my sister wants me to go shopping for a few minutes this afternoon. We're only going to one store, so I should be home early. I'll see you when you get home.

Okay, for all the guys out there. What time do you think Tara got home tonight? I've got a 7 o'clock, and who'll give me 8. I've got eight, and who'll make it 9. Going once, going twice, sold to the man you said 9:15. So much for being home early. Oh well, what do you expect when sisters are getting together to go to one store.

Well that about wraps up my Thursday, so how was your day?

Back to Work

All good things must come to an end I guess. After taking most of the last two weeks off I came back to work today. It's amazing how quickly your routine can change in such a short period of time. During the past 13 days I've been waking up around 8 am, staying in my pj's until at least noon, showered periodically, eaten frequently, shaved infrequently, and napped often. I can't believe how much my life turned into a Seinfeld episode - "The Summer of George," without much effort on my part (although I quess that's what the summer of George requires!).

It almost killed me when the alarm went off this morning and it was still dark outside! Oh well, back to the grind.

Goodbye Mark, Mckel and Izzy (and the little one)

On New Year's Eve, my cute niece Mckel, her husband Mark and baby girl Izzy packed up and headed to St. Augustine, Florida. Mark was accepted into PT school and they will be gone for about two and a half years. Kennedy and Izzy are only a few months apart and so we spent some fun times hanging out together this past year. It seems surreal that they will be gone for so long, but they will be back to visit and I'm sure they will have lots of visitors (they are in Florida!) We had a little party at Candaces house last Friday to wish them luck and say goodbye. It was sad, but I know that it will be a great growing experience for Mark and Mckel. I just told her it's like going on a mission, except she can call, write and come home to visit whenever she wants! Besides, she's by the beach in a great town! We will miss you Mark and Mckel and Izzy, but I know we will see you soon. I'm thinking a trip to Florida might be in our near future, so get the blow up bed ready!

Happy New Year!

Tara, Kennedy, and I want to wish everyone a happy new year from our little family blog. 2005 was a great year for us and I almost hate to see it end, but I think that 2006 will be a wonderful year as well. Even if we had to wake Kennedy up for the new year's festivities, she was glad to give her mom and dad a little kiss for the new year.



Too bad everyone wasn't able to make it to midnight. I guess a guy and his dog just need a little rest. Oh well, he does turn seventy this year so I guess I'll give Big Al a break. Happy New Year!!