Wake Up Service

I no longer need to set my alarm. For years my alarm has been set at 7 am. Over the past month, I never make it to 7 am. My alarm is silent, as I am generally up between 6:15 to 6:30. Have I turned over a new leaf? Has my work schedule changed? Am I getting to an age where I just can't sleep? Nope, even though I really can't sleep in any more. The answer to our early morning can be summed up in two words - daylight savings.

Alex is like clockwork. Every morning he wakes up and wants to get started as soon as it gets light outside. Once he's up, Kennedy is right behind. Her schedule is set: Use the potty (she's getting better), a glass of milk, and it's off to watch Curious George (he's such a curious monkey). There's nothing we can do to change our AM wake up service. I guess we'll just have to go to bed earlier.

ABC

Our first foster care experience is nearing an end and I'd be lying if I said we ever really felt like foster parents. Alex has been our son from the first day we held him - it just took a few months to convince the State of Utah of that fact. A few weeks ago we finally received the date we've been waiting for, May 11th. Yep, on May 11th Alex officially becomes Alex. To be honest it can't come soon enough.

A week later we'll seal the deal as we head back to Manti to wear the whites. Even though it's a bit of a drive, it' s worth it for the opportunity to unite our Eternal family where it all started 10 years ago. Adoption has it's ups and downs, but having your children come into a room dressed in white and being sealed has no equal. It is a glimpse into Eternity and gives you a feeling that you're all in it together. We couldn't be happier with our little family and we can't wait for Alex to become a Covili.

Diary of a Jazz Fan

I guess I better write about the Jazz while they're still playing. A season that started with so much promise is fizzling to a heart breaking end. The Jazz won the Northwest Division in March and then proceeded to bomb for the last month of the season. We lost home court in the first round and barely made it to 51 wins. Somewhere we lost our confidence, and it hasn't returned.

This leads us to the first round matchup with the Rockets. I don't know that we have an answer for T Mac and Yao. Problem is - as soon as you start to double team the stars, guys like Battier and Hayes start knocking down 3's. It reminds me so much of guys like Byron Scott, Jim Paxson, Andrew Toney, Devean George, Bruce Bowen, and on and on... When average players get wide open 3's they have a decent chance to make them.

As frustrating as we are to watch on defense I think our offense makes me even more frustrated. What happened to Memo? Can he even make a shot? Isn't Derek Fisher supposed to provide veteran leadership? Can he even protect the ball? Should Andrei Kirilenko even play? Will we even score in the 3rd Period?

I know that many of these problems will be remedied when we play games 3 & 4 at home, but I don't know that we can win a game on the road. I hope we right the ship on Thursday or this season will be over. It's been a great year and I'd hate to see us drop out without putting up a fight.

Diary of a Red Sox Fan

I can't believe I haven't taken the time to talk about the 2007 season for the Red Sox yet. So far, the Sox are HOT!! They're 12-5 and leading the AL East after completing a weekend sweep of the Yankees. I know it's early and I shouldn't get too excited about the season, but I think this year's team has a lot of talent. Last year we had too many injuries and not enough pitching. The jury's still out about the injury bug, but we've solved a lot of the pitching problems. And it only cost $102 million dollars - what a bargain.

The weekend sweep was awesome! Each game was a huge comeback with the climax coming last night. With Boston down 3-0 the Sox hit four consecutive home runs to tie the game. How often do you get the back to back to back to back homers! Needless to say the Sox appear to have the Yankees number this year. We'll have to wait and see where the final New York roster ends up (the Rocket is coming - mark my words), but this Yankee team is in trouble. We have another big series with the Bombers coming up this weekend and it's a great chance to build an early season lead. Let's go Red Sox!!!!!

SIck, Sick, Sick

Tara and the kids have been going non stop this week, so the inevitable finally happened a couple days ago - everyone got sick. Alex started us off with a cough and some congestion, but before you knew it he had a little case of "pink eye." It didn't take long before everything spread to Kennedy and she was down and out. When I went in to wake her up yesterday her eyes were closed due to the "goop" in them and she had "boogers" all over her face. It was quite a sight to behold.

She seemed to feel okay throughout most of the morning, so Tara and I decided to join the fun up in Park City. It didn't take long to realize that Kennedy just wasn't up to it. As soon as we got there she came over to me to relax. I can't remember the last time she and I snuggled, so she must be really sick to fall asleep in my arms. I'm sad she doesn't feel well, but I'll take a snuggle with my little girl anytime! After a little nap Kennedy was in better spirits but she still wasn't quite right. The rest of the evening we heard the following:

"I've got boogers, Daddy."

"I puke in my bed." (Thank goodness this was just a memory from a week ago.)

"I've got goop in my eyes."

"I don't feel so good, Mommy."

Bad Blood

5 Things you don't want to hear when you're giving blood:

1. We can use that needle again.

2. He looks pretty big, let's take 1.5 pints this time.

3. How do I find this guy's vein again?

4. We just ran out of juice, but I can mix up some punch.

5. We don't care if you've lived in the Philippines - just as long as you haven't been to England in the last five years.

Somehow, I managed to survive another Stake Blood Drive. At least I got a bag of pretzels and a pretty pink bandage...

Home Alone

It's pretty rare that I have the house to myself, but that's the situation I've found myself in over the past couple of days. Tara took the kids to Park City to hang out with her family for the night. Apparently, Bonnie has access to a world-wide time share that led the family to a week in exotic Park City. Long Story. So, now I've had the run of the house. Not that it evened mattered. Yesterday, I was at work from 9am until 10:45pm. I came home to an empty house and didn't really know what to do. With the tragic events at Virginia Tech yesterday I sat and watched Nightline, trying to make some sense of the violence. I don't want to sound like a broken record, but what's going on in the world. 32 people killed!!!

I went to bed and hoped today would be a little better. Sure enough, it has been. After work ended I came home to watch a few minutes of the Red Sox game before going to Bishopric. I don't know what I did to deserve the night off, but Tax Season (being an accountant and a Bishop makes for a rough April) has canceled our visits for the evening. So now I'm going to settle in and watch Dice K for the rest of the night. He's got 10 strikeouts and counting right now, but they trail 2-1. Let's hope my good luck continues and the Sox pull out a close one! No matter what Boston does, I have to say that I'm glad the family's coming home a bit later. I don't really want another night where I'm Home Alone.

JARED!

Potty Talk

How long does it take for a child to potty train? Kennedy started talking about using the potty last summer and we're still no where near being potty ready. A couple of days ago I thought we were in a good spot when Kennedy announced, "I want to stop wearing diapers and I want big girl underwear." Fantastic. We put on some Curious George underwear and discussed what it means to stop wearing diapers.

"Kennedy, you need to let us know when you need to go potty."

"O.K."

"So, if you need to go potty what are you going to do?"

"I don't know."

"You need to tell Mommy or me that you need to go potty, okay?"

"Uh,huh."

About 15 minutes later Kennedy came running in to let us know she needed to go potty. Awesome. She had listened to us and knew what the prescribed potty protocol was. There was only one problem: she had needed to go potty 14 minutes ago. We changed her clothes and decided to try again, another day.

Easter Weekend

We had lots of fun this year with Easter and as always had to celebrate as much as we could. We spent Saturday with my family in Mapleton. We enjoyed a good BBQ, then spent the rest of the day finding eggs, riding 4 wheelers, shooting some hoops and playing horseshoes. We even hit a couple of geocaches on the way home. I haven't been geocaching forever, so it was fun for me to get out and find a few.


Sunday started out fun with Kennedy and Alex finding some fun stuff that the Easter bunny left for them. By the time church came around, we were already tired and needless to say, it was a long 3 hours. After refusing to take a nap, we headed over to Charlene and Corey's house for a great dinner and another Easter egg hunt. Kennedy had a blast being the only one finding eggs. She made a haul. Chris and Cari spoiled Kennedy and Alex with a fun treasure hunt which ended with a huge stuffed Easter bunny for Kennedy and a baseball toy for Alex. Every boy needs to start young playing ball!

We had a fun weekend but I am actually glad it's over and we can get back to somewhat of a routine.

Separated at Birth?

Night and Day

I've had an interesting experience this week. Each morning I've driven down to teach a morning class at byu, only to return and teach back at the U. It's been fun to see how different the schools really are. On Wednesday, byu made the national news after several students had a rally against the upcoming visit of Vice President Cheney. I have to say that I was quite pleased to see so many students whispering their disapproval over a controversial member of the White House. The rest of the week was pretty quiet down South except for a few of my bad jokes at the Cougs expense. Note to self - don't joke with byu co-eds without the use of visual aids.

My Utah students found it quite interesting that I'd been in Zoobieland all week. One student asked, "What are byu students like?" I laughed and replied, "Kind of like you guys - only without the piercings." I'm glad I was able to help students at both campuses this week, but I think I'll stick with U and try to avoid Happy Valley for a while.

Alex's Fun Laugh

Tara pulled out the video camera the other day and caught a fun moment. It seems that Alex can't get enough of his big sister. Everything she does is funny to him; perhaps it's simply his easy going personality, but Kennedy can do no wrong. In this clip she: throws toys all over the room, brushes his hair with the tooth brush, and tempts Mom with an impish grin. For Big Alex it's all smiles. Enjoy.

Click To Play

What Does it all Mean?

I know this is going to sound a bit weird, but I seem to find messages everywhere I look. Not to get too graphic, but I noticed this thought on the stall door in the mens' room at work earlier. I can't imagine that the facilities would inspire such a deep thought, but many guys have been known to lose themselves in their work so...

Later that night I found another not-so-hidden message on the windshield of the car. It appears someone wanted to share the love, or else they're just a really devoted Black Eyed Peas fan. Either way it was an interested day full of inspiration and desperation.

New Spring Look

With the change in season, it seemed like the right time to update the kids' photo pages. You know it's time for a change when you look at the pictures and they're all from Christmas and Halloween. Over the past few months we have pictures from: our trip to Nana and Papa's, Valentine's Day, playing around the house, and getting back outside. Enjoy!

There's no reason to rush. Check out both Alex and Kennedy. Two for the price of one, what could be better than that!