brotherly manipulation

Lincoln has convinced Daniel that, when it comes to taking turns, the kid who gets the second turn is the "winner" and the kid who gets the first turn is the "loser".

It usally goes something like this:

Lincoln: Well, I guess I'll be the loser. Do you wanna be the winner, Daniel?
Daniel: Yeah!! You can go first so I'm the WINNER!!

Whatever works, eh? Kinda reminds me of when Joe convinced his younger (and richer) brother that they should be "money-buddies".

dinosaur show

Daniel recently got all his dinosaurs out and organized and told Dad it was time for a dinosaur show. Prepare to be educated!

blast from the past

I was scanning our old computer files tonight, looking for pictures of my great aunt Barbara, who passed away a few weeks ago and will be remembered at a memorial service tomorrow.

I haven't been through those files for a very long time. Look what I found! Isn't this a treasure?

Lincoln was just a month shy of two years old when this was recorded (Christmas of '06). I cannot believe how much he's grown in the past three years.

Bountiful Baskets

Usually, when something sounds too good to be true, it is.

Usually, but not always.

At least not when it comes to saving crazy money on produce. I just paid $19.50 for all of this:

And next time it'll only cost $16.50. That's about $50 worth of produce there!! I got corn, avocados, kiwis, tomatoes, cucumbers, apples, oranges, lettuce, spinach, oranges, a cantaloupe, and red onions. (I also had the option of buying bread-- at similarly great prices)

Crazy! Crazy, I tell you!

And because I like you so much, I'll share my secret: it's a food co-op called Bountiful Baskets.

You pay your contribution ($19.50 your first time, and $16.50 after that) by Wednesday night, and then on Saturday morning you show up at your pick up point and get your produce. It's very well organized and totally awesome. They're able to get such insanely low prices because they have $0 overhead-- it's all run by volunteers.

Here's the catch: It's not available everywhere. Bountiful Baskets operates only in Arizona, Utah, Idaho and Washington-- check their website for pick up points.

Look what I can do! (part 2)

Just look at this guy. Isn't he a charmer? We're all smitten with our smiley and cheerful Mr. Sunshine.

And did I mention that he's got depth? Yes sir, not only does this little man have looks, charm, dashing wit, and an excellent work ethic--He's also got the ability to go places and excellent taste in jewelry.

See for yourself:

Look what I can do! (part 1)

First of all, before we get to the exciting stuff, I've got a little advice for everyone:

Be cute. Always be cute.

And now for my trick. Drumroll please...







Wait for it...







Ta da!

All hail Jack: Victorious Conquerer of the Crib!!

a few good men

Have you ever seen anything as sweet as this?

Be still my heart.

Barbasol

In an effort to shake up our educational activities and try something new, I reached for a can of Barbasol. We squirted some on the table and then the boys practiced tracing their letters.


They were having a grand old time and baby Jack needed a fresh diaper, so I stepped out for a minute. That may have been a bit of a mistake...

(notice how they're keeping their mouths open to keep the shaving cream on their lips from getting in their mouths. Looks like mama got the last laugh here! HA!!)

... a mistake that resulted in a mid-day bath, and our house smelling like my grandpa for the next couple of days (not a bad thing).

WE ARE SPEED

BYU hosted a Cougar kid's run as part of it's annual homecoming festivities. Our speed obsessed boys jumped at the chance to join an official race. Here they are stretching before the race:

A proper warm up-- Grandpa Mark should be proud!

And here's an action shot. Lincoln is #236 and Daniel is the kid in the red pants without a number on his shirt (he insisted on carrying his for some reason):

And here are our victorious racers. Good job boys!

for the quote board:

Daniel, in his T Rex halloween costume:

"See my two claw*? Some people call them terrible. Some people call them terrific."



*Pronounced "kwah". Daniel is convinced that the same plural rule that applies to words like "deer" and "fish" also applies to claw.

Pinewood Derby

Our ward hosted a pinewood derby/ice cream social. Genius idea for a ward activity. Everyone loves the derby, right?

The competition was stiff. We clearly had some professionals in our ranks.
The boys designed and painted our car-- complete with a little trailer to hold the (marble) weights. They were so proud!

We were clearly out of our league. Joe and I were a little worried that they'd be disappointed in the race results.
They weren't. Daniel kept shouting: "Yeah! We're the third winner!!!! Yeah!!" at the end of our heats.


And his optimism was rewarded: we won the award for the Most Creative Car.