Monthly Archive

Ahh, yet another Halloween has come and gone.  Needless to say, our kids loved it.  They loved dressing up and all that but most of all loved getting candy WHENEVER they asked for it by whomever they saw, and in some cases they didn’t even need to say anything, they just got candy for looking cute (mostly from grandparents).  This year Katelyn decided she wanted to be a fairy princess. Ethan was a spider (with a backup batman suit and cape on underneath, just in case of…I’m not sure – but it was on sale at Walmart!) BriAnne was a most scrumptious mama fairy princess, and I, well, turns out I pull off a half decent Amish guy after I shave off the stash:

On the way to work this morning, I admit that I did receive a few funny looks.  My interpretation of the looks I received ranged from “you probably shouldn’t be driving something that isn’t pulled by a horse” to “thanks for the Emancipation Proclamation”. Oh well, twas all in good fun.

In life that require you to stop and ponder.  For example, every morning I walk out the door to head to work and am greeted with this marvel:

What the? Why the?? Don’t get me wrong, I want those who qualify for these spots to be able to not have to miss out on the spot because some non-qualified person is parked there.  But was it really worth the extra effort and yellow paint to add a massive wheelchair bound person over the  bulk of the spot, when for years we seemed to do fine with just two signs marking one parking stall (the fancy blue w/ white striped border AND the actual installed metal sign)?

OR how about this simple but thought provoking beauty I came across at the gas station pump one day a month or so ago:

Sure, I appreciate the presence of the sign as it might have saved me from leaning up against the thing while fuel was a ‘flowin’, but as much as I tried and tried to convince myself that using the word “undry” paint (which isn’t actually a word, see HERE) is better than using the word “wet” paint, my 16 years of public + college education just wouldn’t let me do it.  Not to mention they could have saved themselves money on print toner by shaving off two letters from each printing.  If nothing else, it gave me some mild entertainment at a time when I’m feeling vulnerable from just getting reamed out by Exxon

Yeah, this probably should have been put into the “Jon’s Randomness” page, but…it wasn’t.

Last weekend I went to Manti for my cousin’s wedding – and it was an outdoor wedding so I brought the kids along.  Katelyn got a new appreciation for weddings.  We had some friends over today for Katelyn and Ethan to play with.  We have never had a boy Katelyn’s age over to play, and it was quite an experience.  We were all together in the living room, then Ethan woke up so I told Katelyn she could go in his room, and Derek went with her.  Less than a minute later Katelyn came out of the room wearing a wedding veil (halloween last year) and announced she and Derek had been married and kissed, “with just our lips.”  I was shocked speechless.  They continued playing and I kept hearing things like this:
Katelyn: “Derek, I’m a husband now!”
Derek: “Yeah, you are!  Oh, the bad guys are coming, watch out, I’ll kill them.”
Katelyn: “Ok, but I need to go to Walmart first to get a new dress.”
Derek: “Ok, I’ll protect you.”
Katelyn: “Aubrey, go to the store and get me a cupcake.”
Katelyn: “And a cookie.”
Katelyn: “Ok Derek, it’s time to kiss now.”
I shot out of my chair and went to the hall where they were hugging after their kiss. Hm… my mom says this is very natural at this age, and I do remember kissing a boy when I was around that age (under the table during prayer time) but I can’t help but feel horrified anyway!
Katelyn: “Hacker is coming!”
Derek: “That’s not Hacker, that’s my sister Aubrey.”
Katelyn: “Ok, let’s kiss.”

Later Ethan was growling at Aubrey, so I told him to be nice and give a hug, she went in for a hug and he puckered up!  Well, what can I say?  Guess my kids take after their Daddy!  After their Mom came to get them (and filling her in on the day’s events), Katelyn looked out the window and said, “Mom, I forgot to give kisses and hugs to Derek!”

PS Mitch & Ale, if you’re reading this, don’t think you’re off the hook, she still claims she’s really going to marry Kaleb!

UPDATE BY JON:

**Just to clarify…the kids didn’t get their knack for kissing neighbor kids from their daddy, what they got was their deeply romantic nature.  And daddy wants to argue that point too…their mommy is the hopeless romantic of the bunch!

I don’t normally do the whole email forwards thing (that’s what everybody says, right?), but had this sent to me and thought it worthy of a blog post…(for those who don’t know, this is a play on “March Madness” NCAA basketball brackets, click HERE if you don’t believe me)

Pssst – you don’t even need to forward anything to 10 friends “or else”