An Early Halloween

Last night was our ward chili cookoff/trunk or treat.  The girls had a great time and we enjoyed not having to cook interacting with our new ward members.

Yesterday morning I let the girls know that it was the trunk or treat and they were going to be able to wear their princess costumes they had chosen over a month ago.

Claire froze in her tracks and just looked at me like I was crazy.  She said, "No!  I am NOT going to be princess!  No princess costume, I not be a princess."

I asked her what she wanted to be and she - without hesitation - says, "I want to be a SUPER HERO!  I want a cape!  I fly around and be a super hero!"

Crazy kid - I couldn't resist it though and we went back to the BX to see what our options were. 

Brielle felt that this was very unfair and that she too should have a second costume. 

So, in the end even though I had TRIED to plan ahead by getting them princess costumes, they both ended up being super hero's and were just absolutely adorable in every way.  They still won't take the costumes off and have spent all day flapping their capes and running around being super hero's who are saving the world.  It's so cute!

I have to say that this whole Halloween thing sure gets more fun as they get older!

Happy Halloween!

Living in a foreign land

One thing I like to do with my blog is to offer my knowledge as a public service to all those who my be reading.  Today I would like to share the things I have learned while living abroad - because Texas is basically like living in a foreign country right? Plus, my nearly 2 months away from Utah makes me an expert in all things foreign and I am here to help and share my knowledge with all.

- People do not find it comical when you drive down the wrong way on a one-way street.

- Turning left on a red light from a one-way street to another one-way street never feels normal.  What is this, England??

- The All-Way-Stop is gravely underused in Utah. Stop lights are overrated and SO time consuming.

- For some reason people do not find it comical as you run a stop sign because you had no idea there were going to be 42 of them on your way to the store down the street.

- Driving the speed limit or below is actually normal! 

- Official freeway onramps are also overrated. A simple little split off a normal looking street with no type of markings whatsoever will suffice. If you miss it…good luck circling the block for an hour navigating through one-way streets to try to pick the right one to line you back up with the “entrance” that looks a lot like an alley way.

(I'm realizing these are all having a lot to do with transportation issues...interesting.)

- Lifting your Lincoln Towncar and putting huge spinner rims on it DOES make you even more cool than you already are.

- Approaching a stranger in a parking lot to give a sob story of being stranded 50 miles from home with only $1.25 to your name and your car is out of gas is not creepy, especially if you call that person “ma’am”.

- Standing and walking on the shoulder of the freeway is acceptable and gets you to where you want to be so much quicker than walking on slower paced streets.

- “Ma’am” and “sir” do not imply you think the person is elderly, it’s actually a sign of respect…who knew?

- Iced tea is the new lemonade. Don’t even ask for lemonade at a restaurant as they may think you are speaking a language from the African bush.

- Texans (although I’m sure it is this way with all foreign lands) LOVE kids. Outside of Utah the population of children is drastically smaller, they are more of a novelty.  Be prepared to have strangers approach you on a daily basis to say hi to your kids.

- While painting houses, there is no need to stay ON the walls with the paint. Painting over the thermostat so it can’t be changed to heat is totally acceptable...okay, maybe this one has nothing to do with Texas so much as the retards who painted our house.  I had to actually get out a razor blade to cut the thermostat button free...foreign living is so hard sometimes!

There are many other things but for now I have at least begun to prepare you for if you are to venture in to the big and crazy world. 

Big sister's concerns

Brielle is starting to have the weight of being an older sister to TWO little girls sink in.

The other day at dinner she was so sweet and helped Claire say the blessing on the food. I told her she was such a great big sister and that she was going to be such a great big sister to the baby when she was born.

Never short on dramatics around here, she threw her hand up against her chest and said "Oh. My. Gosh. How am I going to be able to help TWO little girls say their prayers when the baby is old enough to say prayers? I don't know how I'm going to do that! I guess I will keep helping Claire and you'll just have to help the baby, or we could switch off taking turns."

On top of wondering how she is going to be able to be a good big sister to two little girls...much like my uncertainty of being able to wrangle three little girls...she is worrying about a few other things baby related as well. Some quotes since the talk of baby sister has increased:

"How is Eliana (her cousin) going to be able to fit in our car with us when the baby is here? The car will be almost all filled up, there will not be room for Eliana!" Um...I'm not sure how big she thinks the baby is going to be. We do have a minivan.

"How is there going to be room on your lap for the baby after she's born when we're reading books at night in the rocking chair? Maybe we'll have to sit on my bed so that the baby can be in your lap and me and Claire can sit on the bed."

"Where is the baby going to sleep? We only have one bed and one crib?!" (This was pre-Texas when we didn't have the bunk beds set up though...that has since been remedied.)

"Can we go to a baby store...just so I can look at baby stuff. We don't have to buy stuff yet, I just want to look at the tiny cute stuff."

My personal favorite "Can we just keep some of the presents we bought for Aunt Emily's baby? I like that stuff for our baby."

Claire on the other hand - obviously - has no idea what is about to happen to her little life. Every time the word "baby" is mentioned, she simply points at herself and says "I'M a baby". When asked if she wants a little sister, she tells us, "I'M the little sister". She doesn't get it...poor dear, I feel bad for her.

I felt bad for Brielle when Claire came, the dethroning process can be rough on them...plus I've seen the way Claire treats cats, toys, her older sister and baby dolls and I'm a bit worried for the safety and health of this new bundle. Claire isn't purposefully mean or rough, she just loves REALLY enthusiastically sometimes.

Maybe I should take a lesson from Claire though...I'm sure the world would be a much better place if we all learned to love a little more enthusiastically.

Processed Blogging Product

I recently went to the store to purchase sliced Tillamook cheese. Unfortunately the Walmart that I was lending my patronage to carries inferior cheese. I perused the assortment of cheeses and found the small difference on the packaging between the fake cheese and the real stuff: the word product. That’s right cheese is good, cheese product is bad. This is blogging product.

For those of you who come to this blog searching for the delicate eloquence of my loving wife, you may be sorely disappointed with this post. I am her charming and muscular husband. Those who have followed this blog since the beginning may remember my stunningly witty posts from the year two thousand and seven. However, since then I have delved into other things and have neglected the blog reading masses. My goal is to try to be a regular contributor from here on out with a little bit of military perspective of our life, seeing how we kind of have something to do with the military at the moment. Now when I say regular I don’t mean three Fiber One bars a day kind of regular, more like two blocks of cheese product a day regular, once a week if you’re lucky.

For those of you who do not know, I am currently stationed at Sheppard Air Force Base in tech school to become a BMET (Bio Medical Equipment Tech). Sheppard AFB is in the armpit of Texas Wichita Falls, Texas. I am already a quarter of the way through my training, but i have already been through training longer than just about anybody else I graduated from Basic training with.

The Army is definitely a different way of living, I'd be lying if I said I haven't already taken on a few of the speech traits of the army and maybe even some southern slang, but I am definitely not fixing to do anything. Or fittin' to do anything. At least not yet.

The jump from Wells Fargo to the U.S. Army was a drastic one, but I must say, so far I'm happy. I'm still writing books, but I don't have nearly as much time on my hands. Things change a bit when you have PT formation every morning at 4:40. Camille has been quite the trooper about all of it and the girls have done surprisingly well. I'm actually more worried about all the people going through withdrawals from losing the favorite daughter/sister and the favorite grandchildren. I doubt anybody misses me that much, even with my new and improved muscles, really, they're that big.

Another change is going from a Utah ward to a mostly military self proclaimed transient ward. There are so many people at the base on TDY and for training that nobody really considers themselves permanent.It's also a little different to hear the bishop tell the congregation that when he asked an eight year old boy a baptismal interview question he was given the response, "I'm sorry bishop, that's classified."

So I'll chuck some deuces until next time, but beware in the future of more blogging product.