Maybe I should pass the blame more often...

In our nearly seven years of marriage, I can count the number of times David has lost something on one hand. It just doesn't happen. So imagine my surprise when I could not find the camera a few days after giving it to him while out at a farm with the children. He is positive that he placed it on the corner of the bed upon returning home, but since I do not remember getting it from that point on, I razzed him for a couple days about losing the camera. (#3 probably just hid it somewhere and we'll find it in a few months/years). Oh and in a strange twist, seven years ago this month was when I lost David's first camera...

Anyway, David went out and got me a replacement, the Canon PowerShot SD1100. It is sweet! It has face finder (and can locate multiple faces), image stabilization, 8.0 megapixel, and the card he got can hold between 500 and 2400 photos. Man! I have got to blame him when *I* lose stuff more often. This new one sure beats the seven-year-old, 1.2 megapixel, hope-it-turns-out-in-focus (it did us so well for a long time) camera. Man technology sure improves quickly. Unfortunately, the yellow in these photos is due to having the Macro setting on.

So we've been sick this week, David finally had it and made his sinus-buster noodles today. It was an old recipe he used to use as a missionary in Wisconsin to clear sinuses enough to breathe when they're clogged.

Boil two Roman noodle packs, trash the included seasoning. After boiling, drain the water, and add dried onions, significant sriracha hot sauce, ginger, 1/8 cup soy sauce, and 1/8 cup oil. Stir fry, and have Kleenex nearby. Here are some pictures with the new camera of the children enjoying the noodles. #2 is on his 4th serving and, yes, #1 is putting them on a saltine... Because.

Overheard at the dinner table.

"We watched a scary movie (commercial) with zom-dees in it while you were at school." (#2)
"What are zom-dees?" (#1)
"They are the un-dead." (Melissa)
"Except that zombies are like unicorns, there is no such thing." (David)
"Except that unicorns are real daddy." (#1)
"..." (David closing his eyes and chewing slow to make sure he does not choke from laughing)
"[#1] did you know that there is no such thing as unicorns in real life." (Melissa)
"Mom, you're such a kidder, that was a funny joke." (#1)
"[hacking sounds]" (David choking as his shoulders bounced like a gymnast on a trampoline)
"Um, actually, I am not joking, Unicorns are make believe." (Melissa)
"Like zom-dees. Please pass the soil sauce." (#2 asking for the soy sauce for his sushi.)

Fangs

#3 now has her lower K9s, just in time for us to watch the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, a perennial favorite for the family. This year, David enjoyed the Miniature Bull Terrier, Melissa enjoyed the Fox Hound. Yea for dogs.

Make the world a better place: swerve at cats.

Learning and Laughing

#3 has come with her own sense of funny. I was quizzing her on her facial parts:
--Where are your eyes? Close enough.
--Where are your ears? Right on.
--Where is your nose? Finger up it is definitely right on. :-)
--Where is your mouth? She opened wide and put her thumb in and began to suck on it.
--Where is your thumb? She grabbed my thumb and stuck it in her mouth. Then she just laughed.

Return to Sender

One would expect that a play room 18 by 18 feet would be sufficient to handle the usual smell and adventures of childhood.

Sorry about the potty humor, butt...

#2 ripped off a check-flapping explosion of lower-intestinal flatulence causing the division of the time-space continuum and singeing through two layers of heavy-duty clothing that would've made grandpa and a certain uncle proud. Serious one for the books. He outdid Dad!

After about 14 seconds of permeation, (or is that fermentation?), he cried out in agony: "Oh no! We need to put the fart back in!"

Melissa and I, (resisting laughter and inhalation) simultaneously asked him each a different question. I'm sure a shrink would analyze what the differences between the questions are... but we open it up to your interpretation in the comment section of this post:

Melissa: "How would you want to do that?"
David: "Why would you want to do that?"

Inchon

Inchon:

1 - The title of a very impressive piece of music I had the opportunity to listen to this weekend in California at my sister's concert. She made all Northern Honor Band and the concert was a treat.

If you want to see an inferior version of the Inchon piece, click here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryeUYZuNfyM&feature=related


2 - The lengthy feeling you get when traveling back from California the second time in a month. If you travel deep into the night, amazing things happen... bats nearly fly into your windshield, teenagers have a snowball fight with your car, and when it gets deep into the evening, the hallucinations begin... marker posts start creeping across the road, hitchhikers look like giant chickens...

And it's all worth it to hear a bro's talk before leaving on a mission and getting another burger...

Post-vacation quiz

Ah, California... and the letdown of being back...

How do you know if you are suffering from post-vacation pain? Take this simple quiz.

Do your children still expect meals to consist of a fruit, a vegetable, a grain, a meat and ten treats? (thanks to grandparents...)

Does your husband ask why 5 of the last 6 meals have consisted of cheerios, marshmallow maties, and milk and the only one that was not cold cereal was the one he made?

Are your children still expecting to be constantly entertained?

When you take your children to the store do they start putting things in the cart and saying, "we're going to need this"?

Are you and your children crying at the cold when the thermostat temperature in the house is 8 degrees higher than before you left?

Are you the only person willing to take a nap or go to bed on time?

Is your spouse ticked that all of local buffets don't have fresh fish and amazing sushi bars?

Do the words "in" and "out" cause uncontrollable drooling?

If the answer to all of these is yes, welcome to our home. I think David is looking forward to going to work...

Hope during the passing of loved ones.

When loved ones pass from one side of the veil to another, it is a time to mourn our loss. Even Jesus wept with those who had lost a friend and brother. It is even more difficult when those who pass are young. Fortunately there is hope through the Atonement. Sealed parents will have the opportunity of raising their sleeping children, after the resurrection, to full maturity.

The Prophet "Joseph Smith taught the doctrine that the infant child that was laid away in death would come up in the resurrection as a child; and, pointing to the mother of a lifeless child, he said to her: 'You will have the joy, the pleasure and satisfaction of nurturing this child, after its resurrection, until it reaches the full stature of its spirit. ... He told us that we should receive those children in the morning of the resurrection just as we laid them down, in purity and innocence, and we should nourish and care for them as their mothers. He said that children would be raised in the resurrection just as they were laid down, and that they would obtain all the intelligence necessary to occupy thrones, principalities, and powers." (Mary Isabella Horne, Statement given on Nov. 19, 1896, in Salt Lake City, Utah. Approved by President Joseph F. Smith and published in his teachings. Published as approved church doctrine 2007 in the Teachings of the Presidents of the Church series.)

We miss our friend's daughter and our daughter's friend, teammate, and classmate Shelbi.