Dad asked me to tell everyone that Jeri's mom died today. It wasn't completely unexpected, but still very, very sad coming so soon after the death of Jeri's sister. Jeri's family is in our hearts and prayers.

Yes, it was on purpose.

Jack and I bought a Styrofoam tombstone from Albertsons today. On the way home he was asking me to help him dig a hole to put it in the front yard. I said, "We'll have Daddy help us set the tombstone up." Jack's reply was, and I quote, "That freakin' old guy?"

A little later Brian was in the garage testing out a new hang gliding harness and was hanging from this contraption and all zipped into the harness. Jack comes running into the house screaming, "It's a miracle! It's a miracle! Tristan... Dad is finally trapped outside in the garage and can't ever come in the house again."

Ah.. Jack. This is the same kid that told me that you have to type your name into a computer in the bathroom at preschool, that they have monster truck races at school and also... they skydive there.

First day of School.

These pictures are a little belated, but no less cute!  The kids love to pose with this dog statue we have.  I don't know why.  

Random picture of Jack watching a movie on the computer.  Notice all of his "friends" are watching too.

Birthday Box from Archer.  Jack was so happy to get it and open it.  Thanks!

Tristan's view:

The following pictures were taken by Tristan with his camera.  In his defense, his camera doesn't have a screen where you can see what the picture looks like, just an old fashioned eye peek.  I like this first picture because, although you can't see Jack's face, you can see his legs.  Now here's a boy that knows how to play hard...note the dirt, 2 bandaids and 5 bruises at last count.

Wow, Brian looks kind of scary from Tristan's point-of-view.  I'd do what he says if I were him.

Today's quotes from Jack

Jack upon waking: "Mom I have a spicy in my mouth and throat. The spicy is making it hurt to swallow."

(I'm assuming he has a sore throat.)

Jack after the trip to the grocery store where he got in trouble for yelling, running, punching and tackling Tristan in the check-out line: "The spicy in my throat is making me be naughty." (At least we know whom to blame now)

Jack to me while lying down in his bed that we made into a tent and we now have to refer to as Hawaii... as in... "do you want to go to Hawaii, Mom?" (Do I ever!): "Mom... feel my hair right here. My hair is sure making me hot." (I know... those buzz cuts can really be sweaty.)

A work in progress.  

Here is the kitchen.  We've finished painting the cabinets and the wall, but are still working on the playroom area.  I'll post pics of that soon.  The first two pics are of the kitchen after and the last is a before, sort of.  I forgot to take before pictures, but had one that you can sort of see the cabinets when I was taking pictures of the new floor.

Happy Birthday Jack!

Here's a video of the boys riding their scooters at the local skate park.

Here's a video of Jack riding his bike.

Happy Birthday Amanda!

We had family pictures taken when we went to Idaho. These are the best two. It's difficult to get everyone looking at the camera and smiling at the same time. Obviously, I prefer the pictures where I look the best, but I can't have Jack looking behind him in our family photo.

Happy Birthday to me- my thoughts on swim lessons, mohawks, bikes and the earthquake.

I always feel like I have to post pictures with my posts. I have no new pictures today. I need to take the camera to swim lessons and snap a few. We have been going to swim lessons for the past week and a half. Jack is, as he puts it, "learning to do bobs." (bobs are when you hold on to the side and bob up and down under the water.) Tristan has finally mastered side-breathing! He can FINALLY swim across the width of the pool. I think it's about 25 meters. It's just long enough that you really can't swim across it without taking a breath. Even though, I witnessed Tristan doing just that the other day. I said, "Wow! You were swimming so fast!" (he really was fast) He said, "Yeah, I couldn't get a breath when I raised my head and so I was running out of air. Basically I was panicking." Oh.
This is really great for him. Just last month we were at a backyard pool party and two separate moms had to go in fully clothed, it was me the 2nd time, because he panicked and was starting to drown.

Also... our other big news is that Jack learned, last night, to ride his bike without the training wheels! This sums up the difference in my sons completely. They both learned to ride without training wheels this year. One of them is 6 and one is 3. Ah yes... Jack is unique. As he was riding around the backyard he was yelling all sorts of things like, "Yeah, that's how you ride like a man." or "Who's a tough guy now?" Chad shaved his hair into a mohawk and we let him keep it for 3 days. I think it was making his behavior even worse. After we shaved it he went to swimming where his teacher asked him what happened to his mohawk. He said, "We had to shave it off because my mom doesn't like to keep mohawks." (Mohawks make troublesome pets.)

We finished painting the kitchen cupboards white and we started last night painting the kitchen red. Red is tricky and so far it just looks hot pink.

Lastly, the earthquake was scary for us. Jack and I were standing in our family room when it started. It was a big jolt and then the shaking started. Tristan was in the kitchen and I told him to come where I was and he was paralyzed with fear. I shoved Jack down into the "triangle of safety" spot, and away from all the glass of the sliding glass doors and yelled at Tristan again. He came running and I put him next to Jack. It lasted for a long time. The walls of the house were moving a lot! You could see it. All of the pictures were swinging back and forth. Just after it was over an aftershock hit. We just stayed down. Then a little while later another hit. The boys were really shaken up. They just wanted to lie in the safe spot all day. We had a lot of things fall off shelves and everything fell out of our medicine cabinets, etc. Brian works in a high rise in Orange and I was worried about him. I had no phone service after it happened. Jack announced the next day that he didn't like the earthquake and could we please not have one that day. The quake was centered in Sleepy Hollow which is in the middle of Carbon Canyon 7 miles from our house and only 5 miles from dad's. We felt a 3.0 aftershock last night before we went to sleep. I was ready to spring into action, but it was small.

We were sitting around the other day looking at the carpet. We had just had it cleaned a month ago and it was really dirty again. I think it was just past cleaning. Brian says, "I wish we could just rip it out and put down that laminate flooring." I said we should go for it. So... we ripped out the carpet in the family room and the peel-and-stick tile in the kitchen and went the next day to Ikea and bought the flooring you see here. As you can see, Andrew came by to watch.
It was a little rough going for the first couple of rows, but then we (Brian) got the hang of it. I was in more of a support position. Brian did a great job.

Last week we bought a new couch in preparation for Mom moving out. They delivered it yesterday. Brian gave us all the new rules... "No eating or drinking on the couch. No feet on the couch, no shoes on the couch or on the new floor." I'm surprised we're allowed to sit on the couch.
Don't worry, when they delivered the new couch, the hide-a-bed fell out and gouged the new floors in two long grooves. This was just after Brian and I had an argument about keeping the rug down. I said we should move the rug so the movers don't trip (I won) and Brian said we should keep it down so the floor doesn't get scratched. Aahhh.... So when it got gouged, I was a bit sheepish and apologetic.

Art Auction - May, 27, 2008

This first picture is out of focus, but this was the art auction at the elementary school. One student's art work is chosen in each class to be professionally matted and framed. The art is then auctioned in a live auction with a caller, etc. We had to bid on the art against our friends who drove the bid up. We got off easy... we ended up paying $150 for the art. The people after us paid $1,000. Their family was driving the bid up.

That's Tristan standing in front of his artwork.

Why did these pictures upload sideways??? The originals are not like this. Weird. They're still cute. You'll have to tilt your head. Jack is into having his picture taken. For example, we were walking the dog and he said, "Mom you should take a picture of me kissing Quick (the dog). It would be so cute." He also wanted me to take a picture of him playing Brian's guitar.



Everyone needs a place to practice their snorkeling.

I was lying in bed this morning in that stage between awake and asleep. Brian started to pester me... i.e. poking me in the nose, sticking his finger in my ear, etc. (see what I have to put up with?)

I said, "Stop it."
He said, "Why?"
I said, "Because I feel crabby."
He said, "That's just because you're awake."

Meaning that's my natural temperament... I'm awake...ergo... I'm grouchy.

I don't think that was necessary.

Mile Run

Old time: 10:49

New time: 9:23

Old # of push-ups: 24

New # of push-ups: 31

I'm proud of myself. It's nice that they test you on all of this stuff so you can see progress even if the scale doesn't move.

Wed. May 7th

Only two more days of boot camp. I have only missed one day and that was due to injury. I somehow hurt my left foot. I can't recall any trauma, so I'm assuming it's an overuse injury. I was on crutches as much as possible at home, but I continued to go to the boot camp. I went to the hospital and had them X-ray it and they said it's not broken. I also have patellar tendonitis. This is also an overuse injury. Too much, too soon. I hobble around like a 100 year old woman.

This Friday we run the mile again and also do our push-up test. I'll post the results to see if I've improved. I have a week off and then, I've signed up for 2 more months!

May 3, 2008- Andrew came with us this time. He took all the pictures so there are no pictures of him.

Both boys are ready to ride.




Brian says that he doesn't know which picture is scarier... the one where I'm riding a motorcycle or shooting a gun.

This picture is of Brian. He was having fun without Jack as a passenger.

Our first trip to the desert.


I took this picture just as Brian was accelerating and Jack's head is thrown back and the helmet is totally obscuring his vision.

Jack wore Coleman's clothes to be cool. It was a really nice day at 70 degrees. Jack rode with Brian a couple of times and I even took a turn riding all by myself... like a big girl. I think Brian was more nervous than I was that I would crash.


I feel bad that I didn't take any pictures of Tristan riding. He did really well. He even rode his bike in this dirt bike riding track. We had a good time. I think by the time we get to Idaho, Tristan will be an expert.