I can't do it

Alex is now into saying "I can't do it mom." Whether it's putting on his shoes or picking up his toys it's been "I can't do it myself." So last night we went on a drive just to get out of the house, so we decided to go get some ice cream. I'm sure most people know how brilliant it is to give kids in the back seat ice cream without any supervision. So, being the forward thinker that I am, I got in the back seat with them. Ben got his own ice cream up front, Spencer got a sucker (If anyone has seen Spencer with ice cream you know that the sucker was a smart move), and Alex and I shared an ice cream. Well as I was unwrapping the sucker for Spencer, Alex was going nuts to get at the ice cream. I told him to just hold his horses. He sat and thought about it for a second and said, "Mom, I can't hold my horses." It was so much funnier listening to it in person. Ben and I laughed all the way home.

Done

Well Ben finally defended his Master's Thesis. And the good news is HE PASSED!!! He now has to wait for that magical day when his diploma will suddenly show up in the mail. We are so happy that he is done and even more happy we don't have to pay the U any more money. YEAH!!!!! The ONLY sad thing is we won't be able to get the student discounts for things anymore. DANG. But it's a small price to pay for a piece of paper on the wall saying Ben can now put an M.A. behind his name.

Here's a little something from Elvis

Ok here's a little preface. My dad likes to include Elvis in just about everything he writes. I don't know why but it does add a little something to correspondence. This is what he wrote to Danielle's mission presidents' wife to let her get to know Dani a little better. Lets hope it worked.

A fond memory of mine with Danielle is actually several memories. Having taught 7-8 year-old CTR classes for many years I was privileged to attend quite a few baptisms when the kids turned 8. Not wanting to go alone, I would usually take Dan with me. So, she has attended more baptisms than most missionaries ever will. It’s sort of like the story told about Elvis when he was shooting a movie in Germany and had the chance to visit some of the areas around where he had been stationed with the Army a few years earlier. He and several cast members took 3-days off and traveled to the Bavarian Alps in hopes that they would be able to spend some time skiing on the world famous mountain slopes that he had skied during his previous stay when, coincidentally, he had extended his tour of duty thinking he would be able to ski to his hearts content because his Company Commander found that if he had Elvis work 3-days on and 10-days off life was so much easier around the Army Post because Elvis lived off-post and when he was at work the Public Affairs Officer on Post would have to spend all of his time taking care of not only the press with the multitude of reporters and cameramen, but also the throngs of tourists from the U.S., and on top of that herds of German women, young and old, who were making it difficult for the Post to operate as it should and the Post Commander, a 2-star General, who wasn’t about to let an E-3 Enlisted Troop who wasn’t even an NCO take over control of his post – you know how those high ranking Army Commanders were in the 1950’s – so he had ordered Elvis’ Company Commander, a 6’5” former NBA Basketball star who had been drafted and had to leave his moderately paying NBA career to be an Army Officer with a job that payed even less just so he could babysit a whinny-snotty-nosed-rich-brat who didn’t even have to live in the crowded one-room open-bay barracks like the rest of the recruits and who probably ate steak and bratwurst every night because he had more money than he could ever spend in 10 lifetimes. So, Elvis and about 37 movie crew members checked into one of the local youth hostels – not a hotel but a youth hostel where everyone slept in a 1-room open-bay area on sleeping bags laid on the hardwood planked beds – and Elvis and the crew spent the 1st day skiing at the nearest chalet – well, really sitting around the chalet drinking hot chocolate in the big 27 ounce insulated steins and with those super-duper-delux-extra-large marshmallows that the Alps are so famous for, and spinning stories for anyone who would listen and there were a lot of people to listen because as soon as it became known that Elvis was on the premises – actually Shecky Olvar was one of the group and most of the crowd was jammed around him to hear his stories about that fiasco in Lapland where, well you know, we don’t need to get into that here – well the people really packed themselves in to overflowing to see and be a part of the excitement and that’s when it happened. The manager of the Chalet was at wits end trying to keep order in his very orderly place of business. He very discretely took Elvis aside telling him that he appreciated his patronage but with all the people in his group and all the people who had gathered to be with his group it was becoming too unruly and he asked Elvis why it had to be this way. Elvis, dipping his head a little to the left and fixing a serious but benevolent gaze on the manager is reported to have said – and this is how it was like when Danielle accompanied me to all those baptisms – he said: sir, ‘I’ve found that I love to go to where my friends gather and where I can feel the Spirit!’

Papa Condie

Bye Bye Stephie

My sister Stephanie is leaving this morning for Basic Training in Texas. She is the wild child of our family and there was no stopping her. She'll be there until next April or May so she can do her technical training as well. Then from there who knows where she'll end up. She loves anything involving the snow so hopefully somewhere cold so she can get out and snowboard as often as she wants. So we said goodbye to her last night and I'm not sure Alex understands that he's not going to see his aunt for awhile. When she was walking out the front door he said, "I see you on Sunday." Maybe a Sunday a long time from now. Well good luck Steph and remember FOCUS!

Our Veterans

For Veterans Day my mom and my aunt, Steph and I with the boys went on a journey up into the Utah mountains and out to the Uinta Basin to a little group of towns on the outside of Duchesne. My grandpa grew up in this part of the world and now they were setting up a veterans memorial site to honor those who served in the armed forces.

They put in on the side of the main road of Altamont. We surprised grandpa by being there for the program where they were honoring the veterans of the Upper Country.

It was a wonderful program where helicopters buzzed by and did an aerial show above the memorial. My grandpa's sister still has a house up there so after grandpa took us on a tour of where he grew up, we went to go visit the relations. They had an old homestead still on the property that they have coverted and a few rock piles that the boys enjoyed playing in. Thanks grandpa for serving and helping to keep us free.

Halloweening

We had a Neighborhood Halloween Party on Wed. that was just a blast. They had dinner and games and music and pictures and EVERYONE dressed up. Alex went as a Jazz fan because he didn't want to dress as ANYTHING else and this was the only thing I could think of the day of that he even might consider wearing. Spencer was Superman. It was the costume I made for Alex back when he hadn't figured tantrums out yet. But Spencer was so cute with his little chubby legs in those tights. For Halloween we got the boys dressed and went to trick-or-treat both Grandma's and then we came home and let the boys pass out the candy. They loved it and we didn't have to go out. So a win win both ways.

Cakes

I've been taking cake decorating classes. It's a class that Hobby Lobby offers and it just so happens that my back door neighbor teaches them. It was fun and I learned lots. Here's a pic of my final cake I did. And yes there is a little piece taken out of the back. Alex got to it before I could take the picture.

Baby Feet

Spencer is now up and going ALL the time. He loves to walk and he's almost running (mostly away from Alex). Before when he was only taking a few steps he hated wearing socks and shoes. He would curl his little toes under and it was impossible for him to sit still while you were trying to jam these itty bitty shoes onto his feet. But now that he is full on walking he carries his shoes with him all over the house. He knows which ones are his and which ones are Alex's and he is especially fond of my black fuzzy house slippers. So now when I tell him we are getting ready to go, he'll go get his shoes while I get his socks and he sits down on my lap and pops his little feet up so I can get everything on and then he's ready to go out the door. He's such a cute little guy.

Part Three

Friday

We decided to spend the day up in Logan. We stopped by the American Heritage Village. It's a working farm with cows and chickens and corn etc. Alex, Spencer and Ben wouldn't touch any of the animals so it was up to me to show the boys there was nothing weird about a calf.

The boys did have fun pretending to ride them though. And they all took turns roping. They all did pretty well surprisingly.

Alex wanted to jump into the hay but when he finally got on top I guess it looked to scary so I had to hold his hand. We also did a corn maze there. Way fun - except it was 12:30 and the boys were starving. So I was trying to find the quickest way out. Luckily we had a map and it wasn't to long before we were out and eating at Logan's Hero's.

Saturday

We thought we'd go and cheer on the Utes. We were lucky to even get in the game. It was sold out and exactly on minute before we bought the tickets someone turned in 10 extra tickets that weren't being used. So we got to sit up in the international section of the stadium - beats sitting with the MUSS. It was great. The Utes won and the weather was beautiful. We had two older Chinese ladies sitting next to us that were absolutely enthralled with Spencer and his curly hair. They were talking to him and taking pictures even. He went over to say hi for a minute and then realized he wasn't with mom any more and then came straight back. But they still fussed over him like he was theirs.

So that was our staycation 2008! Looking forward to next year!

Part Two

Here is the new temple in Draper. It is a lot smaller than I thought it would be. It looks pretty big from the freeway. But the second pic is of the other temple being built. It's hard to see but it's the biggest building in the picture.

Wednesday

We went up to the Hill Aerospace Museum. Growing up military I have a weird thing with planes and helicopters so it is a good thing I have little boys.

We love walking around all the big planes and just seeing the size of them is incredible. You wonder how they stay in the air. The first time we went Alex was really nervous about all of it so I showed him the nose on one of the planes and said, "Isn't that silly?" Now whenever we go he shows me the silly nose airplane.

We also dug out our garden. We had to pull a few green pumpkins out to but we just couldn't wait any longer.

Thursday

We made cookies in the morning. So much fun! Alex had dough and frosting and who knows what else all over his face and hands by the time we were done.

I got to go with my mom to my brother's best friend's wedding. Mike and Dave have been friends since they met. Just imagine two fat chubby boys playing together. Well Dave married Lindsay's (Mike's wife) sister Julie. So now they will forever be related. Good luck to the Arrington's who now have to put up with them both.

So after that we went to the Children's museam. They have a Life Flight Helicopter that the kids can sit in and mess with the buttons. It was great.

They had a construction area that Alex loved.

And a water area that Spencer loved.