"Rain drops are falling on my head..."

Emily has known the excitement of taking a shower for a while now. Josh just discovered it. For the past week they always ask for a shower at bath time. Yesterday I finally allowed Laurie to take part in the shower. She had a blast! She loved holding her hands under the falling water then splashing and squealing.

Family Night

Monday night we had a fun family night. We had a photo scavenger hunt. We went for a walk around the neighborhood and took pictures of items on our list. We had to find a flower, lawn ornament, slide, grill, bench, birdhouse, flag, fountain, fire hydrant, basketball hoop, and swings. It was a lot of fun and the kids enjoyed taking the pictures with my phone. (I took the picture of the swings, Emily took the other two. I didn't post all the pictures, but josh did a pretty good job as well.)







When we got home the kids started playing in the front yard. Emily and Josh have this game that they like to play where they sit and wait for the other one to crash into them. They pretend that they are asleep and get startled awake during the crash. Laurie just likes to eat grass.

Fun at the Zoo!

Saturday the kids and I met Janay and Michael at the zoo. Laurie had decided to wake up at 6 that morning and was severely in need of a nap by the time we got to the zoo.

After a ride on the train we saw the white alligator and then decided to see the bird show. Sitting for a half hour was too much for the kids. The show was very enjoyable, but the kids were ready to be off seeing other things. Laurie would not be quiet for anything, so I had to leave early. (I don't know what I would have done if I had been there by myself with the kids.)

We then decided to have lunch before visiting the animals. I was able to get Laurie to fall asleep in the stroller for about 45 minutes. We saw the bears licking huge popsicles, the penguins swimming around, the giraffes and the leopard was pacing in front of the view window. We lost Josh at the leopard, which made me a little panicky, before going for a ride on the carousel. The kids loved it! On the Carousel Emily rode a giraffe, Josh rode an elephant, Laurie rode a lion, Michael rode the tiger, and I think Janay was sitting on a bird.

Before leaving we ran into David, Cindy and kids, who were there for a company party. They led us to some very welcome ice cream.

I don't know about Janay, but I was very tired when we got home. I think we all had a great time and the kids are still talking about it.

The Truck Is Mine!!!! (And It Feels Great!)

Today I got to do something that I absolutely love doing.
Pay something completely off!

Yep! See that truck below? It's all mine! All paid off!

No more truck payment! Waahoo!!!!

When I was 16 I got a job at a place called Golden Corral & then bought an old 1986 Dodge Colt (Oh man! I just realized my Isuzu pickup is older than that car! Wow!).

Anyway, it was my first time ever taking a loan out & I remember very vividly picking it out at the America First Repo lot. We drove a bunch of cars, but that was the one I wanted (even though my dad thought the white Mustang that was sitting in the lot would've been cool I went for the Colt).

I still remember taking the loan out on that thing. I think it was for $1500 and it kind of scared me to have to owe someone that much dough.

So, over the course of the next 6 months I paid the thing off. I still remember making the last payment on it & how great it felt to drive it around (even though it probably wasn't much to look at, it was mine!)

Since then I've owned several cars; some I've paid cash for up front (like all the old clunkers I've picked up, fixed up, & then sold) and others I've taken loans out for. Each time I've paid them off the feeling of elation I've felt from making that last payment rocks!

Let's see...here's the list of cars I've owned.
1979 AMC Concord (the "Yellow Banana" as we called it)
1986 Dodge Colt (loved that thing!)
1985 Toyota Tercel 4X4 Wagon (total piece of junk. It'd been wrecked & I didn't realize it)
1987 or 1988 Chevy Nova (basically a Toyota Corolla in Chevy garb)
1986 Honda Accord (I drove that sucker forever!)
1993 Honda Accord (just sold it last month. 225K on it. Longest time I've ever owned a car. I had it for over 10 years)
1983 Isuzu Pickup (twice actually. Once after it'd been through all the kids, then swapped out for my other Isuzu, then I got it back & then sold it again. It still even ran!)
1984 Isuzu Pickup (still own, but it's getting tired)
1983 Volkswagen Vanagon (Valerie hated it)
1991 Volkswagen Jetta (the one dad just sold)
2004 Toyota Sienna (Man I love that thing!)
2005 Toyota Tundra (what I just paid off).

I think there's a couple other "clunkers" in there too....if I remember right I think I owned the VW Rabbit for a time as well and there was a 1992 Honda Accord that I bought from the Hulses, fixed up, & sold too. Oh yeah, and a 1984 Honda Accord that I got for free, fixed up & sold.

Man! I guess I have had a bunch of cars!
But, I absolutely LOVE my truck!

I've never owned a full size truck before (never could justify needing one), and I guess the Tundra really isn't even considered "Full-Size", but oh my gosh I love that thing!

I bought it because I wanted something I could take the kids on errands in (they just won't all fit in the Isuzu) and I also needed something to haul all the inventory in for the business (I haul a LOT of stuff back & forth from my storage shed to my rental unit).

And, since the business was doing well last year, I kind of splurged. For about 6 months I'd been really wanting a truck and I'd driven lots of them & the first time I drove a Toyota Tundra I fell instantly in love with them. They ride like a Cadillac and hey, it's a Toyota so it won't be breaking down on me.

I also was kind of tired of having old cars around that I always had to fix and wanted to get something nice (showing up at a demo in my old rusty Isuzu doesn't exactly say "trust this guy, he knows what he's doing business wise"....so, a 6 month hunt went on looking for just the right truck with the right price.

I'd hunt Auto Trader, KSL Cars, and every other site out there looking for Tundras until one night I saw this one.....only problem was it was in Virginia. However, the price was a steal, it had everything I wanted (and more! Who really needs a sunroof in a truck? But I got one!) so I went for it kind of worried if I'd be able to pay it off & wondering how in the world I was going to get it back to Utah.

I spent 3 long miserable weeks trying to get a transport company to haul the thing back to Utah to no avail. Finally, I said "To heck with it! I'm gonna fly out & drive it home!" So, near the end of January I hopped a plane & flew back to DC, was picked up, went to the dealership, picked up my new toy & drove the sucker all the way home.

I got to see all of the country...well...ok, from I-80 anyway.

Me picking up the truck in Virginia

I made it trouble-free all the way to Lincoln, NE. Dad met up with me there & we continued the drive home until we passed Wamsutter, WY....and then the fun began.

You see, it wasn't snowing..well, ok, there was a little snow...it was BLOWING!


And then it REALLY started blowing!


And then REALLY BLEW!!!

(Yes, that really is a semi off the side of the road).

It turned the road to complete ice....

I thought, "Oh great! I've made it this far & now we have to go through this"
The trucks 4 wheel drive and Dad's skill in driving through the snow is what pulled it through.

If it was up to me, we would've pulled off somewhere, parked it & slept for the night...

Here's what it looked like the next morning once I got it home:


But, it did make it home safe & sound & I immediately threw a carseat in it & Josh got the first "ride".


And, well, the truck is doing it's job incredibly well. The kids absolutely LOVE to ride in it (which is half of why I got it) and it drives like a dream!

Of course, a couple weeks later this happened to it....


But we'll save that for another day.....

Needless to say, it's all fixed & better and the truck has been awesome to own & drive (kind of a hog on gas. Best I've ever gotten out of it was 18 out on the open road driving it home, but I don't drive that much so I really don't care).

But, today after paying for the thing it just feels great to say that it's 100% mine free & clear! (Now if I can keep any cars from jumping out & hitting it I'll be alright)

-Graydon

Apple Computers Rock!

This post is dedicated to Collin....

Today we had a new Michael Buble CD that Val brought home.
We've been listening to it & loving it & figured we'd burn it into MP3's so we could put it on our server drive.

Easy right? Well, not if you've got a PC....

I took it downstairs to the family PC in the family room, popped into the CD ROM and...NOTHING!! It didn't recognize it no matter how hard I tried!

So, I popped in another CD & sure enough, it wouldn't recognize it either...

I figured, "Ha! I've got an Apple! Let's see if it'll work!"

So, I pulled out the new Mac Book & fired it up. Popped in the CD and guess what?
It recognized it, started playing it & even asked me if I wanted to import it!
How cool is that!

So, of course I picked YES and it started importing the CD.
It uses iTunes which you can also use on a PC too, but the part I was so impressed with was the fact that the Mac not only recognized it, but it immediately asked me if I'd like to import the CD.

And, you can tell iTunes to import it a million different ways (ie. MP3, Apple format, and a whole host of others).

So, while I started listening to the CD on the Mac, it was importing the CD.

And, the Mac actually has pretty darn good speakers for a laptop too! Not bad!

Anyway, I just was really impressed with the Mac & had to share my "Mac Moment".
I'm sure Collin will appreciate it....

The more I use the thing the more I get used to it. It's a little different than using a PC (Where the heck is my End key? & why do I have to press Command instead of Control to make some of the shortcuts work?) but beyond that, the thing is pretty darn cool!

So, that's it for the Mac moment.

Crawling, Crawling!

Laurie is now crawling, and getting better all the time. She is a very wiggly child and, I believe, loves her new found freedom. Her mobility causes some extra stress for Josh and Emily who don't pick up their toys, but don't want Laurie to have them. In the video she does take a while before she starts moving. She wasn't very happy.

Another Tooth

Take a close look you will see two teeth. Laurie was having a ball eating a fresh, mashed peach and with her mouth open it was the perfect time for a tooth picture. If you click on the picture it will get big enough to give you a good look.

Garage Cleaning Time!

Well, about once a year I pull all the crap out of the garage, clean it up, throw out the junk, and re-organize it. Today was that day....

You see, the problem is, the house is shrinking....well, ok, the family is growing and the house isn't so we need more room.

Since I sold the Honda (sold in 48 hours by the way--man, ya think gas prices are high or something?) we no longer park 2 cars in the garage so one half of the garage started to get devoted to, well, junk!

Seeing as the house wasn't growing, and the garage had junk in it, it was time to overhaul the place & find "more room" for all the stuff....

So, with a trip to Sams Club for some Gorilla Shelves (Man I love those things!), a trip to the dump with a bunch of junk, and a long day of cleaning, we now have a lot more storage space! YEAH!!!

Check it out!




Those shelves rock!!

So, now we have 3 new sets of shelves, one for "house junk", one for "auto & home improvement junk", and a set for "business orders ready to be picked up".

The goal is to get some "house junk" out of the house to give us more room in the house for (HOPEFULLY) food storage...time will tell....

The shelves did give us a heck of a lot more storage space though in the Garage.
-Graydon

I HATE CELL PHONES!!!!

OK, pet peeve day....

Lately, I've had a lot of customers leave voicemails on their cell phones.

Now, this isn't bad, but I fail to understand how they expect me to decipher what they're saying when they're tooling down the road in their big loud diesel rig through some backroad where they don't have coverage really well all the while yelling.

It usually goes something like this....
"I Ne[kshhh] some[kshh]...to ...all me about Biodiese[kshh]. It's really impo[ksh]nt that someone call. You can ca...me at 55[ksh] 455 1[mumbled]23[ksh]...please ca[ksh]" and then the call drops.

I mean how in the world do people expect me to actually decipher that? It's been really bad lately too. I get calls from all over the place where people are trying to leave a message and it's either cut off (because their phone dies) or mumbled, or you just can't understand what they're saying because there's so much background noise going on.

My other pet peeve goes something like this....
"I need to talk to someone. Today! I have an urgent issue that is really important that I hear back from someone. So please call me today because I really need to get an answer on this. OK? Thanks, Bye".

Notice something missing? THEIR PHONE NUMBER!!!! SHEESH! How can I call someone back if they don't give me a phone number? What do they expect me to do? Be a mind reader?

I've had both the cell phone calls and the "can't figure out how to leave a phone number" crowd lately. It's amazing. Someone wants me to call them back soooo badly, but yet doesn't leave a phone number.

My other pet peeve is people that take FOREVER leaving you a message, speaking really slowly, usually pausing in between to think about what they want to say, then, they get to the end and say their phone number so fast you have to replay the message 5 times just to get it written down.

Man, some days I just want to reach through the phone & strangle some of these people!

So, here's my tips for leaving a message if you call a business.
1) Speak clearly so that you can be understood
2) DO NOT (I repeat) DO NOT leave a message while talking on a cell phone (if you must do so, don't do it while traveling down some back-road with the window down where you don't have coverage and where it's so loud in the car that someone can't hear you.
3) Be brief. People have a business to run. The last thing they want to do first thing in the morning is hear your dissertation about why they need to call you back. You can explain that to them when they call you. Just tell them who you are, a BRIEF reason for why they should call you back, and then leave your number
4) SPEAK SLOWLY AND CLEARLY! ESPECIALLY WHEN GIVING YOUR PHONE NUMBER! (It helps to REPEAT your phone number too).
5) Don't yell on a message. It'll just piss the person taking the message on the other end off and you'll instantly move to the last one on the list to call back
6) If you just called 5 minutes ago, calling again and leaving another message ain't gonna win ya brownie points. It just means they have to listen to TWO of your messages now which means that's more time spent listening to messages and less time picking up the phone to call you back.

Anyway, you get the picture. Be brief, be specific, and leave your number clearly.

Oh, and here's my plug for Verizon Wireless.
I hate Sprint! I hate T-Mobile! I hate AT&T!

People talking to me on Sprint, T-Mobile, or AT&T seem to have a lot of static noise in the background when they call in (sometimes when it's bad I ask who their carrier is). Verizon though is crystal clear. I don't know what those people do, but when someone calls in and you can tell it's a cell phone but it's still crystal clear, I can tell they're on a Verizon phone. The conversation is just so much cleaner.

OK, one last pet peeve about cell phones & I'm done.
I hate it when I talk to people wearing those wireless bluetooth, good for nothing, headsets. You can barely tell what they're saying and you have to listen REALLY carefully to catch their words.

I still haven't found one that I like myself either. Garbage, garbage, garbage.

If you find one that actually works, I may be all ears, but for now, I prefer a CORDED headset over those stupid lame Blue-tooth thingies....

OK, that's my rant for the evening....

-Graydon

Davis County Fair

We took the kids to the county fair this afternoon. We did the usual routine of going to the petting zoo (which was closed, but they did hear the donkey bray) and riding the ponies. We then gave the Emily and Josh wrist bands and they rode all the rides they could. There was one that Josh was too little to ride, so I rode it with Emily. Then I rode on the Tilt'o'Whirl with both them. I haven't been on rides like that for about 5 years. I wasn't used to it, but they loved it and had a really good time.

Pony Ride




The Dragon

Cheesy Grin

I wanted to post a video of Emily since I put josh on here. This was when she was about 11 months old and I think it is funny. Better late than never.

She laughed!! Plus...

Laurie Finally laughed. It wasn't for very long, but it was long enough that Emily and Josh were able to hear it. I couldn't get it on video, but I am just glad that she did.

I have to add another first: Laurie got her first tooth also. No wonder she has been so cranky.

More from Josh

Here is Josh singing the Alphabet Song from Super Y!



Just a side not: When we were walking home after taking Emily to school Josh saw a black cat cross the road and then start meowing.
J: "What is that cat doing?"
V: "I don't know, what do you think it is doing?"
J: "Crying."
V: "Why do you think it is crying?"
J: "It wants its mommy and daddy."

Look! Dinosaurs!

Today I took the kids to the Eccles Dinosaur Park. They were so excited. We sat and watched the "moving ones" for about 15 minutes.

Baby Girl!

Laurie is growing so much. she just started being able to sit up unsupported. I just wanted to share a few picts.


She looked so cute in this nightgown.


Playing with toys.



This was her first bath in the big tub by herself. She hated laying on her back. In the picture below I had just sat her back up after lying on her back.




A cute shirt from Grandpa Blair.

Blair Reunion

July 31 through August 2 we went to Lava Hot Springs for a reunion luau. We had a lot of fun playing and swimming. The reunion was very well organized and very enjoyable. We went to the pool three times and Emily went down the water slide five times.