Captain, Oh Captain!

Cado got his Christmas a little early this year and it's soft and fluffy and so darn cute. Cado's been keeping a close eye on Golden Retrievers and we finally found one in Vernal. Yesterday, I went there to look at them and ended up bringing one home. Imagine that! This dog is just too darn cute. Cado named him Captain and is spending his nights in the wash room as Captain 'adjusts' to his new home. These two guys were so tired, that neither of them woke up when I took this pic.

Mariah was a little jealous we think and insisted that Riley got to sleep with her. (All dogs at our house usually sleep outside). Oh, well these were special circumstances and Riley was one happy dog too.

Foundation, Dirt and Jared

Well this is how our apartments are looking so far. I just happened to drive by and Jared, our builder, was just hanging out on top of the piles of dirt. I told him that I needed to get a picture and I was sure that he would understand (because he has a blogging wife too) so he was happy to pose!

Dayton spent a summer working for Jared. He loved it, but he sure thought that working at the golf course the following year was a lot easier!

This One's For Dayton!

In one of Dayton's first letters home from his mission, he told Dave to make sure that he got the bathroom finished. Well, this is to document that Dave has finished the task. He didn't try to do it himself, because he is a Ph.D. That means that he is finally smart enough to HIRE someone else to do it. Works for me!

Oh My Goodness!

This is all I could say, as I saw my distressed children today as I told them that we were going to ride in the Civic to Salt Lake. They could not believe that was possible. I assured them that it was a 5 PASSENGER CAR! Then I retold them my childhood story of only having a 2 door hatchback Honda Accord when I was a teenager and WE WERE GRATEFUL for it! And, WE HAD SIX KIDS! And, TWO KIDS HAD TO SIT IN THE HATCHBACK PART. We even had one family vacation in it where we drove all the way to Zion's National Park that way. (Maybe that's why we only had ONE family vacation!)

They were still not convinced and the struggle continued as we drove. Mariah even asked if we could stop halfway so that they could stretch their legs....oh brother! They also claimed that gas wasn't nearly as expensive as it used to be. Of course, my seat was much closer to them too so I couldn't ignore their complaints either...oh my goodness. It was a long day filled with lots of complaints and wiggles. I see why minivans were invented. Anyway, as often as they would complain I always had a great comeback. I would simply say, "Do you want to hear the story of what kind of car I had when I was your age?...) That was the only time they would be quiet. :)

Moving Weesy Outside

Mariah had Daneille and Naomi over Saturday and she enlisted their help in getting the doghouse ready for her new cat Weezy. Weezy has lived in our house for 2 weeks and now she's moving outside. It was a bit chilly on Saturday, but as long as their hands were in the hot water, these girls said they didn't feel cold.

Sprint Missionaries

Yep, that's what they call them. Sprint Missionaries. It basically means that you are a missionary for 2 months and then you are done. For some of us that might be all that we can handle. Fortunately for us, the Whitings are sprint missionaries right now and they chose us to visit. How great is that. They bring treats and everything.

They spent their first part of the visit interpreting Dayton's most recent letter. We are believers that they really do have a special 'gift."We didn't know what Dayton meant by "people getting upset at seeing Jesus..." they explained that. We also didn't know what HPD stood for. We found out that meant Houston Police Department. Thank goodness they were inspired to come to our home and help us out.

Sprint Missionaries can never leave without a spiritual message! They just opened their books, (o.k. Blaine and Susie didn't) and just hoped that we got it by osmosis. We just wished that they would have folded those clean clothes that we had to move to the floor so they could sit down! Plus the room really needed to be vacuumed. We had that sitting out too. Maybe someday the Sprint Housecleaners will come! I can always hope. Who wouldn't was a visit from the Sprint Housecleaners! Maybe I ought to talk to the bishop.

A Little Texas Time

Well I got to spend Wednesday through Saturday of this week in Dallas, Texas at the NAEYC Conference. I was lucky enough to get to go with my dear friend and former star student, Betsy! We soon found out that since we didn't drink, there wasn't a lot for us to do in downtown Dallas, but we did think that these longhorns were really awesome.

Since the is a conference for early childhood educators you could easily guess that it is a place filled with women. Only a handfull of men are in this profession! In fact this slide shows the 5 total men who were attending the closing Rock and Roll concert of the conference! At this point I think that only the guy in the tye dye shirt was really having a great time.

Oh yes, THE CONCERT! How can I forget. This is Greg and Steve! Haven't heard about them before? Well you have if you are in early childhood. In fact I have sold more cd's for them than they will ever give me credit for! They have all sorts of great songs like, "Beanbag Boogie," "The Freeze," and "Animal Action." If you want to be a rock star and sing in front of thousands of adoring fans, all you have to do is to follow their leads. They don't even need to change their names or security personel.

Here is what the halls look like during each session break.

This is the skyline I could see from the conference center. Betsy and I were so happy to find a Subway just a few blocks down the road on the second day. How sad is that? I eat Subway in Roosevelt all the time and that's what I had to search out in Dallas! Oh well, it was so nice to pay 5 bucks for a good meal instead of 10 bucks for a yucky one at the conference!

Betsy and me and the Greg and Steve concert. Can our hearts ever be the same!

A few funny things that happened:

1) The Clown Car: When we arrived at the Dallas Airport, Betsy had arranged for shuttle transportation for us. It was waiting when we got there and we got into the 10 passenger van. We sat there for a while and the driver shut the doors. Whew, that was hot! We were releaved when he finally got in and turned on the air. Then it was time to go. We happily drove for a few minutes and then stopped. Betsy looked out and said, "We're back to the same place." Yep, we were and we didn't know what was going on. Then we saw it. Nine more women were heading our direction..luggage and all! We already have 5 people in the van! Were they coming? Heavens, we all knew they couldn't fit, and they knew that too, but the driver convinced them that they could and they did! I guess Dallas has different transportations rules than other states. As we were driving, the new ladies were counting how many seatbelts were in the car and how many people were in (that's a preschool teachers duty of course) and she was the one who referred to it as a clown car! Needless to say that stuck! We ended up not even getting dropped off at our correct destination the first time around and had to make the rounds around Dallas again before we got there. Thus, our 20 minute trip turned in to 1 1/2 hours.

2) Nieman Marcus: Well we found one shopping place within walking distance and it was Nieman Marcus. So, since we had saved so much money by eating at Subway, we decided to go bargain hunting at NM. We entered and were first drawn to the boots and shoes section because they were having a 40% off sale. Our lucky day. Unfortunately we turned over our favorite pair of boots and saw that they were $1650.00. Forty percent off was not going to help us out! Then we went upstairs to the ladies clothes. I first saw this special fainting couch in it's own special room and thought that that was quite odd. I don't see those in Target or Walmart. Anyway, I mentioned to Betsy, "What would that be for?" Well I soon figured it out. We were looking through some clothes and Betsy jokingly pointed to this groovy jacket that was basically shoelaces sewn to some netting and said, "Boy this would be great to wear in preschool." We laughed at how weird the jacket was and then we looked at the price tag.... $14,000.00! That is NOT a typo. (That's when I realized what the fainting couch was for! It's for the customers to faint on when they see the the price tag and then to faint on again, after they make their purchase!) I immediately took my hands off of it and told Betsy she had better do the same, especially because she had a cookie in her hand! She dared me to try it on so that she could take a picture, but I knew, we would surely be sent to prison! We finally consoled ourselves and purchased $2.00 mints in the candy part of the story. Wow, they even individually wrap and bag each pack of mints! I made sure that I told my family how special those mints were as I gave them to them for their "trip" prize!

3) Hairy Onion Rings. O.k. Betsy didn't think this one was funny...yet. I have confidence that she will someday....when she is very, very old! We went to our hotel restauant for supper on Friday night. Betsy ordered a wrap and onion rings. It was fine until she found a hair baked into the breading of here onion ring. In a very composed manner, she told the waitress and the waitress said they would make her a new meal and not charge her. Wow, that was great. So they brought the new plate to her and she began again. She had eaten half her wrap and one onion ring when she took a bit and, you guessed it, another hair...long, straight and blond! This was enough to put her over the edge. I think it is comparable to me seeing a snake head in my food! Anyway, she told the waitress again. Then we waited and waited. And then, the chef came out! We thought he wanted to apologize, but instead he tried to convince Betsy that it was not a hair, rather it was part of the onion! Betsy and I had already discussed that option, and we knew the difference! Anyway, that did not go over well with Betsy and she made a kind suggestion that they order their onion rings from another distributer. I told Betsy that the next time she comes to my house, I am going to bake her a nice hairy cupcake! Someday, she'll even think I was funny too.... HA

Cado's Concert

Whoops, I almost forgot to post Cado's Halloween Concert. I had to record this from high up in the balcony, so no close ups of him, but he was there!