Prophet Gordon B. Hinckley Part II

Although Mike has already posted about this, I feel inclined to do the same. I had the unique opportunity to see the prophet in person on a few occasions. He wasn't very tall and he didn't have a commanding voice or attitude, but the power and spirit he carried with him into a room was something I can't even properly put into words. I remember when I was in high school, a smaller group from my choir got to go sing at the Church Administration Building. I was lucky enough to be a part of that group. We were told that we would be singing for a few general authorities, but that the prophet would most likely not be in Salt Lake during our visit. However, at the end of our little performance, from one of the office doors emerged the prophet with a large grin on his face. He greeted us, shook hands with a few, then returned to his meetings and work. Just that tiny little moment filled the room with such a spirit that it was almost tangible.

Having gone to college at Ricks gave many opportunities to see the prophet again. In my first year, all the choirs traveled to Salt Lake to sing in General Conference. Once again, the prophet spoke to us directly. Shortly after, we returned to Salt Lake for a performance in the tabernacle of Come Unto Christ, a specially commissioned oratorio by Merril Jensen as part of Ricks College's Sacred Music Project. Again, we were told not to expect the prophet. He would try to be there, but he was a very busy man. We sat waiting and warming up in a room called the horseshoe which sits beneath the tabernacle. As the name implies, it is horseshoe shaped and we were all facing forward listening to instructions from our director when the feeling in the room changed. Nobody said anything, yet we all could feel it and turned almost in unison to face the horseshoe bend. There was the prophet behind a little wall and surrounded by body guards. We sat there dumbstruck, but he had a sly little grin on his face and said with a chuckle, "Snuck up on you, didn't I?" He then told us that he knew that we were doing exactly what Heavenly Father wanted us to do. That this was where he wanted us. He told us to continue developing our musical talents and that the sacred music project we were doing would bring many people to the church and was one of the greatest works we would do in our lives. He then continued on, blessing us in our academic studies, in our music, in the church, and in our lives. There was such a feeling of power and love, and it spoke to me that this good man was certainly a servant of our Heavenly Father. Again, there was a similar experience when the choir sang at the dedication of the Hinckley Building on campus, although the joke then was that he wasn't sure if it was a compliment having a building named after him since you usually don't get that until after you're dead.

President Hinckley loved the church, loved all people, and loved Heavenly Father. In return, it was easy to love him. It's a sad feeling knowing that he's gone now, yet thinking back on those moments where I felt his strength, they were such incredible happy times. So although at first, I was feeling down, that's not the prevailing emotion. I find myself filled with happiness, strenth, hope, and love at the though of his life and of his work for the Lord. We truely are blessed to have such men at the head of our church.

Thank you, President Hinckley. We will miss you greately.

Prophet Gordon B. Hinckley

Thank you very much to mum who called me in Pennsylvania to inform me that President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and Prophet Gordon B. Hinckley passed away at 7pm MST this evening.

It shouldn't have been surprising that he died at the age of 97, but to me and Jessica, it was. President Hinckley was so full of life, happiness, and initiative that he seemed far from passing away. Despite the limits of our mortal lives, we felt he was, as Jessica put it, "invincible."

My thoughts will be deep this evening and many nights to come. President Hinckley did many wonderful things for the church. It was his to bring the Mormon faith out of obscurity, giving many national interviews with Larry King and Tom Brokaw, building close relationships with the Pope and United States national leaders. He was also responsible for the building of Latter Day Saint Temples, which are used to perform sacred ordinances to bring man closer to God. Before being called as a prophet in 1995, there were 50 of these temples throughout the world. As of right now, there are 124, and many under development and construction.

But it wasn't the accomplishments he acheived that guides me to much reverance and personal thought to his passing away, but it was his love for life, his love for his wife, and his love for every person he met and didn't. He love was, noting to avoid cliche, unconditional. There was no man or woman in which he held contempt for.

I will write more of my trip at a later time, but right now is a time for my thoughts to be upon President Hinckley's, as he would say, "Marveous work" and ministry. It was The Christ he loved, and it was The Saviour in whom his mission was about. Might I be able to be one day such a man who thought nothing of himself, but everything of others. I know he was ordained for His ministry of service and that he had lived his life giving the message of the Gospel of Christ to the World.

I extend the invitiation to all who read to bring your thoughts to President Hinckley, his family, and Christ in whom he served.

A few days in Hershey, PA

8:03 PM me: So, can I tell you about what's happened over here?
Jessica: sure!
8:04 PM me: K, lemme move to the bed, my shoulder is killing me
8:05 PM Jessica: oh! wait!! I remember what it was I wanted to mention to you before
before I forget, I'd better tell you now
me: OK, go ahead
8:06 PM Jessica: so, there was this song that I remember from when I was a kid. Haven't thought about it in a long time, so it's kind of a coincidence this happened now, because I think (but I'm not sure) that it may have been on that same tape/record as all those other songs Angie put on the MP3
do you remember a song that went, "Hey (held out over 3 notes) won't somebody come and play with me?"
me: Yup
Jessica: etc.. had lines like "You be the good guy, I'll be the bad guy"
8:07 PM ok. was it on that same record?
me: Yeah, it was either a girl or a boy with a girly voice singing it
Jessica: sun's setting fast and we've only barely started..
yeah! so you totally remember it too! I knew I wasn't crazy
so anyhow, this morn..
right after Hyrum got on the bus, the tv was still on and Yo Gabba Gabba came on
8:08 PM and there it was! They played that song
redone, but it was that song
me: Really?? lol
Jessica: different singer and instrumentation, but the same tune and words
me: One of the creators must have remembered it :)
The earlier one was kinda hoke
Jessica: yeah, I couldn't believe it
8:09 PM Jessica: well, this kinda was too, but not as bad
8:11 PM me: Ready to hear what I've been up to?
Jessica: yes
me: Ok, so we took only 3 flights, 4 hours total in the air

me: We got here about 6:45ish
We went into the party room and they had games all over.
NEOS, of course, which I died of exhaustion on.. but also a racing arcade and pinball machines
8:13 PM they also had a green screen where they covered everything but your heads and then placed you on the projectors with pre-recorded dancing bodies
And also the beer was good
...kidding, but there was like, 4 cash bars
Jessica: oh, mom did that dancing thing at a CU party. she had a CD of it. was funny
8:14 PM me: Yeah, I was going to do it but I got pooped after 4 games on the NEOS
Jessica: lol
me: My legs are still feeling it, I'm pretty sure I won't be able to compete tomorrow
(no chance for winning the flat screen tv ; ;)
Jessica: you'd better!
I want those fabulous prizes!!
8:15 PM me: Yeah, I probably will -- but if it's a knockout competition... I won't be able to do more than 3 tries
Jessica: so position yourself at the end of the line so you only have to beat a few people, lol
me: lol, good idea!
8:16 PM Let them all lose out first, right?
Jessica: right!
and then the champ will be tired when he gets to you
me: Well, there are 24 year olds that obviously work out
Jessica: lol
me: Stupid health conscience people
So, that was last night
8:17 PM Today we had a sales meeting for the whole day.. they basically brought the "Fish!" people in
Jessica: lol fish.
8:18 PM me: I never really liked the "Fish" vision... all it is is telling people to think outside the box and have fun... then they blab about it with many motivational words
8:19 PM I also think it is for entry level people in sales and customer service... it was definitely the wrong target audience with so many people that had a lot of sales experience in that room
The first half went ok, because it was structured; but after lunch it tanked
8:20 PM They came back and said, "I heard some people tell us they had questions on how to overcome objections like price and competition. We're going to talk about that for 2 hours"
8:21 PM So all it was was people making scenarios on how to overcome objections.... It changed from a Vision statement to Sales 101 real fast, and you could tell a lot of people hated it
Then they rushed through the final slides on the PowerPoint just summarizing, all the while trying to make it a feel good experience.
8:22 PM I even was optimistic and participated quite a bit, but you could still tell it tanked, lol
Oh, well. I told playworld that
Wait... no I didn't
8:23 PM I WON'T tell Playworld that, since they obviously made the decision to do it and I don't want them to feel bad
I told the FISH people that in a comments/performance review sheet
Then, we went to chocolate world!! :D
Want to see some pictures?
8:24 PM Jessica: yeah
(but you should post a blog)
me: I will, but it's hard to find time
I will have plenty of time on Tuesday, maybe Sunday






8:25 PM I only had my phone to take pictures since I didn't think much would come from the event
8:26 PM Oh, the prop plane is in there
8:27 PM The Hershey kiss picture has a story
Ready?
Jessica: yeah
8:28 PM me: So, you know how dorky I am, right?
Jessica: wait
you're dorky?
me: Oh, yeah. You didn't know that, did you?
Jessica: really!?
me: I know my external appearance is that of pure perfect, professionalism, and beauty
But really, it's all a facade
8:29 PM Jessica: wow, you actually used the word facade right!
;)
me: perfection~ See? I even typo sometimes... very rarely, though
And the 3 other big words in that sentence!!?
8:30 PM Jessica: yeah.. I don't think you know what those mean
me: lol
Ok, so... I'm thinking I can get a good picture of the Hershey kiss looking like it fell on top and squashed me
8:31 PM So I asked ... "it" if it will drop on top of me. It gave me two thumbs up (because, you know.. Hershey's Kisses can't talk)
8:32 PM So, I get on the ground and lie down. The kiss tries to get down a bit, but isn't really understanding how to do it (for some reason, I don't think it's ever had a request like this before)
8:33 PM It was standing beside me kinda crouching, and knew it wasn't working, then awkwardly tried to do different things to create the picture...
One of those, it accidentally put on foot over me and kinda... straddled...
I was like, "Oh, no!!" and got up real quick... everyone was laughing. at the situation.
8:34 PM I swear the Hershey kiss turned red...
Quite embarrassing to me, I think I said something like, "No, no! Not that way"
In the end we worked out something a little more... simpler
8:35 PM Jessica: lol
me: I've never had one of my stupid ideas go so bad...
Jessica: I'm sure you have. You've probably just blocked it from your memory
me: lol, hopefully I do on this one too
8:36 PM The Hershey tour was fun, though.
8:37 PM They had a trip similar to "It's A Small World After All". you get in these carts and they take you around showing you how they make chocolate

It takes a cocoa bean 2 weeks to go from a bean to Hershey chocolate
8:38 PM They made over 8mil+ Hershey's kisses today, 450,000 Reece's and 280k Hershey bards
Jessica: it would take me 2 min to devour that chocolate bar
o.o
me: lol
8:39 PM Jessica: that's... a lot
me: Yeah, I have had plenty
When you check in they give you a Hershey bar with your room key
Jessica: hey! ; ;
I want candy
me: I have some for you
But it will probably melt or squash by the time it gets to you
Jessica: yay! just don't get hungry between now and Wednesday afternoon
me: lol
8:40 PM So, lastly, we stayed and ate at Chocolate World and were entertained by a "Mentalist"
8:41 PM It was pretty amazing what he did... all over it in the end is stage magic and mind games and reading body language, but some of them I still can't explain
He'd do things like blindfolding himself and ask people to get $ bills and he'd tell them what type they were
8:42 PM He'd also get a picture of some one's girl and describe what they looked like without looking at them.
He also went around the whole room of 250+ sales people and named everyone of them but 2 handfuls
8:43 PM I'm pretty sure it all equates to early reconnaissance, but exactly how is unknown to me.
I was hoping we were going to have a hypnotist, as I've never seen one of those
8:44 PM Jessica: you haven't?
me: Nope, you know that
Jessica: no, I thought you said you had when I told you about the one that came every year to do assemblies in Rigby
me: Oh, wait... you were hypnotized to forget that whenever I bring that up
Jessica: har har
me: Nah, you remembered wrong
8:45 PM Jessica: I don't remember wrong! That's what YOU do
me: Only because I'm the male part of our marriage
:P
Jessica: other men remember things
me: Of course they do... unless their your husband
me: The wives of those other men have fact that their husbands don't remember things
Jessica: yeah, I don't believe that
8:47 PM me: In the words of Joe, "It's all relaTIVE."
Jessica: I think it's a husband conspiracy so you get out of stuff
I think I'm going to go to bed now

me: Have to get up in 7 hours anyway to get on the bus to drive to Playworld
Jessica: ah
well, g'night I s'pose
8:55 PM gnight

New Pictures!

Well, things are settling down here with the holidays out of the way. Still, Hyrum insists on singing "Jingle Bells" at least 20 times a day. He is glad to be back in school, although he missed 2 days this week due to a stomach flu. Emily is cute as ever with 4 new teeth on top. She loves to dance and play patty-cake and peek-a-boo. Mike and I have a new calling in Primary teaching 10 year olds. We have triplets in our class. Yikes! Other than that, there is no new news, so on to the main attraction!

While I was in Shelley over Christmas, my mom took the kids to Wal*Mart to get pictures taken. She just got them back today! They turned out so cute that I had to post them.







We'll be sending out prints to the family shortly.

Christmas in Shelley

As Mike said in his entry, I spent Christmas with my family in Shelley and Idaho Falls. Mike and I had agreed that I would take the camera so I could get lots of pictures and videos and blog every day I was gone so he could feel a little more like he was there. Unfortunately, one of the first things I realized when I got to my mom's house was that I had left the camera at home. Instead, we had to settle on lots of phone calls and emails to get us through. I don't think I want to do the whole Christmas apart thing again.

The kids and I packed up and left Nampa shortly after Mike left for work on Christmas Eve. I had opted to leave on Monday because we had to sing in our ward's Christmas program on Sunday and I didn't want to drive in the dark. It only took until I got on the highway to realize that this was a mistake. There was a storm. A pretty big one. The highways were snowy and the traffic was bumper to bumper with last day shoppers. It was pretty treacherous nearly all the way out to Mountain Home. Once I got out of the Boise area, the roads were clear. I thought I had beaten the storm, but boy was I wrong! The storm caught up to me again around Fort Hall. By the time I got near Blackfoot, there was about three or four inches of unplowed snow on the highway. It only got worse the closer I got to Shelley. Near white-out conditions slowed highway traffic to around 30-40 mph. I followed a semi figuring they probably had a better view of the road than I did. However, I couldn't see the Shelley exit at all until I was already past it, and had to take another road from an Idaho Falls exit. This too was a mistake. By now, the snow was reaching 8 or 9 inches on unplowed roads, and I couldn't see where the edges of the road were. The car bounced in and out of ruts made by other cars driving equally as blindly as I was. I couldn't slow down or I would have risked getting high centered in the deep snow. Every now and then, I could hear grass or gravel under my tires signaling that I had drifted a bit off the road, but there was little I could do to get away from the old tire ruts. It was that way all the way out to my Mom's house. By the time I got there, I was pretty shaken up and didn't even want to go to my Grandma Sears's house for presents and dinner with extended family that night. The storm didn't let up until we had 10 new inches from that one day of snow. It snowed the whole time I was there. I think the news said we got up around 14 or 16 inches total that week.

We took Mom and Sherwin's Jeep to my grandma's house. I was glad not to be driving, but I was still quite nervous riding in the back seat. As I walked in the door, I was met with applause and cheers of, "There's the brave girl!" Nobody could believe I had been so daring (or stupid) to make that drive alone. We had a great time at Grandma's house. Hyrum got to see his cousin Piper again. They haven't seen each other in a long time, but it was like no time had passed at all. Hyrum gave her a big hug and kiss and they took off hand-in-hand to play together. He also got to play with my cousin's kids... what does that make them? Second cousin? Cousins once removed? I've never been able to figure out that cousin thing... Emily was too shy to let me put her down, but still showed off playing and dancing in my lap.

I was at fault to us getting off to a late start on Christmas morning. Emily hadn't slept well that night, and I got up early when Hyrum woke up. However, after my mom woke up, I dumped Hyrum off on her and tried to catch a little nap since Emily was sleeping. I slept longer than I had meant to and everyone had waited on me for breakfast. I felt pretty bad about that. We had a nice breakfast and were about to start opening our presents when Emily got sick. Very very sick. The poor kid spent the whole morning throwing up, and Mom, Emily, and I went through several changes of clothes in the process. Luckily, Hyrum enjoyed himself enough for both kids. He couldn't stop talking about Christmas and Santa and singing "Jingle Bells" over and over. We spent the rest of the day playing with the kids' new toys. Hyrum especially liked the preschool software my mom had gotten for him. Emily enjoyed playing with her new doll.

Mom had to work a half day on the 26th. When she got home, we went to the Wal*Mart photo studio to get pictures of the kids. I think they turned out pretty cute and can't wait to get them back. I also got to see our old friend and neighbor Dan who is the manager of the optical center there. He showed me pictures of their kids including their newest baby I haven't yet seen in person. I tried to set up a time to go see his wife Carissa and the kids too, but the weather kept me from ever going out that way.

Mom got off early again on the 27th, and we headed out to see my Grandma Sears again. Mom helped her with some stuff on her computer while I tried to program a stubborn universal remote for her. The kids decided to play cute and show off. Emily even got brave enough to let Grandma hold her for a while.

The next day, I went out to visit my high school friend Sandi. She's expecting a baby in April and looked so cute! I'm so excited for her! My kids really loved her husband. Especially Emily who will usually never go to anyone but me. I'm sure they will be incredible parents.

Mom decided that Hyrum needed some mittens for that freezing cold East Idaho weather, and we had gotten some fleece to match his coat at Hancock Fabrics on one of our previous trips to town. So on Saturday, we stayed in and made mittens. Hyrum loved them!

Early Sunday morning, we got a call. Church had been canceled due to snow. Nearly all the country roads were closed until plows could get out. There was even talk on the news about the possibility of closing East bound I-15. I had been looking forward to showing off my kids in their cute Sunday clothes, but it turned out to be a good thing anyhow. I was very sick throwing up all day Sunday. I spent nearly the entire day in bed. After the roads cleared a bit, Mom and Sherwin took the kids on a drive while I slept.

Monday was my birthday! My Grandma Page and Aunt Pat came to visit that afternoon because they knew my car wouldn't have made it through the snow to their house. It was really good to see them. Hyrum was in the mood to show off, but Emily was sleepy and wouldn't play or even leave my lap. Still, she looked cute in her pigtails!

I left for home on Tuesday. It was too bad I couldn't spend the day with my mom since she had it off, but I was afraid of missing a window of opportunity. There was no snow and no wind. Perfect driving conditions! Surely, the drive back would be much less eventful than the drive there. Right?... Well, for some reason, I wasn't paying much attention as I came out of Shelley. I missed the turn to get to I-15, and instead, kept heading down 91. I realized fairly quickly that I either needed to find a crossroad that would get me through to 15 or turn around and head back to the missed turn. After passing a couple of crossroads that ended in dead ends, I realized that you could probably only cross the river from Shelley or Firth. 91 was fairly snowy, and I was still closer to Shelley than to Firth, so I decided I would turn back. I turned down a narrow little country road looking for a driveway to pull into so I could turn around. Well, there weren't any driveways for a while. But there was a one lane bridge which I crossed followed by another intersecting one lane bridge that crossed a small canal. Since there were no cars on the road, I decided to use this little bridge for my three point turn. I pulled over the top of it and backed out the other way. The problem was, the second bridge was on a hill. The incline was so gradual, I hadn't noticed. The car couldn't grip the road well enough to climb the hill. The wheels just spun. I tried to back up a bit to get some momentum to get me over, but it didn't help. Finally, I decided I would have to push the car over the top of the hill. I was worried about it drifting off over the edge of the bridge into the canal, so I stood in the driver side doorway to steer as I pushed. It started out well enough until I lost my grip and the car started rolling backwards. I couldn't stop it. I tried to jump in, but I lost my footing in a bank on the side of the road. Now remember, the snow was really deep. Anyone who has lived in snow areas knows how it works. When it gets cold enough without new snow, the top layer of the snow freezes and forms a crust over the top of the softer drifts of snow. Well, my left foot broke the crust and I sunk in nearly knee deep. Meanwhile, the car kept rolling until I had been knocked face down into the snow by the open door of the car. I was waiting for it to slam into the back of my head, but before that could happen, the car came to a stop in the bank. My left foot was under the front tire. However, the car hadn't broken the crust and had only pushed my foot deeper into the snow rather than running over the top of it. I was easily able to pull it out and drag myself out from under the door. I stood up, shaking. My legs felt like Jell-o as I walked to the nearest house house for help. I knocked. No answer. I started out to the next house, but realized it was too far to walk as my legs were shaking so badly that I fell every few steps. So I went back to the car. Emily was asleep and Hyrum was just singing along to a Tabernacle Choir CD, completely oblivious to the fact that we were stuck. I was literally covered head to toe in snow and quite panicked. Luckily, just as I called Sherwin to tell him how to find me, someone came along in a hay truck. He had a chain with him and everything and was able to pull me out with no trouble at all. I quickly realized how lucky I was. But after the shock, adrenaline, and the numbness of the cold wore off, I realized how sore I was. Upon further inspection, I found bruises on my legs, some nasty scrapes on my forearms, bent up glasses, and for some reason I can't recall, a swollen pinkie. Curiously, the least sore part of me is the foot that was caught under the tire. Good thing I had prayed before leaving. Heavenly Father must have known that I have no health insurance! Thankfully, I can still say that I have never broken a bone.

The rest of the trip was uneventful with nice clear roads. I was so glad to be home again. The house has never looked so good to me. Mike had done some cleaning and organizing while I was gone. He had done quite a lot of work in the garage, taking advantage of the car being gone. Mike and I decided to let the kids open their presents on Christmas, but to wait to exchange our gifts to each other until I got home. I couldn't avoid seeing my presents as soon as I came in. For Christmas, he had gotten me a new computer desk. Sitting on top of it, he had wrapped the screen of a new monitor. I took off the paper to find this:

So maybe he can't spell "birthday" well and his shirt is stained (thank goodness I'm home!) but I still thought it was clever. He also did a great job finding an awesome deal for it on Craigslist.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year. As for me, I'm happy to be home again!

One final picture of my mom with the kids.

Christmas in Boise

I didn't think that I'd be too affected being alone this Christmas, but I really missed my kids and wife yesterday. I don't want that to sound like I'm searching for a pity party, it's just how I felt. It's nice to know I still do love my family!

It was nice to have the cat with me. Deed was so cuddly with me all day. For the most part I slept and watched movies just because I didn't want to get up and move her from my lap. When I did get going, it was mostly basic cleaning to prep me for the larger cleaning of the garage and "office" (the other 1/4 part of our bedroom).

I had eaten the rest of the lasagna leftovers Jay made before she left -- it was suppose to last for 2-3 days. It didn't get past Christmas Eve (I didn't want to share with Santa). Anyway, after I had chocolate truffles and a few Idaho Spuds for Lunch, I decided it was best to have a healthy meal for dinner. Working and sleeping all day didn't have me very motivated to do any cooking, so I debated whether I could/should go get take-out. The pros were obvious: laziness. The cons... Jay would probably kill me because we vowed to not waste $ on eating out. But I had an Ace up my sleeve: Justification!! I mean, Jay was in Idaho Falls with her family, eating wonderful meals by Sherwin and having pot-luck-ings on Christmas Eve at her Grandma's house. Didn't I deserve to have a nice meal? Of course I do!! Chicken noodle is not going to cut it for a Christmas dinner!

So, out I went. Seeing as Deedee was being so cute and affectionate with me all day, I decided to take her on a car ride with me. We got in my bosses car I had borrowed since Jay had the Toyota in Idaho Falls. First stop: Jack-in-the-Box... Why does JitB have their lights on when they are closed?!? Pulled up through the drive through just to check ... yup, closed. McDonald's would never be closed.. they're a large corporation without personal values, right? Wrong! They did have their lights off, but their drive-thru menus were still flashing advertisements making me even more hungry. Well, if McD's is closed, not much else was going to be open. I knew there had to be Chinese food open somewhere. They're typically more expensive and don't have $.99 - $1 menus, but I was hungry. It's amazing how generous my wallet gets when I get hungry...

All this time, Deedee was sitting in the passenger seat. On the search for a Chinese restaurant, she had come over to lay in my lap as I drive. She used to do that when she was a kitten and we'd go on long trips to Utah with her. Then I heard it. A muffled *huck, huck, huck, wreetch!* ...I suppose this means Deedee doesn't like driving anymore. I began to feel a warm spot on my leg under her mouth. Passing under a street light, I got to see the goods: About 3/4 cups of expanded and mushed kitty food dancing partially on my leg and some spilling over on the car seat. I didn't panic for I knew there was nothing I could do. I didn't have any Kleenex within reach and there was no way I was touching it. Then the noise came again... desert decided to join the regurgitated dinner on my lap.

By this time, I had lost my appetite for the moment (as have you if you're eating reading this, right?). I pulled a U-turn (sorry, Jay... I know it's illegal in Idaho, but I didn't want to wait until the next intersection) and headed back home. It was a cold night, but that didn't stop me from cracking a window once the aroma of condensed kitty spew began to permeate the car.

This is what I looked like when I realized what the cat had done.

Poor cat. The moment I opened the car door in our garage, she weakly got out of the car. I had to keep my right leg in sitting position while getting out of the car. Once our, I left it splork to the concrete floor where I found a plastic spoon and Wal*Mart receipts to clean it and what was still left in the car. No sooner had I finished when I heard crunching by the cat dish... At least someone got to eat!

Well, I did eat, eventually. I found eggs in the fridge, so I cracked 4 and mixed them together. Then I found a cut onion we use for cooking with our ground beef in the fridge... There were also leftover olives from tacos we had the previous week, and a lone tomato as well!!! Wrapper in 3 tortilla shells, I had a nice omelet for Christmas dinner. And to top it off? Egg Nog!

In the words of Bill Cosby, "I told you that story to tell you this one."

We haven't really taught myson about Christmas. So we wanted to share what had happened at our Christmas party in an attempt to show you all how cute our son is (cuter than yours, Nyah, nyah).

--I just broke my delete key...--

We were in the very front of our ward cultural hall, being furthest from the stage. When Santa came to visit, jingling his bells, we asked myson, "Who is that?" I was mildy surprised to see him get excited, figuring it was just because I asked the question with enthusiasm --there, it's working again--. I lifted up Hyrum so he could see who it was and you could tell that he locked on the man in red once he was past adult head levels. They announced that they would form a line at the front and you wold have to go through the door to get on the stage to see Santa. I put myson down and asked if he wanted to go see him. "YEAH!!" was his exuberant reply and off he darted down one isle of tables without us. He got near the front only to see that the way was mostly blocked by adults in chairs and big coats blocking his view. He ran back to us where he veered of to his left having no regard for any obstacle that would get in his way down another idle of tables. I would have warned him had I not been so amazed at his excitement. It was not long before he had reached the stage where he realized he could not get to Santa that way. He burst to the back of the line of kids which had already begun to form. Once he saw that the door to the stage was open, he darted through two kids in line and dashed into the open door. Seconds later you saw a red faced, bashful Hyrum standing next to Santa's chair -- the first kid there. Santa hadn't even gotten comfortable to accept any children yet and there was no adult to monitor the on-flux of kids -- myson had beaten them all.

Oh, it was so cute. We felt a bit bad about not teaching him about Santa, but he obviously picked it up somewhere. I'm sure we've mentioned him a few times, but never in the "Santa rides and sleigh with reindeer and he comes to give you presents if you're a good boy and he eats cookies left out at night and kisses your mum and laughs jollililly" way. I would have taken pictures but by the time I got to the front to get a good one, myson's turn had been done, had his candy cane, and my phone was out of memory, anyway.