Extra, Extra

I just found an awesome new blog. It is so awesome, it'll knock your socks off. www.sadiewest.blogspot.com

Baby Looks Like Daddy

So, we told you guys that yesterday we had our ultrasound and we are so excited. It was kind of hard to get a very good image of the baby because it was wiggling around so much. But, if you look really closely, I think you might agree that it shares a slight resemblance with its father. I couldn't be prouder of the little tyke. At this point, Sadie is just hoping that its not a girl...or else she says she'll try and send it back.

Canyon's very expensive children's shoe

Canyon: These shoes are getting tiny!
Me: No, your feet are growing.
Canyon: (with enthusiasm and a little jump on the chair) My feet are growing!
Me: Yep.
Canyon: Well, these shoes are still squeezy anyway.

Quiet Week

Fall in my little home town is a thing of beauty. We had our first fall storm over the weekend and the mountains have a dusting of snow. We had the privilege of hosting Sadie and Christian for a couple of days. They are starting out nicely and are excited about the near and far future. Marty and Isaac got the beds out of our basement and now were are setting up our "workout" room. It will be state of the art with a treadmill, stationary bike, and heavy things designed to lift so that old people can be healthy and strong. I've limited myself to mowing the lawn just twice a week and I'm stunned at the spare time I have. Unfortunately, I can't listen to all the podcasts that I've downloaded from this thing called the world wide web. Canyon called on Saturday to see if it had snowed yet. At the time it was just rain but as I aforementioned, there is snow now. Next weekend Dona and I are going to Eugene Oregon to celebrate the 36th year anniversary of my transfer there as a missionary. Coincidently (thank goodness for spell check), there happens to be a cross country meet at the same time. I'm really glad that Dona can go because she's fun and she cares for me! Last weekend we attended a sacrament meeting that Justin Reeder happened to be the speaker. He's going on a mission to Everett Washington. Since he's going to the northwest, I thought I should go and help him understand the language and people. We had a great visit with the Clark Reeders plus Julene and Linda. That's the news.

How to Bake a Chocolate Cake before 11:00 a.m.

7:00 Wake up
7:30 Take a shower
7:52 Drive to Smith’s. Buy Hershey’s cocoa and a bag of sugar ($5.00)
8:10 Preheat oven
8:12 Mix ingredients in Kitchen Aid and ignore the recipe’s directions to use two cake pans. Instead use one bundt pan.
8:14 Put cake in the oven
8:45 Smell burning in the kitchen and find the cake overflowing
8:46 Call Emily and ask her what to do—start the kitchen on fire or ruin the cake. Decide to leave the cake in the oven (ignore the smells of smoke) until the timer goes off
8:48 Smell burning
8:52 Put a knife in the cake…it comes out soggy, not clean.
9:02 Watch a smoking piece of cake start on fire
9:03 Turn off oven and remove half-burnt/half-raw cake
9:04 Call Daisy and tell her about the cake and then talk to her on the phone about other things
10:20 Scrape some of the cake crumbles into a pile on a plate
10:22 Try some of the pile and burn tongue
10:30 Drive to Smith’s and buy “Triple Fudge Chocolate Cake” ($3.00)
10:45 Go to Christian’s work and present chocolate cake to him and his coworker
11:00 Enjoy

Cell No!

Alright. It's like an awkward silence having no one post something for a while, so fine ... I'll break the ice. So ... uh ... how's the weather?

But seriously ... this year's student body officers have, for some reason, really tackled the issue of cell phones in class. Not only that, but they emphatically support their complete eradication! What kind of student hopes that cell phones won't be allowed in school? Either the direly unpopular (which we can assume they are not, due to the fact that they were elected into office), or those that have had a profound, anti-cell phone influence earlier on in their life. I would submit that, having taught six out of the eight of them, I was the influence behind it all. I mean, we cannot dismiss the fact that I confiscated about one hundred of the blasted thing the year before (I didn't start keeping track until the middle of the first trimester). For their campaign against cell phones, the student body officers have come up with a couple different slogans and catch phrases, one of which was the aforementioned title to this post, "Cell No!", and the other is "Weapons of Mass Distraction." I was given the honor of being the first teacher to witness the t-shirt design for "Weapons of Mass Distraction"---a cell phone with a skull and crossbones and a mushroom cloud behind it. Wow. To say that I am flattered is an understatement. It seems as if the whole school is bending to my will. The minute they take out hallways and replace them with canals, issuing everyone a small sailboat to get around the school, then I'll know that I have entirely won over the community.

No Words

Happy Birthday Poppa!

Some great things about dad:
1. He tells stories about the kid with no legs (or a wooden leg, or prosthetic leg, or some sort of leg problem).
2. He mows the lawn two maybe three times a day.
3. He loves to "hate" JD (sorry Brooke).
4. He put up with three grown college kids living at home for what seemed like forever.
5. He drives to St. George or Livermore (or Farmington) at the drop of a hat.
6. He plays with the grandkids.
7. He takes us to Angie's, buys us running shoes, and allows mom to take her girls on shopping sprees.
8. He would buy pants at Nordstrom's because Glenn Beck says so.
9. He knows everything.
10. Everything.
11. He runs every day.
12. He goes on walks with mom.
13. He reads a lot.
14. He tortured his children by making them exercise.
15. He gives good advice.

Feel free to add some more highlights. Anyway, Happy Birthday, Dad!