Thanksgiving lessons learned

Another Thanksgiving has come and gone and with it has come some extra lessons learned. Lesson #1: You can never have too many pies. Mom had ten pies this year, along with a couple from Cindy, all of which were wonderful. Tracey made one as well for later that night that was wonderful as well. Which brings us to lesson #2: The human body can consume approximately 10 slices of pie before going into convulsions and vomiting (I didn't reach that point, but one more slice and I was there). Lesson #3: If you leave two boys 3 or under together alone for longer than 5 minutes, there will be an unfortunate disaster that you will have to clean up (i.e. all the bathtub toys, towels, etc. stuffed into Grandma's toilet). By the way Cindy's boy Ben was the ring leader on that one, which I found out after an intense closed door interrogation of the two on the couch. Just look at Ty's face, there is no mischief there at all (: Lesson #4: If you get 4 boys age 3 and under together, life tends to be nothing more than a blur. Just ask Terry and Ronda, they had the grandkids sleep over thanksgiving night. Hopefully the two girls will be a calming influence on the four boys, but I kind of doubt it. Lesson #5: We have a lot to be grateful for! It is great to get together with family and take time to realize just how blessed we are. So there you go a few little nuggets of wisdom learned firsthand. Oh and Mom don't worry, we rinsed the towels in the sink before we hung them back up. Just Kidding!

Mom's famous pies! Marie Callendar doesn't hold a candle to Mom!

Nothing heals a broken heart like......

After the BYU debacle Saturday night (I still suspect sabotage, the wrong person wore red underwear or something), I needed something to get me through the next 24 hrs. and heal my broken heart (I know Dad, it's just a game and life does go on thankfully). What better than a little Wii time. We broke out the Wii and played a little sports package where I could take advantage of the kids ( I took out some aggression by knocking Tristyn out in boxing, I feel tough now). We followed that up the next day with some family guitar hero time. It may take a few more sessions of this type of therapy to get back to normal (I plan on beating Ty in tennis today), but hey whatever it takes right.

Detmer fever

So I get this picture text message on my phone the other day and when I open it up it's a picture of my Mom and Dad's neighbor Marlisa with who else but Ty Detmer. I've always admired Ty, to the point that we named our son Ty. We have a signed Heisman trophy poster hanging in Ty's room, along with a miniature BYU helmet that Ty signed as well. Anyway Marlisa knew how much I admired him and was at a conference in Hawaii where she was able to meet him. She found out my phone number from my Mom and sent me the picture. In the text she said he is one of the nicest guys she's ever met, and she couldn't think of a better guy to look up to. I thought that was pretty cool, but it got even cooler. My folks came over the other night with some gifts that she had brought home for us. The first was a hat that Ty had signed for little Ty. The second was a football for me that he and some other players had signed. That was such a nice gesture, I still can't believe that she was so thoughtful to think about us. So now we will add the memorabilia to our Detmer shrine (also kown as Ty's room). I frequently ask little Ty "who was the greatest college quarterback of all time?" He quickly responds, "Ty Detmer." I'm hoping the timing of this has some significance as this is rivalry week. GO Cougars! Thanks again Marlisa, we love the gifts!

The hat says "To little Ty, best of luck".

T

The football is signed by Chad Lewis, Vai Sikahaema, Todd Shell, and Ty Detmer.

Ox in the mire

Sunday turned out to be kind of a strange day. Getting ready for church in the morning, I heard this big bang against our window. When I looked out on the deck to see what had just hit our window, there was this ginormous owl sitting on our deck. It was mostly white in color and looked like either a barn owl or a long-eared owl. It sat there for a moment while I was scrambling to get the camera out, then when I was ready it flew away. You know when you have an owl fly into your window it has a chance to be an odd day. Well after church I walked downstairs and stepped into a puddle at the bottom. My first thought was that Ty had relieved himself on the carpet. I started looking around and opened the furnace room door and discovered water everywhere. Turns out a sensor on our water heater had gone out and the pressure release valve on the side had spewed water all over. I kept looking and found that it had seeped under the walls in the basement and flooded a storage closet, as well as some other carpeted areas. So now we officially had an Ox in the mire. We spent a good part of the rest of the day vacuuming up water, etc. Tracey's grandparents loaned us some fans and Mom and Dad brought over some space heaters so we just have to wait for it to dry now. Experiences like this help you appreciate when everything is going good a little more. So next time an owl flies into your house, you may want to go check the basement!

Daaad......

Tristyn was practicing her clogging so I had to capture it on video. My favorite part is right at the end of the video the look that I get from her. If looks could kill....wow! She wasn't exactly happy that I took the video, but I'm proud of how well she does with it so I couldn't help it.

Air bud?

I hesitate posting this one, but it's always nice knowing your children have tender hearts('cause honestly some days you wonder). I was in the other room doing some vacuuming (yes mother all your efforts paid off) when all of a sudden I heard this hysterical crying coming from our bedroom. Ty was in there on our bed watching Air Bud for the first time and I thought maybe he'd fallen off of the bed, or jumped into the ceiling fan, or ..... I ran in there and he was just fine physically but apparently Air Bud had gotten lost on the show and Ty was so upset it took a couple of minutes for him to settle down to be able to tell me what had happened. I couldn't help it I had to record it(the video quality didn't turn out too good because I took it on my phone, but you get the idea). Then to top it off, later that day when Tristyn got home from school she wanted to watch it and again I was in the other room (probably mopping or something) and I hear this snuffling coming from the bedroom. I walk down and this time Tristyn is in tears at the same point in the show that had Ty in hysterics. She wouldn't let me take her picture though. So the moral of the story is if you haven't seen Air Bud, take a box of tissues with you when you do.

(Sidenote: JAZZ 6-1)

Oh beautiful.....

My old buddy John called me up and asked me to go 4-wheeling with him Friday, so I was able to take off half a day and head up in the mountains. I was surprised how much snow there was up there already. I'm also always surprised at just how beautiful the mountains are. It certainly brought to mind that song "America the beautiful", as we looked over the snow filled mountains. We are so blessed to be able to enjoy God's wonderful creations in this wonderful nation. I hope I can always remeber the sacrifices of the many women and men who have given so much so that we may enjoy the things that sometimes I take for granted.

(Sidenote: BYU 41 SDSU 12)

"Jazzed" up

As another Jazz season begins, Ty and I had to don our Jazz gear and raise our Jazz flag. Ty could hardly stand it he was so excited (o.k. maybe that was me, Ty took a little more convincing). I tried to talk Tristyn into the tradition as well but she didn't want any part of that "stupid boy stuff". That means I get to stay home when the girls go shopping right? I'll have to work that angle. GO JAZZ!

Fall Fun

Is it just me or has halloween turned into a week long event? Between school parades, and parties, and trunk or treating, and trick or treating, church primary parties, Halloween seemed to be a lot longer than when I was a kid. We all had a good time though. We finished Halloween night out with a ride on the hay wagon, and watching Michael Jackson thriller video (for the record that isn't our video). We got just enough sugar in us to follow Halloween night up with a sod throwing party at Tracey's brother Tyler's house. Thank goodness for all of that candy. I can't wait to send Freckles over to leave a surprise on Tyler's lawn, since his dog Emmitt leaves me a little treat about everyday. Talk about trick-or-treat, that falls under both categories.