A mission in France

This is what missionaries do in France.......I guess:

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My old missionary companion sent this to me to commemorate the 10th anniversary of our companionship. It was his first few weeks in France and although we never picked up girls, he was a French speaker wanna be so I guess this video is somewhat appropriate. After a couple months he had gained a good grasp on the language but he never really shake that good old Texan drawl. Elder Thatcher was one of the funniest companions I ever had. He went over to a members place for a holiday dinner and somehow ended up with the turkey gizzard on his plate (see below). He said it was so hard and rubbery that he couldn't break it up by chewing. As he went to put a fork in the other piece it bounced off the table into his lap and he put it in his suit coat pocket. I think it was there longer than it should have been.




Unfortunately I have lost many of my memories of him ( and other companions). I did not write down as many as I now wish I had, but I do laugh at the ones I did document. Thatcher tried the molar off. You need to put down 50 lu oatmeal and chocolate cookies and 1 litre of milk in 1 hour, keep it down for the next hour, and all of this had to be done in the presence of someone who had the authority (someone who had successfully completed the task previously). He did it in 59 min and 56 seconds before he swallowed his last mouthful. Whew.

Hey Ben, do you remember unwrapping those Christmas gifts we got at that members family Christmas party? They were tin drink coasters with a picture of a car on them. I wouldn't have liked them as much if they didn't already have the coffee stains on them.

The stars at Night
Are big and bright
Deep in the heart of Texas!

But the Cowboys wont get past the Packers week 13!

Nothing a Secret

This is my lovely boy.


This is todays adventure with him:


Tonight we were at Rona drooling at home improvement materials. The drooling was very intermittant though as we spend a good portion of our visit keeping the kids from getting lost or breaking displays that seemedly emitted play-ground-jungle-jim pharamones. The problem is that whenever we would attempt to police the boys they seemed to be hurt to the point of crying and rolling on the floor. Poor kids.

At one point Konrad needed to visit the bathroom for a number 2. On our way Konrad pointed out the electric fire places that seemed to put out a real flame! We were both intregued. Intregued to the point that I almost peed my pants now that I was in bathroom mode. Konrad wasn't so fortunate to almost do it....... he did mess his pants......but only the underwear. So, in the bathroom I decided I would discard his tighties into the trash bin and just put his pants back on him and not have to carry the dirty gitch with us. This way nobody would know but us and it would save us both some embarassment.

I soon found out that Konrad wouldn't have been embarassed anyway. He cried from the time we left the bathroom to the time we left the store yelling out for everyone to hear...

"I don't want my underwear to be in the garbage. I don't want my underwear to be in the garbage daddy!"

Leaving the nest

Our dear Konrad started school on Tuesday. As we waited for the bus to come and pick him up I'm sure he was reviewing the rules of the bus in his head. Step #1 - take 2 steps back and wait for the doors to open. Step #2 - hold on to the hand rail when climbing the bus stairs. Step #3 - remain seated and no horseplay.

He is so innocent right now. I see him concentrate on following direction sometimes. Its wonderful.

He was nervous getting on the bus. He had to leave mom and dad and join a bunch of people neither he nor we had ever met. His safety was now out of our hands.

He seemed to enjoy school though. He will go back tomorrow for his 2nd day of school.

Content may not be suitable for some readers! Viewer discretion is advised

Okay this isn't very tasteful but it is what I have experienced and what you will now experience by proxy.

Last week... while at a youth activity... I was accosted by Harrison, Jared and Rachel who asked Keith Mines and I if we would eat someone's poo for $1 Million.

Keith was livid. He said that was a stupid question and the conversation needed to change. I suppose I fueled the conversation with my remarks.

"Would it be boiled like a stew or frozen like a popsicle?", I inquired. Harrison laughed that I would even consider it.

"Yes" I added, "I would do it!"

Keith then piped in with his verdict, "I would too, no question about it."

The kids couldn't believe it. They said there is no way on earth they would do it. I attribute that to either being accustomed to having life's necessities and comforts provided for them or the fact that they are just plain innocent kids who don't dwell on the temporal things of this earth.

I must be so far gone.

Truth is, I would probably attempt it for $50,000.

Anything less than that wouldn't be worth the hit on my self respect.

The fruits of year 3

Here is a picture of Anders enjoying the fruits of his birthday. This marks the end of his second year and a start to his third. This photo is a few months old but it is appropriate for what I am about to blog.

Jenn and I have been enjoying some of what the third year brings as we did a couple years ago with Konrad.

About 2 - 3 weeks ago Anders started talking like a policemans c.b. radio on Mardi Gras.
Well I suppose he has been speaking long before that but he is now stringing together sentances clear enough that Jenn and I can understand him. It is so cute.

"Daddy, ina tatch a fwoggy" - meaning, "daddy, I wanna catch a froggy"

or

"Mommy, ina do atside, do fr'a bitewide" - translation, "mommy, I wanna go outside, and go for a bike ride"

It really is cute. It just adds to the many joys a parent is compensated with while raising those little chunk a childrens.