Something Windy This Way Comes (a true story)

Once upon a time, in a not so small town, known as Meridian, Idaho, there lived a young family. They had just finished a busy day. The children were excited about their first day of school; the father was excited about a job promotion--made the head of the preliminary hearing team; and the mother was exhausted as she and her three year old were having an unsuccessful day of potty training (they were out of underwear, and were washing the five pairs the two year old had soiled earlier that day!). The last spoonfuls of food were being eaten, and the mother and father were busy washing the dishes and cleaning up dinner. The family had been too busy to notice the sky getting darker and darker and the wind blowing harder and harder. As the mother and father were busy with dishes, much to their dismay they noticed the kids' trampoline floating higher and higher in the air. The mother yelled "Holy Crap! (ala Frank Barone) That thing is going to go over the fence giving the neighbors a real reason to sue!" The father, not wasting a second, ran outside and grabbed the trampoline just in time as it was about to hit the neighbors' precious truck!The mother, not wanting to face the storm head on, looked out the window and saw the father holding on with all his might, trying to keep the trampoline from causing serious damage to a house or car. She couldn't help but chuckle as it reminded her of a Superman movie she saw as a child. The children started crying, the mother started panicking, and the father just kept on holding the trampoline, knowing he could not afford a new truck for the neighbor. The mother raced outside to help her poor husband. She held the trampoline with all her might as the father quickly started taking it apart. The potty training toddler knew his superhero muscles could be of assistance, so with no regard for his mother's warning he ran outside to be a part of the action. Of course he left the back door open, letting dust collect throughout the kitchen, though when you are three you don't really think of those things.
The other children, jealous of the toddler's plan to help, ran outside to scream and cry about their broken trampoline that had bent in half and was beyond repair. The eight year old began to worry about other things breaking and began hauling outside toys inside for safe keeping, much to the mother's dismay. The wind kept blowing, but eventually the skies began to lighten and the family knew that the storm was coming to an end.
The little town of Meridian hadn't seen a storm quite that size in a very long time, and, as a result of the storm, the nice family in that town no longer has a trampoline. (This was quite alright by the mother as she was beginning to hate the trampoline because it made her backyard look so ugly, though the children and the father are saddened by the loss. However, the father is very glad that he does not have to buy his neighbor a new fence or a new truck.) The family hopes to live happily ever after........and maybe build a sturdy and wind-proof play house/fort for the kids the next spring. THE END.


This post was supposed to be about the first day of school, but instead the dust storm made headlines. Maddie and Zach are both very excited to be in school again. Their school just opened this year and is absolutely beautiful. They love their teachers and love being back with friends. Zach knows so many of the kids in his kindergarten class, and although Maddie only knows a few kids, she thinks her teacher is "the best!"
In other news, Jackson and I are on day four of potty training. He has been promised a "Build a Bear" if he goes successfully for an entire week. After five mishaps today I finally put a pull-up on him at 6:00 pm and told him we would try again tomorrow. I don't mind the urine, but when it comes to poop-filled underwear (twice today) I'm at my limit. I'm not giving up, but it sure might be a long week!!! And Dan really did get a promotion. He will now be heading the preliminary hearing team in the prosecutor's office. (I guess his desire to be a "peon" and not worry about supervising people only lasted for about six weeks.) Last week he also received a box full of copies of an article he wrote and published in the Texas Tech Law Review. If anyone wants to immerse themselves in 67 pages of discussion about the Sixth Amendment and the Dual Sovereignty Doctrine (whatever that is), we would be more than happy to send you one of his many copies.

Happy Birthday To My Jackson!

Happy Birthday Jackson!! I think Jacker's had a pretty great third birthday. He has been anticipating this one for quite some time. Now that he's three he can finally go to preschool!!! (Yeah me!!)Monday morning after the kids went to camp Jack-Jack and I went to breakfast at McDonald's. He thought it was pretty great to go on a "date" with him mom. After McDonald's he wanted to go home and swim in his pool in the backyard and play with the sprinklers.After a long day of waiting for everyone to get home, Jack was finally able to open his presents. It was themed around Mickey Mouse and Dinosaurs--both of which he loves! His favorite was the Mickey Mouse that he slept with and the walking, roaring dinosaur. Maddie came home from camp very sick, so she stayed on the bed to watch the festivities.
Oh! Toodles!!!! Jacker's had a Toodles birthday cake which he was so proud of. I had to hide it inside my shower so he would stop rearranging the Mickey Mouse characters. He loved his cake and actually ate FIVE pieces!!!
After birthday cake he was pretty exhausted. After a tub to clean off those five pieces of cake Jack fell asleep pretty fast! We are so happy to have Jackson in our family. He may be trouble sometimes, but he makes us laugh everyday with his cute personality. We Love You Jackson!!

My Amazing Husband

A long time ago Dan approached me with an idea for mutual--a mock trial. He would write up a pretend case and have the youth be the lawyers, defendant and witnesses; Dan would be the judge. I thought it was a great idea and so did my Miamaids. We have several kids in the youth who are on the debate team at school and are pretty good at it. I assigned two boys as the defense team, and two girls as my prosecutors. The case was this: during a school assembly an IPOD went missing. The Jr. Class president thought she saw the defendant in the class room where the IPOD was stolen. The defendant and her friend claim that they skipped the assembly all together to get something to eat at McDonald's.
All of the kids dressed for the part. My defendant colored her hair purple and tried to act like she was on drugs or something. My attorneys looked so sharp. The defense team even brought a brief case and a laptop, just to look cool. We randomly chose twelve jurors who listened to the evidence and then deliberated at the end.
It was a hung jury because one of our juror's sisters was actually one of our prosecutors so she was not about to let her sister lose, but she was the only one who thought the defendant was guilty. The rest of the jurors found the defendant not guilty. It was so much fun!!! Dan said that the closing statement by the defense attorney was better than some lawyers who have been practising for years. I thought the activity was so fun. Dan did a great job and the kids really got into it. At the end of the activity I had a few kids come up and ask me if we could do this again sometime. I guess that means they thought it was a good activity too!!

Dan Says Goodbye to Janitor Calling

Dan was so excited a month ago when he was called as the new assistant membership clerk in our ward, but week after week he was never released from his other church jobs: ward janitor, nursery substitute, building scheduler, and nightly lock-up, among several other tedious and not-so-fun jobs. As you can see by the list of jobs he had it might be less painful and more fun to slit your wrists. Dan thought maybe the bishopric had it out for him, or the first counselor was just getting even after Dan made fun of his son for liking the U of U. For most of July and part of August Dan was not only doing his new church calling, but he also was cleaning the church, opening the building by 6:00am Sunday mornings, setting up all of the chairs, making sure the building was locked up every night, teaching Sunday school for a friend who was out of town, and making sure the Nursery teachers didn't need him to substitute. Dan had almost given up hope and thought he was stuck with these calling for life. Last Sunday they finally released him of all janitorial, and substitute duties. But, being the good guy that he is, still went to the church this morning to make sure they didn't need help cleaning it. He was afraid the parking lot was going to be empty and he would end up cleaning it by himself (it has happened before!). Dan came home relieved that the new "janitor" had it under control. It feels like the end of an era almost. This calling has taught us one major thing. . .when it is our ward's turn to clean the church Dan and I will willingly volunteer!

Flood

I generally consider myself a responsible person. Dan and I pay our bills on time, my kids are well fed-- thanks to my weekly menu planning, I do my church callings to the best of my ability, my house in generally clean (with the occasional clutter from my children), overall I consider myself "on the ball." I don't know what happened today. I have no one to blame but myself. One minute I was cleaning the bathrooms, the next minute I was literally up to my ankles in water in my laundry room!! (I have no actual pictures so show you because I was just way too infuriated)

Jackson was very messy from breakfast. I put him in the tub to clean off. A few minutes I hear him freaking out in the bathroom because he pooped in the tub (a lot!!). I took him downstairs to shower him off. After I got Jackers all dressed I decided it was time to clean the tub. I only almost vomited 3 times by the time I cleaned out the poop in the tub (a job that I find totally revolting and disgusting even after 20 previous times), I picked up all of the contaminated toys and took them to my laundry room sink. I began filling the sink with hot water and bleach to soak the toys and make them clean again. The phone rang, so I decided to leave the water running while I went and checked to see who was calling me. It was a call from the center where my kids have camp. I went into panic mode thinking something was wrong with one of my kids and answered the call. Thank goodness nothing was wrong with my kids, they were just making a quick call to make sure I was happy with their summer program. After I hung up, I had completely forgotten about the toys in the sink and went about cleaning the other bathrooms. I went upstairs to put something in the laundry when I heard sounds of a little waterfall coming from my laundry room. It was then that I realized that it had been running for almost 15 minutes!!!! I freaked out!! Words were coming from my mouth that would make my mother-in-law cringe (sorry Alene and Grandma!)!! I waded through the water to turn off the sink. The water must have been 3/4 of an inch deep or more and was beginning to soak my carpet in the hallway. Needless to say, after two and a half hours of cleaning my laundry room it is almost dry again.

I have learned my lesson. . .next time Jack poops in the tub-- let Dan clean it up when he gets home from work!! Love ya honey!!

Maddie's Week at Grandma's

If you can believe it, my little eight year old Maddie got on an airplane with her favorite eight year old cousin Sarah, and went to Grandma Hansen's "Eight Year Old Retreat" for the week. I wasn't sure how Maddie would like being on an airplane without any adults, but she did great!! It is a tradition in the Hansen family that when you turn eight you get to spend a week with Grandma and Grandpa Hansen. Every Grandchild looks forward too it!! Zach asked me a few days ago how many days he had until he turned eight. When I told him that it was a little over 800 days he got very excited and wanted to make a count down calendar. I told him we would do one in about 750 days.
Grandma and Grandpa kept the girls very busy. They visited the Dinosaur Museum, This is the Place Monument, The Pioneer Village, The Discovery Center, Grandma and Grandpa's pool, a movie, Down town Salt Lake, Great Grandma's house, Timpanogus Cave, (Maddie's favorite) Build-A-Bear, and so much more. I don't know how any of them had the energy.
My favorite place (although I wasn't there) that they visited was East High School where "High School Musical" was filmed. I am super jealous that for one moment Maddie got to breath the same air that Zac Efron got to breath. . . okay, so I am being dramatic, and I know I am a little to old for him, but I still would have loved to go for a tour of the school too!!
As if the girls weren't BFF's already, this trip bonded them for life!! Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for such a memorable trip. Even after one week, Maddie looks a little older and a little more mature. The boys really missed their sister, and so did her parents, but we both commented how quiet the house was. . .we are glad to have her back!