My TV Set Just Keeps It All From Being Clear

We have been watching "America's Got Talent." It's kind-of fun, and much more varied than a bunch of twenty-somethings doing hyped-up karaoke. There's a lot of variety and randomness. Where else can you see 50-year-old cheerleaders, climbing-wall dancers, and magic acts and singer-songwriters at the same time? And tomorrow (on the results show), Train is performing!!! I love those guys!!

Here's one of the coolest acts thus far:



These guys didn't make it past the last round, but they are seriously awesome. Airpocalypse, baby!



Yes, we were watching t.v. instead of being social. Some friends from our ward invited us over for a get-together and we didn't go. We are both really tired (and yet we are up watching re-runs of The Office . . . dang t.v.!), and I figure that we will be very social for the rest of the week with the family reunion and such.

I can't think of anything more interesting to say at the moment. Must sleep--lots to do tomorrow before the big drive on Thursday. I'm getting excited!

What I Got, I Remember That

We have been rescheduled!  I'm so excited. I was seriously depressed when I found out that Bono had broken his back and the concert was not to be.

I love this little video. It warms the cockles of my heart.

U2.com > Sign In > News > 'We're Coming Back...'

The Salt Lake City concert has been rescheduled for May 24, 2011.  Yes, it's a wait.  But I already have my ticket, and it's something to countdown for.  They are carrying on with their European tour this fall as planned.  I'm a little disappointed that SLC will not be the starting point for the tour, but I'm just glad Bono is feeling well enough to tour at all.  And we'll probably get a new album out of it, since they have had some time to write new music.  Yay!

I have a couple more random tidbits for you, since I haven't written for a little while.

Benji is getting so big.  I can tell that he's learning (very slowly, but surely) to listen and obey.  He knows when we ask him to do (or not do) something.  He'll usually blatantly disobey, at least he's listening.  It used to take a while to convince him to fold his arms to pray, but now he'll do it right after we sing.  It's so cute to see him fold his arms.  I just love it.

Here's my favorite picture from Independence Day weekend.

I'm pretty proud of it.  It makes me feel like I actually do have some talent for photography.  It's more the camera than the photographer, but it still takes both.

He has also been so cute when I wake him up in the mornings.  Such big smiles!  He always seems so happy to see me, and since Allen switched back to the crazy a.m. shift (1am-10am) and I'm taking him to the babysitter in the mornings again.  He's usually napping when I come home from work.  This is him today. 

Another tidbit: I think I'm getting scammed, but I'm not sure what to do about it.  To get a little extra $$, I decided to sell my old camera on KSL.  I have only gotten one bite, but it is from someone in Nigeria.  Uh, yeah.  They have sent me about 20 e-mails in the last couple of days, saying that I have been paid, but the money is being held by some third party until I send them the tracking number of the package, proving I have sent the package.  There are too many inconsistencies and formatting issues in the e-mails, and they say the whole thing is through PayPal, but my actual PayPal account shows no pending transactions, etc.   When I write all of this down, it seems pretty obvious that it's not for real.  I'm tempted to send a package with a picture of the camera so that they "release the funds," then I won't be out much and they will get off my back.  I sent an e-mail telling them I doubted the validity of the "transaction," that I wouldn't be sending anything until I saw something in my PayPal account (more than just an e-mail) and they keep telling me that money has been paid.  I'm not sure how much attention I should pay to it; I'm getting a little annoyed with the whole thing.  Grr.  At least I'm realizing it now, instead of after I sent $300 to Romania for a laptop.  Yeah, that was four years ago, and I'm still waiting for that to show up.  Yep, I'm pretty naive, but I guess I'm becoming less trusting.  That's probably not a good thing, but that's where I'm at.

Feels Like Independence Day

I should write more about last weekend, but I need to sleep.  So here are some pictures to whet your appetite.

These were taken during our 'photo shoot' at a rest stop near Bear Lake while we were waiting for the rest to show up.

This picture is very picniked, but it's very festive, n'est-ce pas? Good times.

More to come.

I Will Make It Up To You

I took Benji to a new babysitter this morning.  Everything seemed okay; I visited them last week and we worked out all the details.  She made it sound like he wouldn't be a problem, and honestly--he's a pretty chill kid.  I dropped him off about 6:15 a.m.  So I was working at Riverton--a very nice day of ENT with Dr. Dahl, and between cases, my boss comes in with a message for me.  "Call this number about child care."  I check my cell phone.  3 new messages, 3 missed calls.  At least 3 pages.  Crap.

Text Message 1 (7:52 a.m.): "We tried to take his coat off and he started kicking.  I'm sorry, but I have infants around and it won't work."

Text Message 2 (7:52 a.m.): "I have a feeling this isn't going to work, he hasn't stopped crying, won't listen, & I won't be able to watch him with the other kids I have."

Text Page (8:59 a.m.):  I need ur son picked up asap.  I have tried every possible way to get ahold of u.  His behavior is unacceptable for my care."

Text Message 3 (10:34 a.m.): "I need someone to come pick your son up in the next 30 minutes!"

My heart sank.  What am I supposed to do?  I get off work at 3pm, and I told her I'd be there early (2:30pm or so).  Luckily things are low-key enough at Riverton that my boss let me leave.  We had an extra nurse on hand and only a couple of cases left, so I took off.  I feel so guilty about leaving my sweet little man with them.  I feel bad for the babysitter, who doesn't know how to deal with him, and for the other kids who may have been neglected because of his behavior.

So I took him home and cuddled with him and gave him chocolate milk and apple juice and let him watch t.v., and now he's taking a nap.  I still feel incredibly guilty about putting him through that ordeal at all.  I know he does better with a routine, and I totally killed that this morning with a new place, lots of new faces, etc.  It doesn't help that he woke himself up way early this morning (like 4:30-ish) and he was probably hungry and grumpy.  Bad combination.

I called my old babysitter and asked her if she could take us back.  She can (thankfully), but we were looking for someone else because she is kind-of expensive.  Even so, Benji knows her and she's very nice, and I really don't want to do that to him again.  Poor little guy.

I haven't posted any new pictures here for a while; I have put a few up on my photography blog, but not much of the family.  Here are a few from Father's Day weekend.  I didn't get many spectacular ones of the Phoebster's birthday, and I didn't have my camera at all for Miss Lily's, so sorry--this is what you get.

My cute Mom and my Lily-Bug

I couldn't believe the huge smooch Phoebe planted on Lex!

Lily applying her chapstick sparingly.

BFFs Benji & Noah.  Guess who's in charge.

I love the way the water turned out in this.  Hooray for the DSLR!

Cute Sarah Banana

Sarah probably won't appreciate this one very much.  It's at a rather unflattering angle, but I like it.  Yes, it's pretty Picniked, but maybe that way Sarah won't be too mad at me for posting it.  I love it--Sarah has such a fantastic smile, I had to share.

Et puis voilà quoi.

16th of June, 9:05

Today was a good day.  I have spent the last week at the main hospital, and I finally got to go back to Riverton today.  I missed it!  It was good to be back!  I worked with Dr. Peterson (who said, sincerely, "Call me Dave").  Sure, it was a day full of eye surgeries, but that was okay.  I'm finding that I don't mind the repetition or lack of variety.  With variety comes responsibility and the fear in the back of your mind that you'll have to be there for a crazy horrible surgery that will scar you for life.  At Riverton, they only do surgeries on patients who are pretty healthy, who can go home the same day.  That's a huge contributor to the relaxed atmosphere.  I love it.

I have actually been called off for my shift tomorrow.  I can't really afford to take the time off, but Allen's mom is in town.  This is the first time she has ever visited us, and we have been married for almost five years.  Allen and Benji went out to lunch with her and Irene (her friend who she's traveling with).  Since I am off tomorrow, I think we'll all go to Thanksgiving Point.  Maybe we'll rent a golf cart. :o)

I was also pretty excited about a deal I got at Walgreen's.  I had $10 in 'register rewards' that were set to expire tomorrow, and I found some binders on clearance.  Yes, I got excited about binders.  Sad, I know, but I really needed a new one, and I didn't want to pay $6 for one!  So I found two 2" binders for less than $5, plus some nail polish, tape and staples for $1.85.  Aw, yeah.  I love scoring a good deal.

I celebrated my 10-year mission birthday on Monday.  I can't believe that an entire decade has passed since I was in the MTC.  I'm working on getting my negatives scanned so I can make books and such.  Until then . . . I'm not going to buy just anyone's cockatoo.