Go Jazz!

The Jazz season is underway -- Go Jazz! Tis the season to eat, drink, and sleep Jazz basketball in all forms -- Jr. Jazz games, Jazz games in person, Jazz games on TV, Jazz games on the radio, Jazz games reviewed in the newspaper, and Jazz games discussed!

Bah humbug to Halloween!

The Halloween costumes are finally done -- yay -- and just in time too I suppose. I sewed cloaks for Jared and Ryan this year, so I'm pretty proud of myself. Today we carved the obligatory pumpkins -- Mark hates doing that, so it was just me & the 3 boys. I used to enjoy that, but by the time I have to help gut and carve everyone else's pumpkins I have no desire to create one of my own. The kids have Halloween parties at school tomorrow and I am not involved -- yay! Well, maybe on second thought I'm a wee bit sad about it, but I'm sure I'll get over it. It's just as well, my creative juices are dried up right now. I have no intent to do pumpkin pancakes or anything remotely close to it, for breakfast tomorrow-- I guess I'm a boring mom. I admit it, I'm just not that into Halloween. I will keep up the Halloween "tradition" by serving "mac & cheese cooked in the oven" -- that's short for homemade macaroni and cheese-- for dinner tomorrow night. Good for me. I do enjoy getting the kids dressed up for trick-or-treating though; they have such a great time running around the neighborhood with Mark and their friends and getting loads of candy. When I was a kid and living in the country, we had to drive from house to house to do the trick or treating. It took all night because we had to visit with everyone, not just grab a candy and run. People also made the trick or treat stop really worth it with huge candy bars or huge popcorn balls that wouldn't fit through the hole in the top of my plastic pumpkin bucket. Ahh the memories. If all my kids remember about Halloween is the mac & cheese and the trick or treating, I'll be a happy mom! Happy Halloween everyone!

Yeah, we're still around...

I haven't posted anything for awhile -- way too busy last week to even sit at a computer for a couple minutes. However, this week looks a little less busy, so I am promising pictures! Stay tuned...

Way to go Jared!

In Tuesday's basketball game, Jared got fouled and went to the free throw line to shoot two. This was his first time at the line. He sunk 'em both!! Yea!!

"I don't have anything to wear!"

When girls say this, it usually means such things as: "I hate everything in my closet" or "I'm sick of all my clothes" or "I don't have the right outfit to wear to such and such". And what it really means is: I need new clothes, I'm going shopping! When boys say it, it is much much more literal. For example, Jared & Ryan both said it this morning when they were getting ready for school. It meant that neither one of them had clean jeans to wear to school today! Solution: Jared wore track pants and Ryan and I went "shopping" in the hand-me-down drawer. Jared also said this to me just a few weeks ago, on the first "cold" day of the season when he wanted to wear long pants to school to keep warm. It meant that he honestly did not have ANY jeans to wear -- all the pairs in his drawer were too small and too short to even think about wearing. So I guess he really meant: I need new clothes, take me shopping! Whether a girl says it, or a boy says it, you still end up shopping!

Hat Memories

The lovely hat Eric is wearing belongs to Mark, he wore it himself to a BYU vs. Utah game back in 1982 when Steve Young made some incredible play (Mark knows exactly what play it was and can give details!) and BYU won the game, of course! He wondered what had happened to his beloved hat! Thanks to Michelle for the photo!

A quick follow up

If you didn't read my Australia post, read it before reading this one. Just a quick followup if anyone was wondering. Matthew is fine -- that's the most important thing. The baby gate is now is use and the door to the family room is closed whenever he's down there. The rain gutters are cleared and no one fell off the roof in the process -- ready for the rain that'll probably start again today. The van is back in my garage with good tires, new alignment, and a fresh lube job. I'm glad the flat happened at home and not somewhere else. The toilet works -- and in my defense here, I tried SEVERAL times to plunge the thing myself before passing the plunger on to Mark, where he had to try SEVERAL times before we got it cleared! At least we didn't have to call in the roto-rooter (yet). The windows -- the crescent shaped one in Matthew's room didn't fit because it was made slightly wrong and the measurements were slightly off, so we are waiting for another one to arrive. The window in the sewing room is cracked and has cardboard over it -- the wind came up just right as the guy was putting it in and it broke over his back (he's ok). All in all, the job won't be done for awhile -- a SHORT while we hope. In the meantime, we're still thinking about the leaking window and what would be best to do about it -- any suggestions??

How fast can I get to Australia?

Terrible, horrible, no good very bad days -- yep, we've all had 'em! Yesterday was one of them for us. The window guys came to work on the windows and found out that there was water leaking in around the big window in the kitchen -- either the J-strip (whatever that thing is) is bad, or the caulk didn't get a chance to dry before it rained, or the rain gutter being full constantly drips into the window and allows the window to get wet. Hmmm. The guys did a temporary fix and said they would come back on a sunny day to complete it and figure out the problem. I'm sure that in Australia there are no leaking windows. I took the van to pick up the kids from preschool and thought, hmmm, it doesn't feel right -- well, that's because one of the rear tires was flat -- a big 'ol nail was the culprit. I'm sure that tires never go flat in Australia. Just before the big boys got home from school I put Matthew in the family room with Jacob (playing gamecube) and went to the kitchen to clean the stove. A few minutes later, with a thud and a cry, I discovered Matthew at the bottom of the basement stairs. I'm sure that all houses are flat in Australia and that stairs are simply not allowed. Now the boys are home from school and I hear Ryan from the bathroom, "I think the toilet is going to explode!" I'm sure toilets never get clogged in Australia, maybe that's because the water swirls the opposite way there (according to Bart Simpson). A phone call later we learn that Ryan's soccer game is cancelled due to rain. I'm sure all days are bright and sunny in Australia. Mark of course is putting in an 11 hour work day and hasn't heard the good news from home. I'm sure that in Australia people are only allowed to work reasonable hours and that wives are always able to contact husbands in time of emotional breakdown. Ryan got a ride from his friend to his basketball game and we never got to watch him play because we were trying to fix everything. I'm sure that in Australia parents always get to watch their kids' sports games. The fun continued this morning when Mark got the van to the repair place at 7:00 a.m. and got stuck waiting for hours for new tires and alignment. I'm sure that in Australia all repair places tell their customers that a job will take 3 hours and courteously shuttle them to where they need to be in the meantime. Then again, Australia doesn't have repair places because nothing ever need to be repaired! A UTA bus ride home at 9:30 a.m. led to cleaning out the rain gutters, in the which both of us ended up soaked and dirty. I'm sure Australia doesn't have clogged rain gutters. As we get in the car after paying for the van, the car door handle falls off. I'm sure that in Australia car parts do not fall off! I think I just heard a boarding call for a flight to Australia...

Shopping Tip

This is why women should not take men shopping against their will.

After Mr. and Mrs. Fenton retired, Mrs. Fenton insisted her husband accompany her on her trips to Wal-Mart. Unfortunately, Mr. Fenton was like most men--he found shopping boring and preferred to get in and get out. Equally unfortunately, Mrs. Fenton was like most women--she loved to browse. One day Mrs. Fenton received the following letter from her local Wal-Mart:



Dear Mrs. Fenton,



Over the past six months, your husband has been causing quite acommotion in our store. We cannot tolerate this behavior and may be forced to ban both of you from the store. Our complaints against Mr. Fenton are listed below and are documented by our video surveillance cameras:



1. June 15: Took 24 boxes of Polident and randomly put them in people's carts when they weren't looking.



2. July 2: Set all the alarm clocks in Housewares to go off at 5-minute intervals.



3. July 19: Walked up to an employee and told her in an official voice,"Code 3 in Housewares. Get on it right away."



4. August 4: Went to the Service Desk and tried to put a bag of M&M's onlayaway.



5. September 14: Moved a "CAUTION - WET FLOOR" sign to a carpeted area.



6. September 15: Set up a tent in the camping department and told other shoppers he'd invite them in if they would bring pillows and blankets from the bedding department.



7. September 23: When a clerk asked if she could help him, he began crying and screamed, "Why can't you people just leave me alone?"



8. October 4: Looked right into the security camera and used it as amirror while he picked his nose.



9. November 10: While handling guns in the hunting department, he asked the clerk where the antidepressants were.



10. December 3: Darted around the store suspiciously while loudlyhumming the "Mission Impossible" theme.



11. December 6: In the auto department, he practiced his "Madonna look"by using different sizes of funnels.



12. December 18: Hid in a clothing rack and when people browsed through,yelled "PICK ME! PICK ME!"



And last, but not least: 13. December 21: When an announcement came over the loud speaker, he assumed a fetal position and screamed, "OH NO! IT'S THOSE VOICES AGAIN!"



Regards,



Wal-Mart

Hello, Weekend...finally!

Sometimes a week seems long, even though it goes by very fast -- thats probably because the days are so packed. This weekend looks to be busy too with BB practice, piano lessons, and stake conference meetings, so we just hold on tight and enjoy the ride! Jared played an awesome game of basketball this week -- 8 pts., 2 assists, and something else (I forget)-- he keeps his own stats! He has a soccer game tonight. Ryan had a busy Wednesday playing soccer and basketball -- he played well in both games, but lacked a little energy due to a cold. G & G Brady were here to watch him play and we enjoyed having them stay overnight with us.

How much do I really use?

Every summer I wonder about this, and I'm reminded of it again today as I do the laundry and try to get the sandbox out of the jeans and shirts and the formula & baby food out of Matthews clothes. I'm thinking that if I bought some stock in this particular product I would be filthy -- hee hee -- rich! The sandbox has been a source of great pleasure lately for Ryan -- he has built all the continents, along with the oceans and ships in between. With all that kind of fun, you can see why we hesitate to build a shed and do away with the sandbox.

Ahhh...sleeping in

Conference weekend was great -- we got to sleep in -- meaning we got to wake up when we wanted to rather than pounding on the alarm and pushing the snooze button repeatedly! Conference was really good and its always nice to "go to church" in your pj's or jeans and sit on comfy furniture. Mark got a chance to go to the priesthood session at the conference center with our neighbor, Peter, and really enjoyed that opportunity. Sunday afternoon we explored a new park in our fair city and hiked up into the foothills a bit -- I should have taken the camera -- there were lots of sunflowers and since the day was really clear, we could see all over the entire valley. The weather was perfect.

Welcome home to the world travelers -- Mom & Dad Vawdrey!

Church Ball

I had my own little episode of "church ball" last night. I have been playing RS volleyball with our ward. At the first game of the season, our ward didn't have enough people there to do a team by ourselves, so we got combined with another ward in the same situation. The last couple of weeks have been fun and we've basically had the same people playing on our team. Last night was a whole new "ball game" -- there were 4, myself included, from our ward (it was the first time for the other 3) and the other ward had 5 show up (3 of them were there for the first time as well) So basically, we had a whole new team and we lost -- which really doesn't make me upset, its just for fun anyway. However, one of the new girls, from the other ward, was out to do serious volleyball (she probably played in high school) -- she kept swearing (under her breath, of course, but loud enough for anyone next to her in the lineup to hear) whenever she or anyone else goofed up. She was even worked up enough to go red in the face and work up a sweat. Good grief girl -- this is RS volleyball inside the church for heaven's sake! Come on! Anyway, I thought her behavior was over the top and it kind of put a damper on the evening. I liked volleyball the way it used to be -- a week ago!

Last night also fueled an idea for another list: I'm now keeping a list of mispronunciations of my first name. I hardly ever tell people my last name since the combination of the two puts people over the edge. And I hate having to do personal tutoring sessions on how to pronounce my name. However, I will say this -- I'd rather people try to say my name than totally avoid it or refer to me as "Hey, you!"

hump day

Actually, yesterday would be considered hump day (Wednesday), but here's a few days highlights in review: My birthday --thanks to Heidi for taking me to lunch, and introducing me to the tsunami chocolate cake at Rumbi -- YUM! Gratefully, I feel no older than I did last week even though I'm officially a year older. Yesterday Ryan did well in his double header sports day with one soccer goal and two baskets -- a total of $1.50 in earnings!

Quick picts

Matthew is up on all fours and ready to get into the action!

This is how we spend our Sunday evenings. It's all fun and games until someone ends up getting hurt -- which undoubtedly happens every time, although it tends to differ as to which one ends up screaming first.

Sports update

Basketball season has begun. Jared & Ryan both had practices this week and Ryan's first game is Wednesday! That will make a double-header sports day for him since he also has a soccer game that day. Jared's first game is next week. We'll be doing basketball and soccer for most of this month. I can't believe we can fit it all in, but we'll make it work. Basketball season will go thru mid-December. Last week Ryan played some awesome soccer and scored 3 goals. Jared also played some awesome soccer -- he played goalie for 1/2 the game and had some great saves while only letting one ball in the goal. I had volleyball again and our team managed to squeak out a win. The two little boys are good sports about attending all these games -- hope their patience lasts as long as the season!