More rain

I have to share something that I heard tonight while I was watching the evening news. They were talking about all of the damage from the storm last night and how it was the worst monsoon since 1996. There were winds up to 85 mph (one station said 100mph), basically "hurricane force winds". There were power lines knocked over and trees up-rooted. One guy they interviewed actually said, "I thought it WAS a hurricane". It made me laugh. They always get the dumb ones to be on TV. (For anyone who doesn't get the joke, a hurricane can only occur in a coastal area, which Arizona is far from). So we are supposed to be in for more rain tonight and there are several "Severe Thunderstorm Warnings" in effect until 2AM. It's a good thing I enjoy the rain.

Hakuna Matata

Josi loves her Disney movies and she loves to sing. She is always singing something. The only trouble is, she doesn't quite get the words right sometimes. The other day she was singing "Hi Ho, Hi Ho", from Snow White, as she dug little holes in our back yard while I was weeding. She got the title line fine, but the next line was a mix of gibberish and "it's off we work to go." The night before, during dinner, she started singing "Hakuna Matata" and I was able to get the camera out in time for her little performance.

Ben was playing back-up singer, but he didn't realize I was getting it on tape. He made me mute his vocals as a condition to me posting the video. It is pretty funny, so I am sorry you don't get to hear it.

Swimming with the Cousins

The day that we went to the zoo in Idaho Falls was so hot and we were so sweaty afterward that we decided a dip in the kiddie pool sounded like fun. It was really cold because it was well water and we had just filled it. We eventually got used to it though and it was refreshing. Here are a few highlights from it. We had a lot of fun!

If you can't tell, as she is walking away Josi says, "that would be a good idea."

lightning

There was another huge storm last night. Once again, it didn't start until well after sunset. However, that made it better for seeing the lightning. Before it started to rain the whole southern and western sky was full of lightning, so I taped it. It went on forever, even throughout the whole storm. Here is a a short part of what I taped.

My camera was having a hard time focusing because of the wind. You can hear it and the neighbors windchime going crazy.

'Lysha's Theme

This video is of my beautiful little sister Alysha, while we were visiting in Idaho Falls. She composed this song while she was just tinkering on the piano. She is really shy about her talents and I was very lucky to capture this. By the way, she is self-taught!

Hopefully someday I will be able to get her singing, because she has a gorgeous voice too. I will have to be more sneaky for that though.

This next video is of Hyrum trying to be like Aunt 'Lysha.

Monsoon Season

*I added a video to the end of this post*
It is monsoon season here in Arizona right now. Monday started out sunny and hot as usual. By 4:00 pm it had was overcast and I could tell it was going to rain. I went out to set the sprinklers so they didn't come on and while I was out it started to sprinkle. I told the kids to get their shoes and come out and play in the rain with me. With in a few minutes it was pouring and we were drenched.

This is our backyard. If you click on it for the fullsized picture, you can see the rain drops.


Here is our new swimming pool. Okay, you got me, it is just a puddle that formed in our side yard.


This is a view from our balcony over our backyard.I think it is beautiful. It has been monsoon season for a while here, but the rain has only been coming at night. This was the first storm that started before sunset.



Our front yard. The green grass is kindof an optical illusion. Only about 50% of it is actually grass, but it looks good! Our awesome neighbors to the east of us (to the left from this view) mowed our lawn a few days before 'cause they know we don't have a lawn mower yet.


The kids got bundled up in their warm clothes once they'd had a hot bubble bath after they got soaked.


Just watching the rain pelt everything outside. We opened the door so we could hear it better. The screen door was still closed so it kept the rain out.

Now here is a short video of it.

Advice

This is my first blog. Everything else on here has been impersonated. They may have been words that somewhat came out of my mouth, but I surely didn't take the time to post. So here goes the official first posting . . .

I feel A "desire" to share two pieces of advice I have received in my life. The first one I received at a very young age. Me and my dad were reading Reader's Digest. There was an article about life lessons or advice for life . . . something like that. My dad was explaining them to me because I was rather young to understand. One he explained to me made such amazing sense I have always remembered it. I also have always tried to follow it and pass it along whenever I can. Here it is: "Never refuse a mint." What great advice! I pass it on, not as my own, but as great advice.

The second piece of advice is an accumulation of different experiences and different people's way of saying the same thing. I'll share a few . . .

At my dad's work one year they passed out turkeys to all the workers for Thanksgiving. One worker accepted his, turned around, put in back in the box with all the turkeys and grabbed a bigger one. I believe this was the last time they offered free turkeys.

Before I got married and was dating I read in a book some advice about going on a date. It said if you are not paying for the dinner or movie or whatever it is, then don't complain about it. Even if the dinner is horrible, prepared badly, or poor service you still don't complain. It explained that even though the person paying may have had no fault for what went wrong they still may be offended. After all they spent their money for your happiness and if it doesn't go well they feel bad.

My favorite radio host was a guy named Chuck Powell (at least that was his radio name). He had a show called The Morning Ritual. Every week he did a bit called "that guy." He would pick out an annoying thing about another person, and then talk about "that guy" for a couple of minutes. There was "that guy" who takes family board games way too seriously, or "that guy" who actually thinks the stripper digs him. One that I thought was quite funny was "that guy" who complains about the free food at a party. You know, that guy who complains about the nuts in the brownies the host is offering everyone. I think you get the point.

So the second piece of advice, as I have summed up in my head, is "Don't complain about the free food."

P.S. Thanks babe for posting all my other gibberish . . .

Puppy Love

Well, I just looked at some of the video I shot while I was in Idaho Falls. I need to cut it down some, but here are a few still shots of Josi and my sister's dog, Beauregard or "Beau". Josi absolutely loved him.

Rubbing the sides of his face.

Giving him kisses.

Here she was telling Kleyn (who lives with Beau) that his name was Beau.

Now she is giving him a long hug.
He is the sweetest dog I have ever met. He just laid there and let Josi pester him. She still talks about him every day.

Flying

If you forget to check in early on a southwest flight and you know you will have to sit in the middle then look for the couple that is together but sitting apart hoping nobody will bother them and they get the whole row to themselves. . . They will move together and viola you have an aisle or window seat!

Chairman's Challenge 2008

I just learned this week that Ben and I get to go to Niagra Falls, Toronto, Canada this October with Ben's work. It is something they do every year for the plant managers (and their spouses) that meet all of their budget/financial goals. This year Ben normally wouldn't get to go because, 1. he is just the assistant manager and 2. the Phoenix plant isn't meeting their goals. But, his boss pulled some strings and got us invited because of all the sacrifices he has made to be in Salt Lake this summer. I am so excited! They pay for everything, the flight, the hotel (a really nice one), and they give us spending cash. Last year we had dinner with everyone else each night (one night was a dinner cruise in San Diego Bay) and one day we had a meeting that we all went to for an hour or so and another day just the employees had a short meeting and then we had the rest of the day to ourselves to do what ever we wanted. This year they are going to take us on a boat into the middle of all of the falls (like this).

So, I have to get a passport and soon. This is the first time I will ever have one and that, in itself, is a little exciting.