The Thatcher Report

Thatcher-Reeder Reunion [Day 1 & 2]

2011-07-07T22:53:00.001-07:00

It was one of those trips that I think my family will never forget. It was filled with memories of generations of before for future generations to come. I know for one that McK was a changed boy this trip. He went from a drug store cowboy to a real rip roaring Cowboy....(in his mind of course).

Day 1 - June 30th, 2011

To begin our trip, we flew up to Great Falls Montana. I've been to Montana before...It was 14 years ago, before Mark and I were married and we were on our way up to his Grandpa Reeders Funeral. Mark decided to take his turn at driving, so he took over at the wheel. I remember it being late and I didn't feel well I dozed off to sleep. I woke up sometime later to the sound of words that shouldn't be named, bright green reflective signs that listed "Billings" as the upcoming town, and the harsh realization that we had been going the wrong direction for the last 5 hours. I was a bit shocked that my dream guy was directionally challenged. His brothers quickly took over and needless to say he still hasn't lived that one down. Even the Reeder family still joke about it.

Back on track....

We explored Great Falls a bit since we arrived 8 hours before anyone else.

We found a great store call "Big R" so we could buy some cowboy hats for the reunion rodeo. It was such a great place. It was like a Home Depot, Intermountain Farmers, Big 5, and Boot Barn all rolled into one package. I've never seen anything like it. Shot guns and Rifles were out on shelves where you could pick them up and handle them. Not behind counters like everywhere else I've been. It was really refreshing to see a state with more freedoms. We loved that store! We then retreated to a hotel for the night , which the boys thought was pretty cool. It reminded me of an Embassy Suites gone 2.5 star. We weren't complaining a bit but our neighbors in the room next door did. I guess the Thatcher crowd is a little noisy, which I like to blame on Mark but I guess I was raised close to a barn myself.

Day 2 - July 1st, 2011

We set out early Friday to make our drive to Canada. It is estimated 2 hour drive from Great Falls to Cardston. However, it took us nearly 5 hours to get there. Why? Humm....well let's just say that we didn't want to hurt any gas station's feeling by doing a drive by......oh and I guess we were traveling with a lot of lil' ones with small bladders. ;) We arrived at a cabin that we had rented in Mountain Home. It was perfect for a large group like the Thatchers. It had 8 bedrooms and 6 bathrooms and a large family and dining area.

There was the large Reeder reunion that night that we went to. It was a lot of extended family and I felt like I didn't know most of them there, but it was so beautiful there and we got to see the home that Grandma (Smith) Reeder was raised in. The boys had no problem making themselves feel comfortable with the grass so tall and everywhere, they couldn't help but play in it.

Dead Rope Drop

2009-09-09T06:01:00.000-07:00

This was fun!! Our trip to Europe was great in many ways, but this one thing is hard to beat. Switzerland is an awesome country! The fact that they let us do things like this makes it one of the best countries in the world!!

This is as close as one could ever come to feeling like Spiderman. That is the reason for me slinging some webs before the drop :).

Where's McK?

2009-05-05T23:32:00.000-07:00

It's 11:30 p.m. and I make my rounds of checking on my boys one last time before I crash into bed...and steal a few un-protested kisses. But when I got to checking on McK this is what I found:

"Ohhh..how cute, he's snuggling with Logan." I thought. McK sometimes succumbs to Logan's squawks and will go in and try to help him go to sleep. When I opened Logan's door, this is what I found:

Yes, Logan was awake! He has been been on a weird schedule lately and it's driving me tired! So after I got roped into singing a song and snuggling, I continued my search for McK. I thought maybe he is on the floor in my room. McK frequently tries to sleep in our room by hiding under the covers on the floor or even on the bed. So I checked and found this.

Nothing.....which is really rare since my room is always a mess. After I shake off the surprise of nothing on my floor, I direct my efforts back to McK. At this point I think McK is playing a trick and is hiding or something but at the same time I'm thinking he has got to asleep somewhere. So I decided to check in the last strange place that McK has been known to sleep and so I checked the office where we have Claire's portacrib set up.

Now I'm starting to panic. Where is he? I try to remember where I saw him last in my house. I remembered helping him do a load of laundry (per his request) so he could wash some stuffed animals he won as a prize from school. I left him watching his animals spinning around in our front loader washer. Was he waiting for the load to finish washing? I checked in the laundry room and this is what I found.

I laughed so hard when I saw this. Actually I'm still chuckling as I'm writing this post. He made himself a little nest out of the clean laundry basket (thankfully). I don't know how he fit in the basket but the only thing hanging out was his head. He looked completely comfy but I thought he might have a kinked neck in the morning, so I had to wake Mark up to carry my 75lb lil' guy to bed. He is one most creative kids I know and I sure do love him and all the love and laughter he brings to our family.

Poop side up!

2009-04-27T14:20:00.000-07:00

Naptime, what a challenge. Logan was supposed to be napping but I heard some banging and some singing and a few shouts. After ignoring him and hoping he would just go to sleep, I decided to check in on him and this is what I found......

I guess he had decided that if mom wasn't going to pay attention to his so called needs that he would take matters into his own hands....literaly! Independent little guy! He needed his diaper changed and so he did it himself I have say that I just laughed when I walked in on this, and then I was quite impressed. All the dirty baby wipes were organized on the bed poop side up. I love how clever all my boys can be but Logan has quite the knack for watching how things are done and figuring out how to do it himself. For example, we have had to put child protect covers on the door knob of his bedroom so that he will stay in his room for nap-time and bed-time. I'm sure he thought "no, problem", because he figured out how to take the plastic device completely off and get out of his room. He then would quickly tell on himself that he "I boke mom...boken" and pull my hand to have me come see.

Some other crazy things that Logan has figured out.
-how to unlock the car with keys, open the door, put the keys in the ignition and start the car....SCARY!
-pull up a chair, get my purse off the counter, and eat a whole pack of gum in less that 1 minute, which remides me that he did this yesterday and when I changed his diaper this morning, it has a stong minty smell to that almost completly covered the bad smell......I don't think this is a good thing
-Turn on the electric piano and find a tune to dance to.
-get out two sharp knives and scrape them against each other. He must have seen me sharpening my knives before....SUPER SCARY!
-get a screwdriver and twists on the screws of his toys. He thinks he can change the batteries and who needs mom anyway.
-move his fingers to move the mouse on the laptop mouse pad, regular mouse agility skills are already mastered, even with the click

I love how he figures things out, even if it make my mom job harder.

Lukie and Animals, its all in the Genes

2009-03-21T07:07:00.000-07:00

Do you see a resemblance? Grandpa Reeder was always one of my favorite people in the world. He had the ability to make you feel like a million bucks. He was as charismatic as anyone I knew. Grandpa also loved animals and had a way of communicating with them.

Little Luke has some of those same skills...

Grandpa was an awesome animal trainer and was able to get animals to difficult stunts.

Grandpa would bring his Horses out every year and teach us how to ride them the right way. He would try and break us of all our bad habits we learned from riding our horses.

This is Luke and Mesa in the back yard finding out who is the alpha dog....

Luke and Nacho...
Bugs are great to!
He wanted to take the tape off its mouth..

Stew, Luke talks about Stew every day

This is a rattle snake the we caught over our wall. Luke wanted to touch it before Dave had it in a Safe hold....

Lukie loves all animals. It does not matter if it is a rattle snake we find behind the backyard wall, a scorpion, alligator, Turtle, 500 different lizards, his pet parakeet, Dogs, Cats, Ducks, all Zoo animals Cyotee, bugs, well I think everything.

The little guy has such a soft little heart!

Ducks in the park are not just for lookin... They need to be tamed.

Luke wanted to catch it..
Woody...

Orlando Vacation -Day 3 - Universal Studios

2009-03-17T16:51:00.000-07:00

We went to Universal Studios today. It was fun and we did a lot of walking, which is good for Mark and me, but not so much for McK who is in a cast. The rides were fun but we all agreed that Islands of Adventure was more fun. It had more rollercoaster rides where Universal had more 4-D simulator rides.

Orlando Vacation - Day 2 - Islands of Adventure

2009-03-16T21:01:00.000-07:00

We went to Islands of Adventure which is next door to Universal Studios. We were really excited to to ride all the rides. We headed over to the Hulk ride and quickly realized the Lukie was not tall enough. So we went to the next ride. Rejected again. Finally we got smart and started referring to the map to see how tall you had to be for the ride. We found the spiderman ride and started our adventure off right. It was such a fun ride. I didn't think Disneyland could be topped but I stand corrected. There were a lot of rip-roaring rides that Mark and McK went on together and Luke and I went on our own rides while we waited.

Mark rode the Hulk this ride 6 times with Mck and he took a camera with him the last time. It is a wild ride.

Orlando Vacation -Day 2 - Blue Man Group

2009-03-16T20:41:00.000-07:00

If any of you haven't seen the Blue Man Group, you should. They are a great kid friendly show which was alot of fun!! The boys loved the show. I would hear the boys laughing at the humor and clapping to the music. I really loved the show myself. I was pleasantly surprised how interactive and fun the show was. I would recommend it to all. The show was great and the boys could not wait to meet "the blue men".

Orlando Vacation - Day 1 - Swimming at night

2009-03-16T20:01:00.000-07:00

We wrapped McK's foot in two plastic bags and wrapped it twice with duck tape (name brand for duct tape). Anyway we thought we were set for some fun in the pool. The hotel pool had a lazy river where the kids could ride on tubes. They loved it. About a half hour after the initial dip, McK informed me that his cast was wet. Bummer! We had to head back to the hotel and figure out how to get our contraption off. I usually carry around a pocket knife but with all the crazy flight restrictions I left it home so it wouldn't get confiscated. Hummmmm......how to get it off? I got Marks shaver, pulled the a little metal strips out and intricatley slit a seam down the 1/4 inch duck tape around McK's cast. A half hour later, after McK dried his cast with a blow dryer, we called it a success and then a night.

Orlando Vacation - Day 1 - Rejected!

2009-03-15T16:09:00.000-07:00

We just tried to go indoor skydiving. They wouldn't let McK go because of his cast. So sad :( They were worried about him kicking the instructer and having it do some major damage because the cast is so hard. No worries....I was kinda tired anyway.

We are now on our way back to the hotel to go the pool. How you may ask? Well we just bought some duck tape and plastic bags. Hopefully between Mark and I, we might be able to rig a waterproof covering.

Orlando Vacation - Day 1 - Our Dining Experience

2009-03-15T14:52:00.000-07:00

We are going to update our blog throughout the day. We'll see if we can keep up with ourselves:)

Its not too often that we have a unique dinner out, but "The Catfish Place" gave us many native foods.

We ate catfish of course, but also we ate frog legs, turtle, fried pickles, fried green tomatoes, alligator, grits, and the non adventurous......chicken.

Orlando Vacation - Day 1- Gator Day

2009-03-15T10:01:00.000-07:00

We are going to try and update our blog real time on this trip.... We will see how it goes.

This is our first day on Florida and the boys had to see a gator!!

Luke wanted to take the tape off of its mouth. Is anyone suprised??

We went on a air-boat ride and saw a wild gator.

He was huge and scary with even a battle wound. I actually thought that the air-boat company had staged a fake one on the bank so that all their customers would have a tale to tell. I kept with my theory until it jumped into the water and scared me. I even screamed which tells you a lot becuase I really dont scream all that much.....

McK kept flying and Luke sat back and relaxed during the boat ride. All in all it is a great place to visit in sunny Florida.

MotoCross

2009-03-09T18:13:00.000-07:00

Our Family has been out riding recently and Little Logan is the newest and BEST rider of us all! He pushes this thing around all day. Gotta say.... He is a funny little kid.

"Muck n Gook"

2008-12-08T23:17:00.003-08:00

You may recall from my previous post that my little Logan has a knack for spreading things around; mostly messy food items, toys, potty water, towels and of course...a lot of joy.

Much to our relief "Muck" and "Gook" is not the mess he has just created and has been playing in, but what he calls his older brothers McK and Luke. It makes me laugh every time he says their names. He is saying new words everyday even though I think I'm the only one who understands them. I think it is so dang cute but then again I am his mother.

I love this picture, This was taken of Logan at lunch and he managed to turn into pigpen... Gotta love the little guy....

How to tame "The Wild"?

2008-11-21T23:30:00.000-08:00

Is there any hope in taming my 2 year old??!?!! My sweet, darling, funny, sensitive, cute, lovable,..... fit throwing, nail scratching, hitting everything, screaming, hair pulling, wild child is my dearest Wo-Wo (Logan)! I would love any suggestions that may help me channel my small ones energy to a positive result. Here is a list of his deeds in a typical day;

woke up and sang
gave mom the biggest hug ever
smiled and sang while mom read a book
screamed, kicked, and squirmed while diaper was being changed
ran down the hall squealing in delight with no diaper on
tackled by mom, screamed, cried, and protested modesty
played with McK and Luke
dumped entire new costco sized box of fishies crackers in living room
ate breakfast while on the go
finds formula and opens with mouth sifting formula all over the floor
eats formula with his hands no water added
dumps water all over floor
pulls all towels from kitchen drawer to clean up
pulls tupperware from cupboard
plays in potty
tries to bite mom while being cleaned up
time-out for 1 minutes that lasts about 10 seconds before mom has to chase him back on the chair as he laughs
plays in the backyard, picking up manure clumps
screams and protest while mom washes hands and feet
plays in fridge
unwraps cheese sticks and spits on floor
gives mom a hug
sits on moms lap

NAP.....awe the peace...

wakes up from nap
snuggles with mom
refuses lunch unless on the go
dumps orange slices on floor

dumps craisins
dumps lunch
plays in potty
pesters cousin Claire
hits his dearest cousin
hits mom and pulls moms hair because mom disciplines him
goes to time-out (which is a game to him)
says sorry to Claire by kissing her
goes to dinner with family...(this is another list all by itself)
dumps crackers in piano room
squeezes juice box on carpet to see it drip
unloads pantry
fights again with mom during diaper change
snuggles with Dad
climbs on table
colors McK's homework
plays with McK
plays in fridge
plays in potty
hits mom for taking him away from potty
does the whole time-out routine again
runs from the tickle monster (Dad)
snuggle with Dad
runs around the house babbling with delight

and finally BED!

Wow what a day. This is truly what happened today.

Seriously, how can one be so adorable and terrible at the same time? For now we are taking the good with the bad and hopefully the good will prevail.

McK and Luke... Working hard

2008-11-15T12:35:00.000-08:00

Fun Boys!!

This was just to cute, McK and Luke are sucking up to Santa..... They cleaned the kitchen and wanted to surprise Mark and I.
I just wish Christmas was more then once a year..

Goin' to the dark side.

2008-11-08T18:53:00.000-08:00

I'm not sure what motivated the change, maybe it was about change itself, but I decided to dark...with my hair that is. Here is me in a picture with my sister Kristin 2 weeks ago. Notice the blond hair but darker roots. I was inspired I think by my sisters who all have dark hair and so do most of my sister-in-laws.

And the new look.....

I haven't decided on how I feel about it but I think I like it. When I first saw Luke he just stared and then said "Mom, you look like that girl on Ratatouillie". I might look a little cartoonish. Logan just stared and didn't move. Mark didn't recognize me when he saw me and started dailing my cell number to find out where I was. McK just said "Mom you look different, how long will it last?" when I said it was permanent he asked "Can I dye my hair green?" Now what could I say to that? Of course not. It's definitely a different look for me and if nothing else, I keep thinking I look like my mom (which to me is a very good thing).

Idaho in the Fall: My sista's house

2008-11-04T12:16:00.000-08:00

To begin, I just want everyone to know I'm back!!!!.........maybe. I've been on strike from blogging life for too long and hopefully I can get back into the swing of things. I really have missed being in the "know" with my friends and family.

October 25th weekend, I flew up to see my sister Kristin near Boise Idaho. It was the weekend of my grandmas 90th birthday party, and my sister was having her little girl blessed on that Sunday. The funnest part (if funnest is a word) I didn't tell her I was coming, and I came without my kids (Thanks Mark for all the hassle, and Dave). I just showed up at her house Friday morning. I think her initial reaction was shock, but once that was out of the way, we had so much fun. Then I held my new niece for the first time. She is so cute. I forgot how little babies are. So sad. Anyway, so those sibling of mine who haven't seen Elise, here is a picture of her.

I really enjoyed playing with my nieces and nephews. I wished we lived closer together so that seeing each others families about 3-4 times a year wasn't the norm. Of course we started out with a Costco run...actually I had a Mt. Dew run before that, but really what is life without Costco? Anyway, when we triumphed over Costco, I took lil' grumpy Clara to get her ears checked out. It was fun for me to have one on one time with her. I may have been some martian aunt to her but I really cherished that time she and I spent together. She had ear infections in both ears which explains the grumps. By the time I had to go, she was so cute and happy and smoozing eveyone...mostly the kitties.

That night we went to Maddisons play and then we met Dad and Brenda after for a late evening snack at Red Robin.

Saturday morning, Randon decided to show his "holy" face.

It was really fun to see him. We missed him at our reunion so it had been a while. Saturday morning Dad, Brenda, Ran, Cache and Lauren went golfing with the McKee clan while Kris and I went shopping (which is always fun when your with your sister). When we came back we headed up to Grandma's party (about an hour north west of Boise)....fashionably late of course.

My Grandma and her grandkids.

I really enjoyed talking with my cousins, aunts, uncles, and of course Grandma. For being 90, she sure has more mental faculties going than I do. But the best part about the party was the heart-to-heart I had with Randon on our way back to Kris's place. Ran and I have had these talks through out the years, probably since high school and I always feel so understood and I feel like I get to know Ran so much better. Thanks Ran.

What's Saturday night without "Apples to Apples"

Sunday was the baby blessing and of course good food afterward.

Maddi and baby Elise

Lauren and baby sis

Best of Friends vs. Worst Enemies

Dearest Hannah

Dad and Brenda

Baby Elise and her wonderful Mom and Dad

The Whole Family

The trip went by too quickly but it was so worth it!

Movin on...

2008-09-23T12:29:00.000-07:00

Not sure if anyone cares, or knows.... but Mark is no longer employed at Merrill Lynch. He and a group of 9 resigned from the firm a week ago Friday and is now working at Morgan Stanley in Palm Desert. It has been a crazy week, strangest market in 75 years and allot of raw emotion out there right now. Last night, I was talking to Mark and I asked him if he thought it was worth all the work and effort and his response was simple and to the point.... "My only wish is that we would have done it sooner". Mark loves a good cause and a challenge he feels that Morgan Stanley gives him a shot at both. He is working long hours and he comes home with stories that are fun for me and the boys to listen to... They seem to be doing better then what they or Morgan Stanley expected so that is always good. I know that all of the guys liked their boss over at Merrill quite a bit, but in they end they all chose to do what they thought was right for the people they care most about. Thought and prayer went into everyones decision so that is comforting.

Mark warned me that it would be 3-4 months before things are back to "normal", but that is OK, it is fun to see Mark and all the guys enjoy themselves so much.

Summer Mancatoin 2008 SPEARFISHING

2008-08-24T17:23:00.000-07:00

Anyone who knows us, knows of our Winter Mancation.... We now have new annual trip..... SUMMER MANCATION!

Lets start with who came.....

Russ Jackson

Mike DDD onld SON

Rizzz

Davie T

Shattuck Lammmm

Mark T

This is the first place we went. There is a 300 foot cliff below that we had to scale down on ropes with all our gear. It was alot of fun.

This is Riz and Shad getting food in their bellies before the hike. They both love to eat... I think Shad is a 40 C and Riz is a 42 D cup?

This is the spot of our camp site the second and third night. It is called the secret spot and we are sworn to secrecy as to its location. Shad will not give up the location for anything less the $2.00.

Russss loves to strike a pose.... he said that it "proves his manhood"?

Who needs tie downs? I do not understand why Mexico is still considered 3rd world?

What do you call 7 guys in a SUV?

Russ was looking for something

The next few pictures were a special moment for our trip. It started off with Mike D (AKA Gob) going into the Mexican outhouse.... This outhouse has to be in the top 5 dirtiest places on earth. Shad thought it would be funny to keep in there for as long as possible. So we all started throwing rocks.....

One of the Rocks went through the wall of the outhouse.... they just dont build them like they used to.

Mike decided to take offense to being hit by a 5 inch rock. I though the picture below was uncalled for.

Zoom in and you can see Mike have a change of attitude once he understood that Shad was only trying to add ventilation to the maggot infested john.

This was our sunset view...

In the end there were only minor injuries and that means it was a great trip!!

Wanting to believe, but.........

2008-08-10T22:20:00.001-07:00

McKee is a great kid. He wants to believe in Santa, the Tooth fairy and Leprechauns. He wants to believe for two reasons, the first reason is the benefit that he gets out of this "game" his parents play with him. The other reason is how much fun he has doing it. We found the bag with his tooth under his pillow with hard hitting questions for this "fairy".

The questions McKee has for the Tooth Fairy are....

What is your name?
What do you do with the Teeth?
Are there other Fairies?
Where do you get the money (to give to the kids)?

Mark had answers... I wonder if he will still wants to believe? (on a side note, who has better penmanship and spelling)?

When Mckee found this note in the morning, he knew when he read the word "hippo" that his dad wrote the note. He now knew for sure that his dad was the tooth fairy (never thought of Mark as much of a fairy). After a few minutes of deliberation I broke down and told him the dirty secrets all of us parents keep from our kids..... He smiled, walked out of the room and said to his dad, "Mom just took all the fun out of the holidays". Mark asked Mck if he even believed in Santa and he said "I knew it wasnt logical, but I wanted to believe".
I feel like a mean mom...

Lukie

2008-07-27T13:40:00.000-07:00

I just returned home last night from Idaho and Utah. Mark flew up to help me drive home and help with the kids during the long drive. As with any family trip, a little bit of bribery goes a long way in keeping kids under control. We stopped at Flying J on the way home, and McKee found what he "has been looking for, forever". He used up his money and the bribery funds, and purchased a fake Letherman $10 pocket knife. Luke knew of the rule that he could not have a pocket knife until he was 8 years old, but decided that he wanted one as well. Mark told him that he would have to wait for 3 years before he could have the "responsibility" of he tool. He looked at if for a minute and then presented his plan. He would not open the plastic package until his 8th birthday. Mark thought it was so funny he let Luke get it. Later that night, Luke woke up and said. "I am so excited" we asked him why and he said. "Dad, its only 3 more years till my birthday".

I think it is safe to say that Luke is a patient optimist.

Memories

2008-07-20T08:53:00.000-07:00

1. As a comment on our blog, leave one memory that you and I (or you and Mark, McKee, Luke or Logan) had together. It doesn't matter if you knew us a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, I'll leave my memory of you in my comments. Responses might be delayed because I am traveling.

Brothers

2008-06-29T13:15:00.000-07:00

Summers are great!! It is lots of fun to see our boys become good friends (not to say they cant become bitter rivals in the blink of an eye). McK and Luke have been good pals for a while, but now Logan is wanting to get in on their little gang. There are a number of years between Logan and Luke, but dont tell Logan, he thinks he is one of the boys.

I put in some older picutres of McK and Luke. It makes you wonder how many things they will see together growing up....

Three little monkeys!! Just have to Love em!

Obi-Wan vs. Superman and the strongest super Hero is..... The oldest of course

They both were hoping that a shark would eat one of the other fish....

I cant dance like Shad Lamm, but who can??

This is Logan pretending to be one of the Big Boys

Luke loving his role as a big brother

Mckee told Luke that "I will protect you if they turn this plane on"

Mark is standing behind McK

Mck is always proud of how fearless Luke is holding bugs and lizards..

This is their favorite hobby.... except maybe catching lizards

The Boys love a big Joshua Tree

Mck and Luke at the Grand Canyon... Logan was almost in the picutre

"Suddenly I see"

2008-06-26T07:40:00.000-07:00

I had Lasik on both of my eyes on Tuesday. I can't believe I won't have Logan smash my glasses into my nose or slap them off of my face. I don't even have to look for my glasses anymore or in most cases have Mark look for them because I couldn't see to find them without my glasses. I feel liberated. Wahoo!!

I wasn't nervous at all for the procedure until I read the disclaimer sheet. It listed blindness and among other things, death. Then, it asked me to sign saying that it was still OK to operate. I probably would have not gone through with it but I had some friends that just had it done and I knew a few people who had it done years ago and they all loved having it done...so being the follower that I am, I signed my life away and wah-la I have new eyes.

It is such an amazing surgery. It took less that 10 minutes for both of my eyes. They give you a Xanax to calm you down so you don't fidget under the laser, which by the way knocked me out and I fell asleep on the table. They put me under one laser that cut open my cornea and under the second laser after they lifted the corneal flap, it put bubbles to re-shape my cornea. Dr. Tooma put the flap back on my eye, and press out any wrinkles with a little sponge. That was pretty much it. Crazy!

The best part.....I got to sleep the rest of the day (with the help of Xanax). I have been looking for an excuse to let me do this since I had kids and I haven't been clever enough to come up with anything legit enough. It was great. Thanks to Mark for making this happen. I think he just didn't want to see me in my auto-darkening grandma glasses anymore, which is fine because even I didn't want to wear them anymore.

"My Twins"

2008-06-18T23:12:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure how to begin with this one, but after numerous comments and questions, I've come to the conclusion that there is a matter that needs to be addressed. Let's start from the beginning. There was a picture posted on Shad and Lizzie's blog that revealed to many that I may have been sporting a new "Rack". Much to my amazement, I have gotten a lot of attention (unwanted of course) from this controversy...."Are they real or not?".

I want to share where I got my new "friends". I went to a renowned body sculpting artist known as Victoria Secret. The cost for this augmentation was a little more than what I wanted to pay, but this was definitely something you shouldn't go cheap on right? At $39.95, I was pleased with my new look and would recommend it to anyone. As for the procedure, it was a little painful...as I really do hate to shop, but overall, by making this decision, my quality of life has been up-lifted and I feel I was supported in my decision.

Now, to pave the road for future conversations. If I ever do decide to have an augmentaion or as I call it "putting things back in their original positions", Mark is the only one that will every truly know. And in my own original fighting words "SO THERE!"

OK, so I did not want to put the picture back out there (in fact I asked my friend Lizzie to take it down from her blog a couple of weeks ago).... but I feel it is the only way to halt the discussion. Just so you all know, this is embarrassing to me as I feel people will judge me!

Note to self:
Remember to wear large, sparkley, dangley, type earings to put the focus higher.

Global Warming

2008-06-11T18:46:00.000-07:00

I did not believe in global warming, but I think this is proof that Al Gore is 100% correct and that the debate is over! This is a ski resort in the Salt Lake City area, and I can tell you that if we do not act NOW, the Polar Bears in Salt Lake City will DIE! Once we lose the SLC Polar Bears, the Cape Buffalo, Caribou and Zebra populations will go out of control, this will of course cause more methane gas and which warms the earth even more. Traffic deaths from these rouge beasts will increase 20 fold. Then the Children will die from Global Warming (dehydration or drowning). The increased noise from the traffic accidents and global warming induced gun violence will cause an increase the gravitational pull of Earth. This will cause a comet to change course and crash into our planet. Only then will humans understand! We must act now and stop listening to conservatives fear mongering about perceived threats like terrorist and other silly things. ACT NOW! This is to logical to ignore!

Popular Re-run

2008-06-11T18:17:00.000-07:00

Now that Shad has moved away from us, I think it important to send him off in style.

Enjoy Shad Lamm.......

Washington DC

I love DC!! It is my favorite city in the world and the recent trip only made me love it that much more. I do not want to spend alot of time writing, but before you click the Youtube below, MAKE SURE YOU ARE OVER THE AGE OF 18!

Happy 70th Birthday DAD!

2008-06-05T20:37:00.000-07:00

May 7th-11th, 2008

Behind the scenes there was a lot of buzzing going on as we all were coordinating a surprise party for my Dad for his 70th birthday. Thank you to all who worked so hard to pull the party off. It was so fun and so many family and friends where there. Thank you Ronz who did an amazing slide show of Dads life.

I decided to fly to Utah a few days early to spend some extra time with my siblings. I was just going to hang out at the condo but the day before I left, I got a light-bulb idea to drive to my sister Michele's house in Wyoming. It sounded a bit crazy at the time because I was traveling with the kids with out my hubby because the plane tickets that worked around Marks schedule cost $850, hundreds more than mine and the boys tickets cost put together, argg!! Anyway, the kids and I had a wonderful time. Michele let her kids play hookie from school and all the kids played till they dropped. Between the trampoline in the back yard and the park directly accross the street, my kids were in play heaven.

My favorite part was just talking with my sister. I enjoyed every minute of chatting with Michele. Her ears were probably very tired when we finally went to bed. Sorry Chele. But I have to say the kids favorite part of Wyoming was helping their cousins feed their 4-H pigs. Now, you would think because I was raised on a farm that my kids would know about animals and be so familiar with them. Yes, it is sad to say that most of their exposure has come from a book. Unfortunately my kids are city slickers.

Playing in the pig pen here is a little different than their pig pen bedroom back in Cali.

Lukie prided in making funning faces every time I tried to take a picture. I had to get sneaky with my shots.

Here Michele is working her tail off while I'm acting busy while taking pictures of the kids.

Logan wanted to take his cousin for a ride, but luckily for Mallary, he wasn't strong enough to move the wheelbarrow.
These two were just so cute together, unless Logan wanted to show who was stronger, then poor little Mallary wasn't an even match for Logan the heavyweight.
Here is another one of Lukies poses. The "I'm adorable right?" pose is what I think was the look he was going for.

After the rendezvous in Wyoming. I drove back to Utah. I picked Suz and spent all day with her on Friday running errands and getting things done. It was so nice to catch up on her life and....she probably got an ear full as well. I liked having one on one time with my siblings, I feel you get to know them better. It can get pretty chaotic when we all get together after all there are nine of us and if you mix in all the kids then just forget about a quiet room in the house. All of my brothers and sisters (sans Trevor) got together at the condo. I had a great time. The kids loved playing with their cousins. My kids don't even acknowledge that I exist when cousins are around. Sometimes that is nice but sometimes I start to feel like what an empty nester might feel. Here are a few of the pics while we were at the condo.

Suz and Breanne. Little Breannes skin was tinted orange because she ate so many sweet potatoes. I wonder if I could eat something that would make me look tan?

Here Madison is being the beautician on her aunt Chele.

Logan was passing out the vitamin waters to all who would accept. Paige ended up accepting most of his donations and then would pass them back up the line back to the case of vitamin waters. I don't think he caught on because he did this for about a half hour, thinking he was sharing with everybody. We all had a good laugh.
Jay was trying to make 3 women happy at once. Amazingly enough he had no problems with this tough crowd.

Dal and Misty holding down the fort.

Now for the birthday surprise. Drum roll please. Sorry this is quite a long post but a lot went down this week.

We all headed out to Roosevelt on Saturday afternoon. Suz and I barely made it there in the nick of time. I guess I should have budged extra time so when we came to a stopped fire-engine that was putting out a boat fire, I would have had time to watch it and not be stressed. Pretty bizarre. Well, we managed to get there about 10 minutes before Dad did. We quietly waited at the stake center waiting for dad to arrive.

Russ and Ran had the door covered waiting to jump. Then.....well Dad ended up coming through the back door. You could tell he was shocked. I think it took him a bit to figure out what was going on. Here is a video of the initial surprise. I have to apologize because I was really excited and emotional and I forgot I was filming and so the camera is all over the place. And yes I sound really loud...sorry. Its the only video I have and I would love it if any of my siblings that have pictures or video to send it to me and I'll replace it with the one I have. I'm definitely not made for the media business.

Me, my boys and my Grandma Watkins (my dads mom). I can only hope I can as mentally sharp as she is at her age.

A rare siblings only picture. We are missing Trevor here.

A picture with the birthday boy and little Breanne was having nothing to do with anyone else but her mom.

Do you really want a Buzz Lightyear??

2008-05-10T23:18:00.001-07:00

Persistence

The problem with persistence is that it is such a great trait to have when we are adults but can be very annoying to us adults when our children are "practicing" this important attribute.

Persistence is something that Mark insists that our children learn. I have to brainwash myself into agreeing with him. But after the boys have asked me for the 10th time for something that I have said "NO" to, I'm not so sure it is a trait that I like quite as much. Especially with McKee, "No" is the beginning of the negotiation. "NO" does not mean no, it means "I have not come at this situation at the right angle" or "I have not asked in the right way". I think my kids continue with the "annoying" trait because Mark always gives them positive feedback when they outsmart their Mom, not to be confused with disobedience, because he is definitely backs me up there. Mark just loves to see how clever they are in asking for the same thing in different ways.

As this old video of our little ol' Mck (age 2) demonstrates, he came out of the womb persistent. It is fun to see how a two year old turned the tables on Mark. If I remember correctly, Mark was questioned a number of times about how Santa could really bring this new gift (an elephant) that was even better then a Buzz Lightyear...... I loved seeing how the hunter became the hunted and how all of a sudden Mark needed to be the clever one in explaining Santa's limited "capabilities". In the end, a little know how of Santa's Sled weight limit rule that Mark found on page 34 paragraph 8 in the Santa's handbook from Santa's website is what saved the day. It clearly goes into weight limits for gifts but thankfully allowed Santa to be as hefty as he likes.

And yes, in the end McK got his Buzz.

I love the whole world!

2008-05-05T23:53:00.000-07:00

I have to admit that the Discovery Channel's commercial: I Love the Whole World, is one of my all time favorites. It gets me right down to my soul whenever I see it. I could see it over and over and never get tired of it. I don't know why but tears start to well in my eyes and I start feeling all tingly inside. I've thought that maybe is it the music that brings me back to my childhood days and brings the flood of memories of elementary school and music class....ahhh back when life was magical and there were so many things to wonder about. Yes it is true that I have bonded with some of the shows it advertises like Dirty Jobs, Survivor Man, Deadliest Catch, Myth Busters, various animal documentaries, etc., yup pretty much everything on the Discovery Channel. But I think most of all, I watch in awe, definitely humbled to see the amazing creatures and creations God has made and feeling (through the tingling and singing along with the commercial at the top of my lungs) of how blessed I am that I get to be a part this amazing world. How awesome is that!

Grand Canyon

2008-04-13T16:18:00.001-07:00

If only we could tie our children up to an old hitchen post.....

Here are some pictures of the Grand Canyon from last weeks trip. The Cowboy hats were the best part of the Trip. Mark did not want the kids to get burned so he put a historical story about how the hat was the Cowboys best friend in the west, even more important then their gun.... you could not get the hats off the boys after that.

This is a walkway 4000 ft above the canyon floor. Logan and Mark were fearless.... The rest of us had to walk very slowly.

The Boys were getting way to close to the edge for me..

We've been tagged!

2008-04-07T10:50:00.000-07:00

I think we've been tagged before but we didn't know how to play the blog tag game. Now that we think we know how to play, here it goes...

How did you meet your spouse? I met Mark at a intro class called Survival at Utah State University. We weren't in the same class at the time but some of his friends were in my class. I was introduced to him through them even thought he basically says that he stole me from them. It sounds like I'm an object or something. Well...... ya know, I am a trophy wife.

Where did you go on your first date? Marks memory is better at these types of details. All I remember about our first date is the chinese take out container with his phone number written on top. I guess that was impressive enough for me because I went on many more dates with him, and yada, yada, yada, we're married with 3 boys.

How long have you been together? Technically we've known each other for 15 years but have been married for 11 years from this past March.

Who eats more? uh? Mark.

Who said I love you first? He did. When he first started saying "I love you", I used to say "I know" or "Thank You." but I've learned to share the love more easily.

Who is taller? We're neck and neck. Mark is only 10 inches taller than I am. It's too close to call.

Who sings better? Mark sings louder and I sing more often but neither of us can carry a tune. Which hasn't stopped us from thinking that we have what it takes to be on American Idol.

Who is smarter? Mark. Even the kids think Mark is smarter than me. I won't even argue this one.

Who does the laundry? Only I do. Mark and I only fight over 2 things in our marriage and laundry is one of them. No, people, get your mind out of the gutter, sex is not the other one. I dare say he has done a couple of loads of laundry since we've been married.

Who does the dishes? I do, but sometimes I can bribe my boys to do them.

Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Mark does, that side of the canoe is deeper.

Who pays the bills? Funny enough I do even though his profession is a financial advisor.

Who mows the lawn? Mario, and what a fine job he does.

Who cooks dinner? I do, but when we go out to dinner I let Mark take the credit.

Who drives when you are together? Usually Mark does unless he has just purchased a new gadget and is trying to figure it out and then he hands over the reins.

Who is more stubborn? Neither of us are are very stubborn, but Mark gets his way more often.

Who is the first to admit when they’re wrong? Definitely Mark because he is usually wrong.

Who kissed who first? Mark kissed me. It all went down at the Utah Theater. Really, who can turn down a man who shows up at my doorstep with the pimped ride of the Seitec truck (The Seitec truck was a u-Haul truck but white, that Marks parents used for their business.), then he pays for my movie at the dollar show....AND he had Diet Coke breath? Simply irresistable.

Who proposed? Mark did. He wined and dined me at El Sol. Then he took me to the Logan temple and dropped the question. It was simple and so sweet.

Who is more sensitive? I am, unless were watching a movie, then Mark becomes the baul baby.

Who has more friends? Mark is friends with pretty much anybody who smiles at him but our friends are the same.

Who has more siblings? Marks family of 12 siblings out does my family of 11. (I am including ourselves and our parents in that number.)

Who wears the pants? This is a no brainer....Mark. He's pretty much wrapped around my finger though so this doesn't threaten me.

We tag Linda, Kolette, and Lizzie.

'Ey Mattie

2008-04-01T08:36:00.000-07:00

How does a 16 month little boy scratch his eye? I couldn't answer that, but somehow Logan did. We started noticing that he was favoring that eye and always trying to keep it closed. He was a grumpy one. I took him to see the doc, who by the way is wonderful. I had to pin Logan down so the doc could put an orange dye in is eye. Oh, he was sooo mad. Mad enough that he held his breath so long that he turned blue and passed out. It was scary but I was kinda of glad that the doc saw it because lately when Logan gets mad he has been doing that. Anyway the doc said it was normal and not to worry but to keep watch were he gets into one of his fits so he doesn't pass out and fall off something or on something and injure himself.

Once we got the dye in his eye, you could plainly see what the doc called a large cornea abrasion. It is extrememly painful and won't heal without medication and a patch. So for the past couple of days Logan has been our little Pirate. He kinda of liked the pirate patch on his eye but hated the band-aid eye patch.
I didn't realize how having two good eyes effected your balance. We had a few sorry laughs when he ran into random objects around the house because his depth perception was so off. I'm glad that it is healing fast and he is doing so much better.

On a side note Logan has such a cute yet dominate personality. Yesterday, Mark was hooking up our water purifier when Logan decided he wanted to be held. He retrieved his favorite toy, the X-Box game controller, squeezed behind a small smace behind the fridge and plunked himself right smack in the middle of Marks project and sat on his lap. He thought he was so clever and he was. We all had a good laugh though Marks project was delayed till bedtime.

2008 Easter Celebrations

2008-03-24T22:30:00.000-07:00

Saturday we went to the Billmans for an egg hunt. It was such a fun time. We got to see the Homecs which is always a treat. But I can say that this easter is best summed up by the pictures. So enjoy!

Logan was happy with an easter egg in each hand.

There was a limit of 10 eggs per kid. As you can tell Luke multiplied his limit by 3.

McKee tried to push Mark into the pool. Luckily Mark is a heavy weight.

The Easter Spirit put some air in Luke's step. Note... he is literally walking on air not the water.

McK and Luke got sunburned. Unfortunately that is inevitable when your kids skin is opaque.

What is Easter anyways without a good swordfight?

Our Little Helpers. Gotta Love em!

2008-03-15T14:04:00.000-07:00

I went to bed at 6:00pm last night. I felt crummy and left the kids and the house up to Mark. Not to my surprise, I woke this morning to WWIII in the kitchen and family room. Now, for those of you know us, you know this is not an uncommon occurance and when I say it looked like WWIII, I am not exaggerating. I wish I had a before picture to prove it. Well, I had no energy to deal with it. I complained a little and said "Mck and Luke, you guys have to clean the kitchen today". There was some weeping, wailing, and nashing of teeth. I left to put Logan to bed, and Mark went to clean the car when I came back down the stairs I found the kitchen taped off. McK would not let me look in. One thing I love about McK is that he can be very creative in how he accomplishes some of his chores. I left again for about 20 min. It got a little to quiet so I went down to check and this is what I found.

"Don't go in the kitchen and I'm at Donnys house, don't go in the kitchen"

McKee and Luke had cleaned the kitchen and family surprisingly well. They had vacuumed and mopped the floor, wiped of the counters taken dirty clothes to the laundry room, and put away all the toys. Just look at how good it looks.
Thank you McKee and Luke for helping your mother stay sain today!

The results are back.

2008-03-11T22:54:00.000-07:00

Over the years I started noticing that what he ate and how often he ate really affected his behavior. I've been really careful about not giving him treats and feeding him more often but it seems that lately nothing I was trying was working. Mark and I decided to have him tested to see if we could figure out what was up. He had to fast for 12 hours which all by itself was a trial because he is so emotional and defyant when he needs food. They had to test him 5 different times and each time I had to pin Luke down as the nurse took a vile of blood. This was one of the harder things I had to do in my life. It is extremely difficult to see your child in emotional stress and pain and know that you are helping out what he considers "the bad guys". We got the results the next day. He has hypoglycemia. This didn't come as a shock. Mark and I had suspected it for a while but it was good to know exactly what it was so we can learn how to treat it correctly. Hypoglycemia is basically low blood sugar. He pancreas overproduces insulin which creates the low blood sugar. This is the root of all (or most) of his rollercoaster emotions. He is on a special diet where he can't have any processed foods, or sugars, no white flours or simple carbs. It is the diabetic diet with 6 meals a day. Somedays I feel I do a pretty good job at keeping my head in the game, but there is the occasional day that I don't do a good job and then I'm quickly reminded that I can't slack. When I don't pay attention to what he is eating it seems those are the days he crashes. He gets hyper, then gets emotional, then he falls asleep....what we call the crash.

He is pretty good about what he can eat and what he can't. At first when we took sugars out, he had a hard time understanding why other people could eat sugar and he couldn't. You would often hear him say "dont' eat that, that's got sugar and it'll make you sick." Now, he doesn't seem to mind so much anymore infact, today at Costco, he picked out some cookies and said "Mom, let's get cookies OK? I won't eat any. Lets get some for our friends. OK?" (the friends he is refering to is Aunt Angie, and her friends Natalie and Tara). At this point, I melted. Even though I didn't want a box of cookies in my home (mostly because I thought I could eat them all) I couldn't help but say yes. His is such a sweet and tender little one. We sure do love our little Lukie.

Our dear "Lukie"

2008-03-11T13:08:00.000-07:00

Luke is a very special little guy!

He has one of the more tender and kind hearts I've ever seen in a boy, He can be so charming and loveable when we have his blood sugar in check, he basically gets away with everything because he is so darn cute. For example, on Monday, I was begging him to play a game with me. He refused.

"Do you want to play soccer with Mom?".

His reply...

"NO."

"Can we read a couple of books together?"

"NO."

"Do you want to watch a movie together?"

"NO."

"Write a letter to Grandma & Grandpa?"

"Play Cars?"

"NO."

At this point I was about ready to give up but I told him that he had to do something with me today and that he could pick anything he wanted to do. In desperation I asked "How about we make cookies together?" He suddenly perks up and asks "Can we make cookies at Lizzies house?" I told him that was a good idea, but he needs to play with me and not Lizzie, so he needed to pick something that he and I could do together. He then asked "How about I write a letter to Lizzie?" "That sounds like a great idea." He wrote Lizzie a letter that went something like this...

Lizzie,

I like to swim.

I love cookies.

I was so proud of him. He wrote 90% of the letters himself. He put some of his "sugar-free" candy in an envelope. He then ran upstairs and came down with a $10 bill from his savings jar. I tried to convince him that he didn't need to do all of this for Lizzie but he said "Mom, I want to, it's OK, it only buys just toys."

It was all he could think about for the next day. He asked every 20 minutes if Lizzie was home so he could give it to her. He was so excited he could barely stand it. Every time we would talk about it, he would wear his smirk which is something like pursing your lips so you can hold down a smile. We keep telling him that its OK to smile, but he smirks anyway.

We were able to deliver the letter the next day. He was squirming with joy. His little spirit could barely contain himself. I was pretty proud of him as well.

Logan our Little Ham

2008-02-24T22:11:00.000-08:00

I'd dare say Logan is our little ham in more than one way. As you can tell by the pictures he is...to put it gently...in the plus sizes. In addition, he is so funny. He tries to make you laugh with his more than obvious fake laugh. He'll squeal, and babble to get your attention, or come up and slap you and then laugh. He is such a delight to have around. I love to see his exploring his world. He is now saying a few words such a bahbah (bottle), mama(mom) da(dad), bah(everything else) as he points. The cutest is that he also knows a few signs. He knows "eat" and "milk" (which means bottle for him). Funny that both the signs he knows relate to food, I wonder if it correlates to his chubbiness? When he signs eat, he tries to tap his mouth but half the time he slaps his face somewhere else, including his ear. I seems to me that he is a smart little tyke, yes I'm biased. For example he has picked up that "see ya later" means "bye" and vice versa and he'll wave by moving both hands up and down without moving his wrists. Its so cute to watch. He has learned that night, night means he gets a bahbah and he'll start touching his fingers against his thumb. He knows what his formula can looks like and will bring it to me saying uh..uh..uh. He gets mad when he can't go everywhere McK and Luke go and thinks he is one of the big boys.

He is definitely a mess maker. He loves to unload the tupperware cupboard, then he moves on to the toy box, after he unloads that, he proceeds to unload the dishwasher and the plastic drawer as he sits in it. I found is so cute but not so much anymore because he is pretty heavy and has sunk the bottom our of the drawer.

2008-02-19T23:16:00.000-08:00

McKee was baptized on Saturday February 16, 2008.

It was definitely a busy day but a wonderful day at that. McKee has been so excited to be baptized even before he turned 8, almost to the point of annoying. I didn't realize how much work went into planning a baptism. Luckily every thing seem to fall into place and the whole evening turned out to be so wonderful.

We got to the church early which is an anomaly for us. We were delayed from starting on time due to a very stinky Logan. Linda ran out to the van to quickly change him while I continued to play prelude music. When they returned we got started with the program. After Brenda so kindly helped lead the music and said an opening prayer, Linda spoke on "baptism". She started asking questions directed towards McK. Before McK could open his mouth Luke would shout out the answer. Luke was on the edge of his seat, not taking his eyes of Grandma, waiting with baited breath for the next question. It was so darn cute to see him totally enthusiastic and he even answered every question correct. I guess he is getting this from somewhere, I didn't think he listened to his parents. After a while of this, I started feeling bad for McK because Luke was stealing the show. Everyone was chuckling at his enthusiasm. I even tried to quiet Luke a bit so McK could get an answer in or two, but it wasn't working. When Linda finished I was a bit relieved so that Mck could be back in the lime light, after all it was his night.

He and Mark went into the font. Mark did a good job and only had to dunk him once(thank goodness). We were worried since the last guy he baptized he had to do it over again I think 5 times. When Mark and McK returned from changing their clothes, Sid spoke on the "Holy Ghost". I found it quite entertaining because he told a story about Mark (in front of the bishop and his counselor) about how Mark had bought gas comming home from church on Sunday. Not only did he buy gas, but he went in and bought himself a twinkie (who is surprised here?). Sid went on to tell us that McK called out Mark on his actions and then asked "now how did the twinkie taste?". Everyone was laughing and I was marveling on how my children got to be so smart (of course I can say that, I'm the mom). Its true McK likes his world very black and white. He has a very hard time when his parents tell him "do as I say, not as I do".

Grandpa McKee confirmed McKee. This was Marks idea and I found it so sweet. I think it will make it a very memorial experience for both Grandpa and Grandson.

All in all, it was a wonderful evening. Grandma & Grandpa Thatcher came in from Anaheim. Grandma & Grandpa McKee made the long drive down from Tridell. Russell and Paige came in from LA. It was so wonderful to have family in and I really appreciate their sacrifice to come and support our little family. I felt so empty when they left.

I'm really proud of McKee. He really is such a good boy. I really believe that there is something to him being the first child. He is such a good example and for the most part, the best big brother a boy could be.

McK's 1st Pinewood Derby or School of Hard Knocks?

2008-02-18T19:57:00.000-08:00

February 15th, 2008.

Mark, McKee, and I went to the Pinewood Derby on Friday. We arrived just in time with only a few minutes to have the car inspected, tape on a few weights.

They introduced Mckee as the newest scout and went through some awards. Then the race began and McKee's car was to be the first to race.

McKee's car was pretty darn fast. Of course he won the first race... Mark and I assumed.

But just as it crossed the finish line one of the older scouts called out "Those wheels are not the right wheels" My heart sank. I could see Mckee's face go from total elation of victory to devastation and disqualification. You could see that he was devastated and was trying to hold back the tears.

Now let me get you a little background on what happenend previously during the week. We were given a pinewood derby car kit that was missing one nail. Mark went down to the hobby shop and got some weights, nails (which came in a bag with wheels), paint, etc. I had talked to one of the scout leaders and he had mentioned that the nails of the hobby shop were the same so I didn't worry about getting the exact nail out of the kit. Not paying attention to what nails came with what wheels, I carefully aligned the wheels and nailed them as straight as I could to the car. I was completely unaware that they were not regulation wheels.

Back to the Pinewood Derby. At this point, McK could not hold back the tears. Neither could I. We went out in the hall and bawled. I felt awful that I had not paid attention and put on the wrong wheels. He felt bad because he had been disqualified and he had been accused of cheating when he didn't. We cried a while and lucky for us no one saw. Brother Risk was very kind and gave us a second chance and allowed us to put on regulation wheels. Mark quickly put on the wheels with no time to align and balance. We raced again and crossed our fingers. Unfortunately we did not win. McK was sad again. Mark saw an opportunity to teach a wonderful lesson. He said "McKee, you need to learn to be happy for other peoples success and learn from them so next time you will be the successful one." McK thought about it for a minute, took a deep sigh in, fought back a few tears and took it like a true gentleman. He is an amazing boy. One of the things we love about McKee is that you can reason with him. You can explain things and he understands it. Before long McK was running around cheering for the others and having a wonderful time.

You might say it was a bittersweet night. McKee's emotions definitely went for a rollercoaster ride (so did mine) but I wouldn't trade it for anything because the opportunity to teach a great lesson is so precious. In the end McK got a ribbon for "the most creative".

After the Derby, we took McK to Red Robin. McK was glowing. You could see how special he felt. He said "thank you" probably 50 times. I would recommend taking your child on a date with just mom and dad. It's amazing how special they feel.

Missed the Tree Burning

2008-01-02T19:04:00.000-08:00

Well this year, we missed a major event at the Thatcher home. The tree burning! The truth is, that it is probably better that we missed it. I am not sure what message that it is sending to my 3 boys. Grown men dancing around a pile of dead trees, pouring gasoline all over them, and then topping it with the dead evergreen tree, then setting a blaze. Not exactly the smartest family tradition. But then again they are my in-laws and I can't do much about it. The Thatchers just think they are so creative, but what they don't know is that Red Necks have been doing this for the last 100 years.

Dust to Glory

2007-11-25T20:45:00.001-08:00