The Book of Ben Chapter 2:30-34*

30. And it came to pass that in those days, Bens two front teeth were very loose. And the number of teeth that were loose, was two. And Ben, being very young and uneducated in the ways of the world, didn't want them to come out. But his mother, seeing that they were ready, caused that she should grab one with a tissue and yank. Now this tooth was the looser of the two. But behold, it didn't come all the way out. It caused only that it stuck straight out. Now this caused much sorrow to Ben. There was much of wild eyes and gnashing of the tooth. Insomuch that his lamenting did cause that his little baby sister was scared and she had great sorrow, and many tears were shed on his behalf.

32. But behold, his mother didn't give up. Therefore, after some boldness of speech and Ben hearing that these were the ways of our fathers, and our fathers fathers, he had calmed down some. And his mother took the tooth with another tissue and pushed inward. Thus the tooth was freed from it's great and terrible grasp.

33. And Ben wept.

34. And there was much rejoicing in all that were present. And behold, it pleased his mother greatly to see this thing that had come to pass. And Ben caused that he should place his tooth under his pillow so that the Tooth Fairy should visit that night. Notwithstanding all that had gone on that night, the other tooth is still in and still loose. And lo, Ben will probably not allow that it also should be pulled any time soon.

(* Get it? 2:30 = tooth hurty? AhHAHahahahaha!)

(I may or may not have stolen that from a Laffy Taffy wrapper.)

Happy face

Addie has the funniest, goofiest "happy face" I've ever seen. As soon as I ask, where's your happy face? she makes this face:

Big softie

I have been known to have America's light rock favorites programmed in my car. I am not ashamed to admit it. It's for those times when I let the ipod battery die (which is more often than I would like) (and "let" doesn't mean that I wanted it to happen) (it just means that I forgot to charge it). I can't just have silence. What am I going to do with all that quiet? Think? Meditation is just not my thing. So it's time to turn on the radio. I can never just leave my radio on one station, I have to constantly move through my six buttons to make sure that I have the least annoying song to listen to. When that goes to commercial or just starts playing a really bad song, I need to see what else is out there on the radio waves.

I could never just leave the station that plays soft hits from the 70's 80's and 90's on permanently because I don't like most of what they play. But you just never know when you're going to come upon a gem like Total Eclipse of the Heart (Bonnie Tyler) or Say You, Say Me (Lionel Ritchie). It's pure luck when I get to have Heart singing their hearts out in my car to These Dreams. I melt into a puddle of heaven when I hear Phil Collins singing Against All Odds or In The Air Tonight. I squeal with joy when I can listen to OMD's If You Leave, REO Speedwagon's Can't Fight This Feeling Anymore, or Chicago's You're the Inspiration (let's face it, any Chicago song will do).

I'm pretty sure that you will agree with me when I say that these songs are gems. Beautiful, glittery gems that sometimes blind you when the sun hits them just right. I wish that they played all of these songs in a row, but it is not to be. I must leave the station as soon as the next song comes on and then just take my chances another day, another time. It's like playing the lottery. Sometimes I lose, sometimes I win big time.

But it's during these times when I find the last half of a Thompson Twins song or an Air Supply song that I remember, Ahhh, yes. This is the very reason that I keep button number 5. I like me some soft hits sometimes.

The wait is over

I once said that I could name all of my elementary teachers just from memory. And I know that you've waited too long and are dying of excitement now that I am going to do it. Who were they? Tell us! you say. Well here it goes:

Kindergarten: Mrs. Jacobson - happy, kind, loving, (jolly!) the best kind of Kindergarten teacher.

1st grade: Mrs. Pinney - stern, don't remember her ever smiling. I was jealous of everyone who had Miss Nielson. She was so nice and pretty.

2nd: Mrs. Kelly - I remember what she looked like but I don't remember much else about her.

3rd: Mrs. Ball - classmates said her husband's name was Harry. Seriously! It really does start that young. Scary. My daughter's starting 3rd this year.

4th: Mrs. Akagi - she was as tall as some of the students. She wasn't Japanese but her husband was.

5th: Miss Tuft - I was worried once because I lost some certain paper that we all needed, and I told her so she could help me, and she got mad at me for losing it. She made me cry in front of the whole class and I've never forgotten it. She came through the drive-thru (is that how you spell that?) of a bank that I worked for years later. Still single. Still ugly. Yeah, I know that's mean but she was mean first. People who yell at good little girls are ugly inside and out. Plus she really is a homely person. She was looking at me through the window of the bank like she recognized me but I pretended like I had no idea who she was. Ha ha! It felt good. In a bad sort of way.

6th: Mr. Stavros - everyone liked him. he was loud, funny and nice. He called me "Mac" since my last name started with Mc.

I know that some of you might not think of remembering all your elementary teachers' names is a talent, but I do. A talent of memory. A talent of cleverness. A talent of beauty and smarts all rolled into one. Yes. I have that talent.

Ouch!

Good thing we've got a chiropractor in the family.

To my brothers Ari and Eric:

Remember when we used to always make these houses? I still like to make them. I made this one with Ben the other day.

Ben made that cool wheel chair all by himself.

Watching a little television by the fire pit that Ben built. The tall gray and yellow thing is a light fixture made by Ben also.

Oh look, Obi Wan is hungry. Hope he can find something in the fridge to munch on.

Young Anakin can choose whichever room he wants. Upstairs room,

or downstairs. The downstairs is a little cooler though.

And finally, you can't forget this room for when nature calls.

Does this girl look 32?

Don't answer that! It's just strange. Really strange. But it's true.
Post script: does anyone else have to do math to figure out how old you are these days? I can never remember.

Biology minute

Did you know that yawning is your body's way of getting rid of extra carbon dioxide? (At least that's one theory that a high school teacher shared with us.) If you think about it, during a yawn, you bring in lots of oxygen and then breathe out as far as you can. When you are bored or tired you are breathing more shallow and so you don't rid yourself of enough carbon dioxide. When you fall asleep, you breathe deeply and so... no more yawning. Also, when you are up doing things and/or talking you are breathing deeply. So next time you can't stop yawning try breathing deep. Especially the breathing out part.

Isn't it weird that you can make yourself yawn though? Like when your ears get plugged during ascending and descending. When I read books to my kids and the character yawns, I can make the perfect sound effect with a (real) yawn of my own. And isn't it weird that yawning is contagious? I think so.

The 4th

We drove up to Jackson Hole for the 4th of July weekend. It is such a pretty drive. We met up with my brother Eric and his wife Tagen and all of her family and my sister Sinika and her husband Adam and camped in a campground in Alpine, Wy.
These are pics of Brian's sister's family cabin in Star Valley. I tried to move them to the end of the post but it wouldn't let me for some reason.

Here are the camping pictures. Right when we got there there was a downpour of rain. We thought it was a precursor to the whole weekend, but it cleared up.

A little game of throwy-golf-ball-on-a-rope anyone?

Ben got to have a fun ride on the 4-wheeler with Tagen's cousin Dallin.

Aww, it looks like they are all happily asleep. I wish they really were by that time but they are just posing. Actually, Elli and Ben were very good at going to sleep. It was little Addie that had to crawl all over everyone 500 times before she decided to sleep.

Elli got to ride this horse. Isn't she a beauty? That's why her name is Beauty. She has one brown eye and one blue eye. When we got home Elli made this likeness of her out of some game pieces.

I rode a horse too, (for a short ride) but there will be no pictures of me riding on here due to the reasons given in the previous post. The muffin was extra risen and the pants were threatening rippance.

The typical Jackson Hole picture.

Fun with glow sticks.

The most important part of the trip (according to my husband) : meeting our cow. Yep. We are the proud owners of a cow. His name is Jerky. Beef Jerky. Who knows, maybe this will be the thing that turns me into a vegetarian. It is a life long dream of my husbands to own a cow. His other dream would be for it to live close enough to us that he could milk it every day and have fresh milk. But alas, he is too far away from us. Plus he is a male cow. He is living in Wyoming on some family's-family's land.

Speaking of ripping pants...

I like food. Alright, I LOVE food. And food loves me. That must be why it likes to hang around me. (Mostly my middle section.)

I do love food that's good for me. I love vegetables and fruit. I like whole wheat bread and I eat meat sparingly. I love freshly made juices, orange being my favorite and carrot-apple coming in a close second.

But I also love anything with cream (ice, whipped, or sour)... or butter... or sugar. And don't even think about giving me any of the light crap. I know, I know. Not the best things for a body. So that's why I have about 20 extra pounds on my short self. I just can't go without the delectable deliciousness of bad/good food. (Bad being bad for me, good being sooooo yummy.) So I guess I just need to get comfy with how I am.

I do go jogging 3 times a week. I could definitely push myself a little harder while jogging. But I'd hate to think what I would look like if I did no jogging at all.

I'm just sayin'. That's why. If you were wondering why I have major muffin top, full face and tottering triceps. That's why.

The mind of a 6 year old

Ben heard someone say on a commercial: "That is what is called creating a diversion." Always thinking of what he's going to make when he's a grown up roboticist he said: "Maybe when I grow up I will create a diversion. I really hope I can create a diversion."

And then as we were driving home a few days ago he asked: "When are we ever going to get to our village?"

It happened...

And it's never happened before. At least that I can remember. It happened while I was crouching down, sweeping up under the baby's eating area. I heard it. A terrible sound, really. A sound of many bonds breaking. It made me gasp and freeze.

I had ripped my pants.

Guess it's time to lay off the chocolate enrobed macadamia clusters.

Smells like teen spirit

I just got some new deodorant. It is Dove wild rose or something like that. And it really smells like teen spirit. Did you ever use that kind of deodorant when you were a teenager? I did. I loved all the fruity and fresh flavors (or scents). At church the other day someone walked past me and I thought, ooh, they smell good. And then I realized, hey, that's me that smells like that. It always takes me a while to get used to a new deodorant. Next time you see me you should smell my armpits. They really do smell like Teen Spirit.

(Did Kurt Cobain name his song after the deodorant? Or did the deodorant name themselves after the song? Or is it just a huge coincidence and they have nothing to do with each other? I'll never know.)

Kids + squirting water = pure joy

Air show

We went to the Air Force air show on Saturday. After the hour walk into the base, it was quite fascinating. I have such a respect for the Air Force. I mean, I love all of our military, but when I see one of the Air Force pilots, I am just awe struck. They have to work so hard and they are so smart and they fly those planes so amazingly. And it's all to protect our country. That's all I could think about the whole time I was there. It was very cool to see. It was the most perfect weather. Sunny with a nice cool breeze.

Of course I didn't get any good pictures.

Here is a plane flying away.

I tried to get one of it coming back again but it was landing then.

I'm not so good with taking pictures when I only have a small window of opportunity to get a good shot. For example:
Here is Ben walking away after posing with his preschool teacher. (I had my camera set on video.) - May 2008

My brother Eric receiving his Doctor of Chiropractic diploma - Dec 2008

Elli receiving her trophy for participating in a play - May 2009

I guess I wouldn't be a good professional photographer.

While I was at the air show, my tan turned into a golden bronze. It looks really good. Unfortunately, it's in the shape of a shirt:

(above - not a real picture of me)

But my legs got nothing. I don't know what it is. My legs never get ANY color. I look like I have two different people's skins. And it stays like that the entire summer. What the heck?! I do wear shorts people. And sometimes a swimsuit.

Color on the left: my arm. Color on the right: my leg. Scary, I know.