My manager sent this to me right before the holiday break. Reminded me of being in Mr. Herbert's AIA class, although I don't think we ever attempted one of these logic problems that was quite so difficult. For me, this kind of stuff is fun. It was good exercise for my brain, too. Check it out.
http://www.manbottle.com/trivia/einstein_s_riddle
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Now That I'm Here, Now That You're Near . . .
Last night, I went roller skating. My husband's cousins and their kids came to town for the day and there were like 5 million kids at my in-laws' house. The kids were going crazy, someone brave came up with the idea for the 14 of us to go to the roller rink and off we went. Alek had never been on skates and I hadn't been for I don't know how many years, so we were brilliant, naturally.
Alek and I share the unenviable trait of giving up easily. Something doesn't come to us naturally? Not worth doing. Move on. Alek fell down a lot last night. After about one full minute of roller skating, he was near tears and said he didn't want to do it anymore. I thought he was going to sit on a bench all night. But after a little rest, he came back out onto the rink. He used the wall a lot, then he would try skating on his own, then he would fall down. He kept this up for two hours.
He improved over the course of the evening, although I am not sure we can call what he was doing skating. He would run on his skates for several steps and then roll for a while, waving his arms like a crazy person trying to stay balanced. It was one of the most awkward looking things I have ever seen. But he stuck with it. At the end of the evening, he declared the evening "awesome", was anxious to go again and was feeling proud of himself for being such a fast learner. It was fairly adorable. I was proud of him for sticking with it and glad he had a good time.
I had a great time and I'll tell you why -- I love roller skating. I can't do any fancy tricks; I can't even skate backwards, for goodness sake, so you might wonder WHY, why do I love to roll around in a circle for hours on end.
You all know that I'm uncoordinated and can't play any kind of sport worth a darn, right? Roller skating is the only semi-athletic thing I can do. I can balance myself on skates and then propel myself forward. This is an enormous feat for one such as I. It makes me feel like less of a loser that I can do this very simple thing.
Also, I get to listen to music while I skate. Always a plus, although I knew a total of two songs they played last night -- over the course of two hours, two songs. I would have felt old, except I thought that for the most part the music they were playing was overwhelmingly terrible, so I just felt that I have good taste. However, I did get to skate to the rhythm a little bit and that was fun.
Last but not least, there is the Xanadu factor. Xanadu, as you may know, is a classic film starring Olivia Newton-John as a roller skating muse who inspires Sonny (Michael Beck) to give up his steady paycheck painting album cover reproductions and open a roller skating night club with Danny (Gene Kelly -- yes, really). They name the roller skating night club Xanadu, in reference to the poem "Kubla Khan" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, which is just one of the many ways in which this movie takes itself way too seriously. As an adult, I can tell you that this movie is just awful. Josh and I watch it occasionally on one of our "bad movie nights." However, I loved this movie as a little girl and (don't tell Josh this) I love it still. And I have to say that I think the music truly is good. I have the entire soundtrack on my MP3 player. Stop laughing.
Whenever I roller skate, I think of Olivia Newton-John in this movie. She looked so graceful when she skated, moving her arms fluidly, every move in perfect harmony with the music. I try to be her when I skate. After my years-long roller skating break, I was a little rusty when the evening started, but after the first hour or so, I was starting to get the hang of it. Eventually, I started swaying my arms, unconsciously mimicking my roller skating idol.
Totally pathetic. :)
On the up side, it turns out roller skating is great exercise. I earned like 12 activity points (it's a Weight Watchers thing) last night.
The other interesting part of the roller skating excursion was when this guy proposed to his girlfriend in the middle of the rink. Had set it all up before hand with the DJ. I don't want to comment too much on this except to say: ooooo-kay.
Digital cameras were being, IMO, overused last night, but that means that eventually I will have pictures of me and Alek in all our roller skating glory to post here. Stay tuned!
Alek and I share the unenviable trait of giving up easily. Something doesn't come to us naturally? Not worth doing. Move on. Alek fell down a lot last night. After about one full minute of roller skating, he was near tears and said he didn't want to do it anymore. I thought he was going to sit on a bench all night. But after a little rest, he came back out onto the rink. He used the wall a lot, then he would try skating on his own, then he would fall down. He kept this up for two hours.
He improved over the course of the evening, although I am not sure we can call what he was doing skating. He would run on his skates for several steps and then roll for a while, waving his arms like a crazy person trying to stay balanced. It was one of the most awkward looking things I have ever seen. But he stuck with it. At the end of the evening, he declared the evening "awesome", was anxious to go again and was feeling proud of himself for being such a fast learner. It was fairly adorable. I was proud of him for sticking with it and glad he had a good time.
I had a great time and I'll tell you why -- I love roller skating. I can't do any fancy tricks; I can't even skate backwards, for goodness sake, so you might wonder WHY, why do I love to roll around in a circle for hours on end.
You all know that I'm uncoordinated and can't play any kind of sport worth a darn, right? Roller skating is the only semi-athletic thing I can do. I can balance myself on skates and then propel myself forward. This is an enormous feat for one such as I. It makes me feel like less of a loser that I can do this very simple thing.
Also, I get to listen to music while I skate. Always a plus, although I knew a total of two songs they played last night -- over the course of two hours, two songs. I would have felt old, except I thought that for the most part the music they were playing was overwhelmingly terrible, so I just felt that I have good taste. However, I did get to skate to the rhythm a little bit and that was fun.
Last but not least, there is the Xanadu factor. Xanadu, as you may know, is a classic film starring Olivia Newton-John as a roller skating muse who inspires Sonny (Michael Beck) to give up his steady paycheck painting album cover reproductions and open a roller skating night club with Danny (Gene Kelly -- yes, really). They name the roller skating night club Xanadu, in reference to the poem "Kubla Khan" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, which is just one of the many ways in which this movie takes itself way too seriously. As an adult, I can tell you that this movie is just awful. Josh and I watch it occasionally on one of our "bad movie nights." However, I loved this movie as a little girl and (don't tell Josh this) I love it still. And I have to say that I think the music truly is good. I have the entire soundtrack on my MP3 player. Stop laughing.
Whenever I roller skate, I think of Olivia Newton-John in this movie. She looked so graceful when she skated, moving her arms fluidly, every move in perfect harmony with the music. I try to be her when I skate. After my years-long roller skating break, I was a little rusty when the evening started, but after the first hour or so, I was starting to get the hang of it. Eventually, I started swaying my arms, unconsciously mimicking my roller skating idol.
Totally pathetic. :)
On the up side, it turns out roller skating is great exercise. I earned like 12 activity points (it's a Weight Watchers thing) last night.
The other interesting part of the roller skating excursion was when this guy proposed to his girlfriend in the middle of the rink. Had set it all up before hand with the DJ. I don't want to comment too much on this except to say: ooooo-kay.
Digital cameras were being, IMO, overused last night, but that means that eventually I will have pictures of me and Alek in all our roller skating glory to post here. Stay tuned!
Friday, December 14, 2007
Gigantic Baby
This kid 
is 29 inches long (90th percentile) and 20 pounds (75th percentile). Doctor predicts he will top out at 6'2".
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Saturday, December 08, 2007
Life is Just a Cereal
Re: the title of this post, Alek is eating Life cereal this morning for breakfast. This led me to making the above comment in total non-seriousness and then saying, "that would make a great title for a book." I don't write books.
It's been an interesting week. I have come to terms with not going to Arizona for Christmas. The hardest part is going to be not having Alek around, but I think we can still have a good day. We finally decorated the tree and the house this week. I still have to put up the stockings (I have to make Charlie's first), but otherwise the house is decked out. Christmas shopping is almost done, except we haven't gotten anything for Charlie yet. I even wrapped presents last night. So I am feeling more in the spirit of things.
A big part of the reason why is because of the wonderful Enrichment night we had at church this week. The sisters in the ward had a Christmas dinner and filmmaker Kieth Merrill spoke to us. His remarks were touching, and he showed clips from movies about Christ that caused tears all around. I had to sing to close the program and I was terrified. I sang "Breath of Heaven" by Amy Grant, and if anyone knows that song then you know it is definitely written for an alto. I am definitely not an alto, and my practices did not leave me feeling confident about performing. However, my singing ended up being pretty good -- so much better than I had anticipated. When the first notes came out and I heard myself, I actually couldn't believe how good I sounded. Please don't misunderstand me -- I am not bragging. I had the distinct feeling as I sang that I was not alone. I felt that the spirit was with me, that I had heavenly help. It was an uplifting experience. And the whole evening helped to get me into more of a Christmas mood.
In fact, this whole week has served as a testament to me of the reality of the Savior and His Father. I know that they are aware of me, of my family and that they are helping us along our way. Things get scary and difficult at times, but when I turn to God, I receive his help. Things do not usually work out the way I want them to, but they work out and I always come out the other end -- and sometimes I have even learned something.
The kids are all doing well. Alek is enjoying school, but also looking forward to break and his trip to Arizona. There are so many great things about Alek. I love that his imagination and his love of pretend have not diminished at all as time has flown by. He told me recently that when he grows up he wants to make comic books, movies and video games. What I hear when he tells me this: 1) I want to be like my Dad and 2) I am a storyteller, a creator. Even now he is reading over my shoulder and making suggestions on what to write next. He's so funny. I love that he is helpful with his brother and sister. I love that when we ask him to clean his room, he listens to music and sings as he picks up. I love that he is confident in his abilities in so many ways, but still needs and wants my help in others. He wants me to let you know that in addition to making up comics, he also creates inventions.
Katie continues to be, as Josh would say, our red devil. I remember when I had my ultrasound that the technician said we had a "feisty" one on our hands. That has definitely proven to be true. She is a sweet, affectionate girl, but she definitely knows her own mind and loves to be into everything. Some of Kate's most repeated quotes? "I don't want it," "I don't think so," "Stop it/that," and, her new one, "I'm not going!" She loves to read, draw, color, play with Mr. Potatohead, dance and sing. She loves to wear Dad's hats and Mom's shoes. She loves potatoes. Whenever I am on the computer, she asks me to see "shark whale", which really means she wants to see a whale, because if you show her a picture of a shark, she starts whining and saying, "that's scary."
Charlie is getting around pretty well these days, which means he is into everything. The bottom three feet of our Christmas tree are not decorated because Charlie would make a mess of that in two seconds flat. I am looking forward to Charlie growing up more and getting to know him better and seeing what he will become. My guesses? He'll be sweet, easy-going, relatively quiet, unassuming. But I could be completely wrong! Children are such an adventure. You think you know what they'll be like, who they'll be and they have great ways of proving you wrong. I am strapping myself in and getting ready for the ride.
Josh is doing well in school and enjoying it a great deal more than he was early on. He's getting good grades and is preparing for future internship opportunities. I've inserted some of his recent work above, both Corel Painter works. Josh loves being a dad and he's super at it.
That's my family life in a nutshell. Although I worry often, everything really is fine. There are so many wonderful moments in my life and I have so many people to love. I am blessed. If life is just a cereal, then cereal is the greatest gift we've ever been given.
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