BLACK FRIDAY

Today is Black Friday. Lots of stores are having huge sales. Jessica went out early this morning (4 am) to pick up a couple of things. The last couple of years we went pretty wild, but this year, since I'm still unemployed, we only bought a couple of necessities and gifts for others.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We celebrated Thanksgiving this year at the Oliphant's house. We had a large Bobo-Edwards-Graham-Ho-Oliphant get-together. Twenty-three people in all. Good food, good people, good fun.

Parent-Teacher Conference

Yesterday we had our first Parent-Teacher Conference with Landon's teacher. He is doing great. She loves having him in class. His best subject is math. His biggest struggle is handwriting and paying attention to his own work. Apparently he likes to walk around and see what everyone else is working on. His favorite day is Thursday because that is PE day. His favorite lunch is on Wednesday's...PIZZA!

Happy Birthday, Josh!!

Today is my brother's birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I also found out today that he and his wife are buying a house. Congratulations!

Happy Birthday, Jessica!!

I took Jessica to Olive Garden for lunch today. She got the Chicken Carbonara and I got the all-you-can-eat Soup, Salad, and Breadsticks. I tried their new Chicken and Gnocchi Soup. It was really good. Later in the afternoon we took the boys to see Kung Fu Panda. They loved it!! Parker was laughing through the whole movie.

Primary Sacrament Meeting Presentation

Our ward had the Primary Sacrament Meeting Presentation today. Gramma Sue came down from Idaho Falls (she was visiting Mary on Saturday). We also had Brandon, Jennifer, and Clark visit from Provo and Johnnie Bobo came from Salt Lake. Landon did a great job on his part. He bore his testimony about the temple.

We had a large, fun gathering for dinner. We made Poppyseed Chicken, but in the crock pot this time, not in the oven. It was DELICIOUS. And so much easier...I don't know why we didn't think of that sooner.

Flu bug

Landon was up sick numerous times on Wednesday night, so we decided not to send him to school on Thursday. Thursday afternoon two girls from his class (and also in our ward) stopped by our house, along with the mother of one of the girls, to see how he was doing. Apparently the word at school was that he had fallen down, gotten a big hole in his knee, and was at Primary Children's Hospital in surgery. Of course, that was not the case, and we assured the girls that Landon just had a stomach bug. Looking to quelch the rumor, and reassure Landon's teacher, Jessica sent an email to her explaining why Landon was not in school that day. She got a reply from Landon's teacher telling her that Landon wasn't the only one out sick that day -- in fact, 12 students were out sick on Thursday. Twelve students out of 24 in the class! Crazy!

Who's Running for President?

Landon has been talking about the election in his class at school. They taught him a little about the election process and what it means. They also taught him who was running this year. So he came home yesterday and asked me, "Daddy, who are you going to vote for? John McCain, or Okabama?" He couldn't remember/pronounce Barack Obama's name. It was so funny. Then today, we were at a friend's house for a birthday party and we were watching the election results and he got Obama's name wrong again, except this time he called him "Broken Mama." I died laughing! :)

Do you want some cake?

A couple of days ago, we were sitting at dinner discussing whether we were going to let the boys have some cake for dessert when Landon did something devious and funny. He said to Parker, "Go like this", and then shook his head like he was saying "no". So Parker copied him and started shaking his head no. When Parker was in the middle of this, Landon said to him, "Do you want some cake?" Since Parker was shaking his head, Landon then announced to me and Jessica that Parker didn't want any cake. I couldn't believe how sneaky he was! :)

Hack-A-Shaq Has Begun!

Ok, so for those of you who don't follow the NBA, let me explain. Shaquille O'Neal is known as one of the worst free throw shooters in the NBA. So, when there is a close game and teams resort to fouling opposing players to save clock time, they will always try to foul Shaq because he is horrible at making his free throws. Anyway, so during last season's playoffs, the Spurs' head coach was employing this strategy, but a lot earlier in the game than usual. Shaq took offense to this and called it "a coward[ly] move." Fast forward to this season, very first game the Spurs are playing the Suns again (Shaq's team) and, as a joke, the coach (giving two thumbs up) tells his team to immediately foul Shaq. Funny stuff! :) Check out the video.

Do the Hustle

Unbelievable, funny video. I guess this is how they get their exercise?
Enjoy! :)

Happy Birthday, Parker!

Parker turned three years old today.

Who's in Charge?

I figured it was my turn to take a shot at this blogging thing. We had a funny situation happen tonight at the dinner table. We had just finished eating and I told Landon to go upstairs and get ready for bed (Joe, Parker, and I were still at the table finishing up with dinner). I told him to hurry up the stairs. I started counting…One…When all of a sudden Parker started counting…one…two…tree. (That’s what Joe and I do to get Landon to hurry up. It’s that competitive side of him that says “beat the timer.”) It was so funny, but at the same time, let’s not make a habit of this. The boys do sometimes go back and forth of who’s in charge and Joe and I are always saying, “stop being the mother/father.”

I just can’t believe how quickly the boys are growing up. Parker, who has been slower with his speech, but still a bright kid, is rapidly saying all sorts of words and sentences. Sometimes it still takes us a while to figure out what he is saying, but it’s so cute. He will be 3 on the 26th of this month. It’s crazy that it’s been 3 years almost. Fun stuff!!!

Soccer

Well, yesterday was Landon's last soccer game. (I have included a couple of short videos and a picture of him with his participation trophy.) On our way home from the game he said, "Aww man, I'm not in any sports anymore." (Flag football ended a couple of weeks ago.) He really enjoyed playing soccer this year. I signed up to be an assistant coach but they didn't have enough volunteers for coaches, so I was "promoted." He liked having me as his coach. He was my goal scorer. No one else on the team scored a goal until the sixth game (the season is eight games long). Then finally more players started scoring goals. It was really cool watching the progress each player made during the season. I really enjoyed coaching. I minored in coaching while I was at BYU so it was neat to utilize some coaching techniques I learned there.

Emma Smith, My Story

"Emma Smith, My Story" is a movie that Jessica and I watched Sunday night. It was a pretty good movie about Emma Smith. I learned a few things that I didn't know about her. It wasn't produced by the church but it was still pretty good. You can order it from Blockbuster Online. I don't know if NetFlix has it in stock or not.

Crazy Weather

We've had a beautiful Fall - high's in the mid-70's and low's in the mid-50's. Now the weather is getting crazy. Saturday's high was only 46 degrees F - a record-low high temperature for Oct. 11 in Salt Lake City. It rained on and off all day and then the rain turned to snow in the evening. We got nearly two inches of snow overnight. I'M NOT READY FOR WINTER! So...good news (and more craziness). By next Saturday, Oct. 18, the high will again be in the mid-70's. From snow to mid-70's in one week. Weird.

Toe...Out...See?

For the past few days, Parker has been sick. He wakes up a few times each night coughing and/or crying. Usually when we ask what's wrong he says something like his ear hurts, or his head hurts, or he's thirsty, or he's too hot or whatever. Tonight he woke up coughing and crying and Jessica and I went upstairs to see what was wrong this time. I asked Parker why he was crying and he pointed to his right foot (where there is a small hole in his pajama foot) and, in between sobs, cries, "Toe...out...see?" It was HILARIOUS!

Flag Football

We signed Landon up for flag football this year. He has loved it, and he's pretty good too. His last game was last Thursday, October 2. We had not gotten any video of him playing so we took our camera to this game. I had the camera sitting in my lap for most of the game and then I realized that it was getting pretty dark and I hadn't taken any video yet. So I decided to film the next play. It just so happened that the coach put Landon in as the running back for that play. They were about 50 yards from the endzone. I will let you watch the video to see the result of the play! (Landon is in the red jersey just to the left of the guy in the "STAFF" shirt.)

Good times!

Welcome

This is my first attempt at a blog. I hope it will be like an online journal, an account of things we do, both individually and as a family. I look forward to writing our tales; I hope you enjoy reading them.