almost there

Its been a rainy three weeks straight here, with no sign of stopping. I feel like we live in Seattle with all of the moisture. This is highly unusual for this part of the country this time of year, but I enjoy it. Maybe now people won't grumble so much about having drought problems. It's interesting to live in a place where tornado watches and flash floods are common occurances too. Maybe Dallas is just sad we are leaving...nah. Speaking of leaving, once you have dates to look forward to, time goes by SO SLOWLY. I don't want to sound negative, but when I get to work and look up at the neon sign beaming "Lowes" at five o'clock in the morning, I just have to take a deep breath and realize it will all be over soon. I actually went shopping at Home Depot yesterday, mainly just to check things out, but it always amazes me how similar the two places are, right down to the same product from the same vendors. Which makes me think about rivalries, and why people need to identify with certain things in life. They teach us at Lowes that we are so much better, as I am sure Home Depot does as well with thier employees, but we're basically the same. Think about sports, the players are not always good role models, and they are always changing teams, and yet we identify ourselves with a team to the point we get mad if they lose, or we feel they were cheated. Religion, politics, social class, where you are from...whatever it is people are always trying to find an identity, and find an enemy. I think the rain is messing me up, I don't even know why I started going off on this tangent. No wonder Joni always laughs when she asks me what I am thinking, and my reply ends up taking 5 minutes as I end up talking about gummy bears and satelite dishes. I think I think way too much, maybe that's why I have to be organized when it comes to daily activities and apponitments.

Tomorrow is Joni's last day, I can't believe it. I can't wait for her graduation on Wednesday, she has been working really hard on a fun little slide show, and the interns have planned everything from what we are eating, to what kind of spoons we will be eating with. It will be held on the 17th floor of the hospital, overlooking downtown Dallas. Plus her mom, sister, and aunt are coming. It is always nice to have family, even if we are crammed in our one bedroom apt. We love having visitors and showing family what our life is like here.

I am amazed to see how all of the interns have been "Jonified". She has such a magnetic personality, when I look at pictures of the things they do together, I can see the influence she has left on everyone, and the craziness she brings out in the most introverted people. I see her as the biggest piece of the puzzle when it comes to bringing people together. The interns are from India, all the way to China, and all over the U.S, from big cities to little towns, but they have become inseperable. It makes me wonder how different things might have been if she was never there. Its really cool to think that what you do can have such a huge influence on people, and it has been really cool for me to see everyone change from an outsiders perspective. Kind of makes you want to change the world one person at a time.

We are moving June 22nd, I hired outside help this time, I'm kind of tired of asking people I hardly know to help, and I think we take advantage too often of members of the church and thier help, so we are hiring one guy to help me for a couple of hours, it'll only end up costing 60 bucks, and I 'll feel better about not taking advantage of friends...then again, we have some friends helping us move in, so never mind. This will be our fifth move in three years of marraige, and it doesn't appear that will change anytime soon.

I thought this picture from the local newspaper was really funny. It made me laugh out loud when I was all alone at work, but I guess you have to understand it first. The Mavericks just suffered the most embarrassing defeat in nba playoff history, and people around here aren't too happy about it. Never has a team with a better record lost to the worst seed in the playoffs. Normally there is a fierce looking horse but someone put a pony from "my little ponies" in as the mascot and wrote about how badly the Mavs choked. I want to see the Suns do well now because I like Steve Nash a lot, and of course I actually cheer for the Jazz now that Stockton and Malone are gone, I think they should have gone with a young team like they have now a long time ago. Some of my friends would be pretty steamed if they read this, but it is what it is folks.

Harry Connick Jr. was awesome last night. I always wish I could see how performers are in different cities, like when they say "I love Dallas, you guys really get it here." I kept thinking if there were cities they hate to go to and they lie about how much they love the place to get a rise out of the crowd. The concert was all about New Orleans and music from that part of the country, it really made me want to pay a visit to New Orleans while we are so close. The whole Katrina aftermath has really hit me because most of the people I meet and that I work with were bussed straight here from New Orleans. Everyone has an amazing story. One of my good friends at work lost his brother, and didn't know if his mom was alive for months. He was stranded on a rooftop for almost 2 weeks, then dropped off at the Super dome. When the busses came, everyone just got on without knowing ahead of time where they were going. Most of the busses came to Houston and Dallas, and many traveled all the way to DC and beyond. He was dropped off at the American Airlines Center where the Mavericks play, and he had a couple of days to find a job and an apartment.

Isaac was absolutely crazy today, for the first time I had to take him to his parents for the remainder of primary. He was kicking and yelling nonsense words and jumping and spitting and hitting everyone. I took him outside 3 or 4 times and got right in his face to tell him to be quiet and sit down, and he would settle down and pout for a couple of seconds, then he just went crazy again. Everyone was looking at me like I needed to do something about it, the second I dropped him off I felt a huge weight was off my shoulders, then we had the best Sunday school class yet. We have a new kid named Ricardo in our class who was just baptized, it reminds me a lot of teaching young kids on my mission. I don't really know what to do with Isaac and I don't know how to react to autism. I have tried to hold him down, but that seems to make him worse. I was shocked last Sunday when I found out that with all the craziness, he had managed to memorize the first 2 articles of faith that we taught in class. It is a very hard disorder to understand. We have grown close to these kids and we feel like we want to hand pick thier next teachers so they will be good to them and care about them. We haven't told them we are leaving yet and we are still unsure what to say when we do leave. That seems to be a common occurrance in the church. You get used to your Bishop or teacher, or feel close to the missionary who baptized you, then you are cut off suddenly and start over somewhere else. I guess that is a good lesson in life on how to adjust and be strong on your own, and it brings you closer to your own family and to gospel truths because they are the only things that seem to be rock solid in an ever changing world. We'll post some pictures of the kids next week because we have to take pictures for the primary bulletin board.

I want to wish the best to Joni, my mom, my mother in law, my step mother, my step mother in law, my sisters, my nieces, my aunts, my grandma's and all of the women who have been such a strong and positive influence and support throughout my life. I hope you all have a wonderful mother's day! Now make me some cake...just kiddin.

Since our computer won't recognize our camera "chip" right now, I'll have to be more descriptive in my writing of our latest happenings. Have you ever driven through a town that had an overwelming odor of leather and steak? I hadn't either until our most recent trip to Fort Worth. That place has to be one of the most unique cities I have ever seen. Downtown Fort Worth reminds me a lot of Boise with the yellow lights outlining the buildings and several trees alongside the streets, with a main strip of bars, clubs and eateries that are alive late into the night. Once you are out of the city, the crowded feel stops as abrubtly as it began. The city looks like a castle sitting on a hill, literally surrounded by a river and empty space that makes it seem not real. There is no continuous run of neighborhoods or buildings, everything just stops, then you feel like you are in a different country when you come across the hispanic area. Most of the signs were in Spanish, and Joni and I played the game of who could spot the next white person. We ended up getting lost trying to find the rodeo because I guess there are multiple rodeos every single weekend there all over town. When we finally did find the Fort Worth Stockyards it was worth the ride. We entered a time warp into the old west, except for the really good Elvis impersonater who reminded us of what time period we were in. They actually move an entire herd of Texas Longhorns through the streets downtown twice a day, maybe that explains the leather and steak smell. The rodeo arena was very cool, we sat on the front row on some metal folding chairs that were probably made at the turn of the century.

Last night we saw "Wicked", it was AWESOME! I have to admit I had low expectations but it was really funny and really, really well written. We had to hurry to get there because there were torndado warnings expected at the exact time we were supposed to get there. The second we pulled into the parking lot, a monsoon of rain hit us. We ran inside soaked from head to toe. During the play the power went out three times, and the actors had to redo the scenes, but it was really cool how everything turned out. I laughed that we were watching a story about the Wizard of Oz while our own tornado was outside. Since we bought the tickets about 9 months ago we were willing to stick it out and I was glad we did.

I can't believe how time seems to have flown by here in Dallas, we will be leaving in a couple of months and we actually feel like we will miss it, at least certain aspects. Joni made an interesting comment that downtown Dallas is comparable to the mountains in Utah in that you use it to get your bearings when traveling, but you don't always notice it is there. Nothing compares to the mountains really, but people here view it in a similar way. This has been a really good experience for us, and we feel like we have grown a lot, and learned more about people and respecting differences than we ever could have learned otheriwise. We realize how unique things were where we came from, with everyone having so much in common physically and culturally, to a place where you can feel like your own person, and develop different charateristics that make you strong and individual.

Congratulations again to Joel on finding a job, I guess we can add a little to that feeling of releif as well. Joni has been offered a couple of jobs, and she has decided to accept the one in Waco. The offer was too good to pass up even though a lot of driving will be invloved. We will be moving in the end of June. As to where we don't know yet. When we have a weekend off together we will drive down to Waco, and then to College Station and basically rely on how we feel about little towns in between the two, or if we will just end up in one or the other. As you can tell there is a lot on our minds, and in times like these it is best to make a decision and roll with it.

Baby pics

We were looking through some of Joni's baby pictures for her up and coming slide show for all the interns' graduation. They are supposed to guess who is who. If you ask me, these three pictures are dead give aways because if you know Joni the slightest little bit, you would know these pictures prove she has the same personality as when she was young.

Seen this face before? Joni gets really excited about new things, maybe thats why she likes me so much, her parents introduced her to large, dome-like bald things from the start.

You could say her dad and her uncles introduced her to cheerleading at a very young age.

Looking through baby pictures is pretty fun, it also gives me hope that our kids might not end up with the huge Moore noggin or extra chin. Have you ever wished you could go back and know someone from childhood? Not necessarily to know them but to watch them grow up...I guess in this day and age it sounds kind of creepy, but I think our relationships with people would change quite a bit. Imagine if you saw your boss poop his pants as a kid, you probably wouldn't be as intimidated around him. It is important to always show respect to other people, but how different would everyone treat each other if we all saw each other grow up. I'm sure some of the nutty people in the world had a reason for being that way, as well as the vertically challenged man who is always angry, or the girl who has everything but doesn't have any true friends. Parenting has to be key in all of that, as well as friends and surroundings. But then again, some people are just mental from the start. Funny how hard it is to kick childhood habits like biting fingernails and picking your nose. I am still working on the picky eating thing, so much of it is mental. I just can't get myself to eat certain veggies, don't know if it is the texture or what.

Joni has a couple more interviews coming up in Waco, and possibly Temple, all random places equidistant from College Station. Yes, Waco is the place where that crazy compound thing happened a few years back. That guy probably grew up playing with Barbies and fireworks...at the same time.

We saw the movie "Bobby" last night, it was pretty good, but then again I love that period of history. Not to bash any current political leaders, but I think we need a fresh start with someone young for a change, or at least someone who is not a "politician". Not sure who that could be but I can't help but get excited for the next presidential election. I see some people running that have potential, and some others who fit the typical mold of past Presidents. Just remember, at one time, every one of them pooped in thier pants.

Nascar Experience

Tilt your head to get the full effect of this picture, Joni's face says it all as she is dressed up in two sweatshirts, a blanket and a pair of oversized gloves while trying to eat kettle corn. She was wearing sandals and ended up putting the gloves on her feet.

Last week my boss gave me two tickets to the O'reilly 300 (nascar race), I probably never would have purchased tickets but I always wanted to experience nascar, since we are in Texas I couldn't pass up the opportunity to get the "real deal". The stadium is ENORMOUS, holding a little over 200,000 people, about the size of 2 nfl football games and three nba basketball games together. As you can imagine parking was rediculous, I laughed because after the first mile that we were walking towards the stadium, there was a porta potty station for people to rest and go to the bathroom. You wouldn't believe the number of motor homes, barbeques, flags, colors, and beer there was as we walked in. The weather had been nice until the night before when we experienced some of the craziest rain and hail I have ever seen, along with tornado warnings and strong winds. It made for some freakishly cold weather at the race that we were not prepared for. The experience itself was very cool, but I would probably not do it again. Walking towards the stadium the cars sounded like a mixture of angry bees and jet fighters. Once inside the stadium, there was a constant drone noise with the occasional "zuff, zuff zuff" of cars passing by and the whole place seemed to shake continuously. We did bring ear plugs which helped a lot, but not as much as we would have hoped. The true Nascar fan has a headset with a microphone, and an extension cord hooked up to both of his buddies next to him so they could talk, forming a chain of headsets and people connected at the head. Good idea, seeing as how I had to jam my nose into Joni's head and scream in her ear to have a conversation, but they looked funnier than we did. As far as the race goes it was very hard to follow. On tv the camera follows the leader, but in the stadium cars are constantly going by and you only have about 2 seconds to recognize the numbers on the cars before they pass at 170 mph. The people weren't as crazy as I thought they would be, could have been the weather, or just that the cars passing along with all of the noise puts everyone in a trance like state of mind. In the end we can say we have been to a Nascar race. Since I got my new driver's license this week too, I guess you could say I am officially a Texan.

Joni is currently looking for a job. There are a lot of openings around the College Station area but none in College Station so far. For now we will just be happy that she can find one close enough to not have to commute an hour each way every day. We might not even be able to live in College Station but we'll see how that goes. She had an interview that went really well in Humble (just north of Houston) this week, but that is still pretty far away. There are a lot of cool little towns in between Houston and College Station that we may end up living in if that is the case. We'll let you know where we end up going, we are a little bit nervous but confident that Joni's internship will land her a good job. The interview in Humble was wierd because the guy told her about the hospital, and then acted as if he was done and Joni said, "Is there anything you would like to know about me?" and he responded, "sure, but I know you are experienced because you are a Baylor intern." I guess a good name goes a long ways here. Cut the small talk, let's get to the nitty gritty.

Fun Easter

Today we drove out towards Fort Worth to have a grown up Easter egg hunt and a tour of the Grapevine fire station with some friends. I felt like I was 8 years old, but it was really fun. Joni has grown really close with some of her intern friends, and it was great for me to get to know some of them a little better too, since she seems to be around them more than me...at least for a couple more months.

One of the interns has a husband who is a firefighter/paramedic, and he took us on a tour of his station. We talked and joked around with some good old Texas fire fighters, and learned quite a bit about what they do. The coolest thing there besides the trucks was a big screen tv with at least 15 lazy boys surrounding it for the firefighters to watch movies. Brandon (picture above with the jaws of life) and I hid all the easter eggs for the girls, and we had a good time talking and stuffing ourselves with junk food. It is so cool to hang around with people who are so similar and yet so different as far as the direction we all plan on going in our lives. It is refreshing to get to know so many people who are genuinely good people, and who can be accepting of each other's differences. I hope to meet more people in my life that come from such different backgrounds, but that immediately click as a friend, it's really hard to explain...it's just really cool. I love that Glen and Kendi hang out with thier neighbors, I want to be that way with all of the people I come in contact with, no matter what they look like, or where they come from. By doing that I feel we can meet some of the most interesting people and make some of the most lasting impressions and friendships ever. One of the things that has kept me feeling positive in my unlikeable job is the daily contact I have with people who are so different from me, telling them embarrassing stories about myself, and laughing until our cheeks hurt. I don't know what got me going on this tangent, I just feel everyone needs to come out of thier shells a little more, because for every bad person there is out there, there are at least two good ones.

blog drought

I swear I have blogged since last time, maybe it was a dream, or maybe I was thinking about something I wanted to blog about and I just didn't get around to it. Since every one else I know has been in a blog drought, it's like time has stood still in blog land, and it has really screwed up my sense of time. We have had some awesome storms here lately. I love Texas weather when it is not blistering hot and muggy. Joni and I played in the rain and sloshed around a bit because it was coming down so hard and we had never seen anything like it. It comes down in sheets, by the time I ran from my truck to the front door I was soaked from head to toe. I always thought it was funny how wet actors can get in movies when they are in the rain, but now I know it can actually happen. I love thunder and lightning storms too, which come here every time it rains.

I think Texas is finally growing on us a bit. I really think attitude has everything to do with how happy you are with where you are in your life, including where you live. I also know if we lived in a good neighborhood and had more time and resources to do more things we wanted, then we would really like it a lot more. I wish we had our bikes here with us, I don't even know where they are. I finally decided to ease up a little bit from my normal financial "tightwad" mentality, and we are going to be doing some fun things in the next couple of months. In April we are going to the Fort Worth Stockyards championship rodeo (we scored front row box seats). In May we are going to see the play "Wicked", and also see Harry Connick Jr in concert. We have been trying to see the Mavs play but tickets are rediculously expensive because of how good they are this year...okay, so I am still a bit of a tight wad. It is so important to take a little time here and there to do things that make you happy, even if it costs a little bit of money. I would like to take our kids (in the future of course) to cultural events. My mom took us to plays and random concerts on a monthly basis, and my dad always took us on cool and exotic trips and baseball games, and I am so thankful for that. I learned a lot more from these experiences that most kids my age never had the opportunity to experience. Some of the experiences were not so great, like Donny Osmond in black leather, "Cats" the musical, and naked old people on nude beaches in the Caribbean. But most of them were awesome like Les Miserables, dinner theatres, the Nylons in concert, donkeys on our front porch, and Dad saying he wanted to "scout out" the "no clothing allowed" beach for better spots than the "clothing optional" beach we were already on. I guess if it comes down to having a really nice house or car, or going on fun trips and going out on the town, I would choose the latter. It seems most of the world has chosen the big house, but they miss out on a lot.

I guess the whole point to my blog is that no matter how busy you are, or how poor you think you are, it is important to take time to do things you enjoy. Work will always be work, and play will always be fun.

sweat and men

I think I have a super power. I don't know what it is yet...but every superhero has a weakness that can be seen or figured out by his enemies. Since I have the latter I figured I must have a superpower waiting to come out soon. The problem is, every time I feel sick, or tired, or something is really stressing me out, this huge vein bulges out of my forehead...and it pulsates to the beat of my heart. So if someone were torchering me Jack Bauer style, my vein would give me away for sure. The other problem is that when I sweat, I don't really sweat anywhere but my head. And for some reason all of the blood flows to my head when I get worked up or work out...so you can see the problem that lies pretty much in my head, maybe it is a gift. Maybe God has a sense of humor and he blessed me with all of these abilities with my head, then he helped me to lose my hair at a young age so everyone could see them. I guess my bum sweats too sometimes, or maybe there is a channel running from my head downwards.

I find that when I sweat, or when I am participating in some physical activity, I think more intensely than any other time. I analyze everything, sometimes I get worked up or angry, sometimes I think of something funny and giggle out loud...whatever it is, I think I would be embarrassed if someone could read my mind during those moments. Maybe that is why I have trouble expressing myself sometimes in person, but I feel I can express myself well when I write. Maybe you are getting an inside look on my thoughts, but just in slow motion because I can't type that fast. I was reading an article in the Reader's Digest at Firestone tires of all places the other day, about 100 secrects on how to know men better. That sounds a little wierd but it was either that, or watch "the View" on the tv they had there (yes, "the view" was on). There was actually some pretty good stuff, some of which I agreed with and some of which I didn't. The article talked a lot about how similar men and women are emotionally, but how differently we express our emotions. Men grow up learning to keep thier emotions inside, and that getting emotional is a sign of weakness. We have our little "place" we go that we don't want people to see where we can pour all of our emotions out, and we will only let someone know about things when WE want them to. If a man lets you in that "place" every once in a while that means he trusts you and cares a lot about you. Just don't tell anyone else about it or you are a goner. Something else I remembered was that men don't prefer to talk face to face when it comes to deeper thoughts, but more side to side. Joni and I have the best conversations when we are in the car, or not facing each other on the couch. I remember having long talks with Joel during bedtime (not the same bed), and staring up at the cieling the whole time. Then an hour later he would scare me half to death with his sleep talking, dancing, walking, hovering, etc. On a more serious note, I guess that's why prayer can be such a powerful thing. It's like therapy in a way...seems kind of one sided and selfish but it doesn't have to be.
Every man needs his little "projects", the wood shop, the car, the lawn, a blog...anything that is easy to fix and not as complicated as a woman. So there you have it ladies, we aren't so insensitive after all. We just forget to listen sometimes because of all that noise in our heads.

We had some visitors this weekend. My dad and Susan came down for a couple of days to see how we lived down here. Saturday we went down to the farmer's market after a tour of Baylor, they have it every day down here year round, and it is huge. It was fun to walk around and buy some fresh fruit and veggies for a good deal, and eat pinelapple chunks cut right off the pineapple with a knife by the vendor. The way it is all set up reminds me a lot of South America. There is some really cool rustic looking furniture, and some wierd stuff that you would only see in Texas, like cowhide covered furniture. We made some really good burgers and had sweet corn, with fresh strawberries and pineapple in a fruit dip that Joni made. Friday night we went to a cool fondu restaraunt, and Sunday we drove down to College Station after church. I was able to see a lot more of campus and I couldn't help but get butterflies with excitement walking through my future building. College Station seems like a really cool town and I have a feeling living there will be a much more positive experience. We spent last night in Houston with friends after dropping off dad and Susan at the airport. I must say Dallas is way smaller than Houston and a lot cleaner too. After hurricane Katrina, Houston was the place most of the people affected went. It just seems like maybe Houston didn't get the best New Orleans had to offer. We were really glad to come back home after having such a fun weekend, and now it is back to business for me, and back to business next week for Joni as this week is her spring break and Andrea is visiting now. I think I am getting a cold, which is probably why I sound so boring right now, and why I will have to stop soon for fear of dripping my nose on the keyboard...thats gross. My picks for the final four are A&M (surprise over Ohio State?), Georgetown, Wisconsin, and Kansas. I think Oregon and Washington State are going to be tough to be beat, and I want to see Nevada and New Mexico State do something special.

In front of the liberal arts building at A&M

Fights

Glen's little story about Carter getting into a pushing war made me reflect on fights I have been in throughout my life. I am sure I got into a lot of fights as a kid but the first one I remember I was on the playground in 3rd grade. We were playing wall ball and for some stupid reason I decided to call a sixth grader fat. This wasn't just because he was fat, because he was, but he always walked around bullying little kids and thinking he was cool. He didn't hear me call him fat, but my friend made sure to tell him because his older brother was friends with him. Anyways, up rolls Mr. fat 6th grader ready to pound my face in, I don't really remember a lot but I remember everything being in slow motion, I also remember a teacher standing right next to us with her tinted bifocles, poofy perm, and tan poofy trenchcoat who chose to turn her back on the whole thing. So I got punched in the face, I didn't move or flinch, and for some reason I don't even remember it hurting...maybe his fists had extra padding, maybe the adrenaline was flowing, maybe he didn't hit me full force...I don't know. All I know is that all of the kids in my class thought I was cool, and the girls started to notice too. I also distinctly remember hitting Matt Nappolilli in the face with my lunchbox because he teased me that I walked home from school with a girl. That wasn't the smartest thing to do because the kid owned his own chinese star and nun chuck collection, but I survived.
As I got older fighting wasn't the same anymore. The last fight I remember getting into, and the only real punch I ever threw, was in high school. We were playing football, and as competetive as boys are, I got in an argument with a neighbor kid and he kicked me, so I punched him in the face. It felt really good at the moment. But I felt horrible when his parents invited me over for pizza 30 minutes later. I can't believe I still went, and I don't even remember saying I was sorry, all I remember was how stupid and embarrassed I felt.
Fighting definately becomes more hurtful as we get older. I can't believe how mad I get sometimes at work or on the road when someone drives stupid. All it does is create a bad habit, then other people catch on to the negativity and it affects them too. I don't know how many times Joni has caught me getting upset over the littlest things, then I feel stupid. When driving home today an old man in a nice Jaguar pulled up next to me at the stop light. The funny thing was that he was on the wrong side of the road, but the double yellow lines were a little faded and hard to see. Sure enough a couple of cars followed his lead, and when the light turned green, there was a barrage of horns and poeple screaming at each other because they couldn't get through. The situation was a bit crazy and made a lot of people upset, but now I can look back on it and laugh at how absurd it was. You can't always change what other people do, but you can change what you do so that negativity doesn't get fed. I need to find a way to not get so easily upset, so that when a situation arises, whatever it may be, I can take something positive from it instead of feeling bad and embarrased afterwards for getting upset. Any suggestions? Physical activity is pretty good for me, but I don't always have time. What do you do when emotions bottle up at work or when someone cuts you off on the road? I am hungry...time to eat.

Old People...j/k...Happy Day mom

Happy Birthday Mom! We have a quote framed in our kitchen by Abraham Lincoln that says, "All that I am or hope to be I owe to my mother." How true that statement really is. We just wanted to wish you the best birthday yet, and that we hope you have many more wonderful birthdays to come. Now on a more serious note, here are some things that make my mom unique:

-the spatula jig, when she gets a spatula in her hand she'll always end up doing a dance where she acts like she is going to hit you with it...while shifting side to side like a crab.

-the corpse, when you try to pick her up or tickle her, she stiffens her body so that you can't move her around as easy.

-the megaphone, that would be mom's mouth when she chews, spaghetti would even sound crunchy the way she eats. When she eats grape nuts you can hear her from upstairs.

-bony elbows, she uses to her advantage by any means necessary

-the crier, she has gotten out of some of the worst scenarios by crying (speeding tickets for example) and certain commercials do the trick, as well as any narrative with classical music.

-carbonated burps, need I say more?

One of my all time favorite mom memories:

My mom always leaves an open can of Diet Coke in the fridge. One day, I decided to pour tabasco sauce, mustard, ketchup, pickle juice and a few other yummy things in her can. She had just come in the door from a long day's work and I could tell that all she wanted was a big swig of her pop. I was sitting at the bar just watching and waiting innocently. Sure enough, she heads straight for the fridge...and takes one of the biggest gulps I have ever seen someone take, the gulp was so loud I could hear it as clear as day. By then my face was red and sweaty as I was trying to contain my burst of laughter a little bit longer. Then she looked at me with a look I will never forget and said in an almost eerie and calm tone, "That was NOT funny". She cruised over to the sink to get a drink of water, which of course I rigged as well (the old rubber band around the sprayer). The funniest thing about the next part was that when the water hit her shirt, she didn't jump out of the way, she just stood there as the water bounced off of her onto the floor. By then I was laughing so hard I began to choke, halfway realizing I needed to run away soon. She never did get me back even though she threatened me a few times...but then again, maybe she did and I just didn't know it. Happy Birthday Bly, you southern belle!

Good times, Bad times

I wish I could make this picture bigger so the facial expressions could do the pic more justice. This is in my all time, top 5 favorite photos as of this week. Joni's cousin Shon, who is now on a mission in Detroit, is holding a saw in his hand when they went "Clark Griswald" on a forest to cut down thier Christmas tree. Shon has a devilish look on his face and Andrea is completely unaware of the whole kodak moment to be. I laughed for at least 5 minutes straight and even peed a little bit...not in my pants. It is now a screen saver on our computer. My eyes are so tired right now I don't even know why I am blogging right now, but for some reason I just feel like it. I played guitar a little bit tonight for the first time in a LONG time, and my fingers are hurting now. You have to build up callusses on your fingers in order to play, and I definately don't have any of those right now, so it kinda hurts. Tonight a woman started screaming outside of our apartment, the kind of blood curdling scream that makes you know something is wrong. I went outside after some investigation from the window, and there were a ton of people outside who obviously heard the same thing. Turns out a woman was attacked right when she got out of her car and a man ran away with her purse. She was smart enough to start screaming right away, but the guy got away. We live in a gated community with security but there is a railroad track right by our house and I think someone hopped a fence. Not to sound negative or anything, but with my job getting more and more not fun, and Joni's internship getting longer by the day, along with the crime all around us, we want to leave Dallas as soon as time allows. I don't feel scared for myself but I constantly worry about Joni. We have a pretty good system between us to make sure she is safe, and she is a smart girl. It is important to be aware of surroundings no matter where you are. We only carry what we need in our wallets now.
Sunday was a day that I think was meant for us at church, so I am glad we were there to hear the messages. The talks were on teaching and raising special needs children. Despite the hardships, we have come to love all the kids in our class. Hannah, the little girl in the wheel chair, adores Joni. Every time we see her she gives us a big hug and gets all jumpy and excited. One of the kids parents came to us to thank us for being her son's teachers and that he always talked about what we did in class, which felt really good because we always wondered if we were getting anywhere with them. I had fun with Isaac too, the other autistic child, I find that sitting with him on the ground and giving him one on one attention keeps him more settled down. I taped his two pinky's together as a joke and he thought it was the funniest thing ever. Isn't it funny sometimes how things can seem so depressing and messed up, then when you find whatever it is that makes you happy it changes everything. I think everyone needs a place to "get away" in thier mind. Mine invloves being with kids, reading the latest sports updates, playing guitar, going to the movies, church, working out, milkshakes, laughing, and playing games. Some music and 80 degree days make me feel pretty good too. I think I would be embarassed if someone listened to some of the music that pumps me up, Rocky never fails man.

Cold feet lead to interesting work days

I just want everyone to know that I have officially "lost it". Either that or I really need this internship to be over A.S.A.P.

You are probably thinking I'm just exaggerating, but I will let you read what I did today and then you can tell me if I've got a few screws loose.

Okay so here's a little background:

I had to teach 2 1/2 hour diabetes meal planning class this morning. I also had 6 assignments/projects to be handed in today. Anyone who knows me knows I'm a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to things like this (mainly because we are evaluated on EVERY move we make in our rotations). So I stayed up super late on Valentines evening putting finishing touches on homework... I even planned out what I was going to wear to teach my class.

A little more background (I promise this is leading somewhere)

Our house gets really chilly at night. I always get dressed and then wear my oh-so-cute bright pink fuzzy slippers while I do my hair and make up.

I finished getting ready, gathered my stuff and headed out on the 20 minute drive to work ... forgetting one key element ... ... ... ...

I figured out right as people were starting to arrive to my class that something was not quit right... I FORGOT TO TAKE OFF MY OH-SO-CUTE PINK FUZZY SLIPPERS. Pretty professional looking, right?

I didn't have enough time to drive home so all I could do was belly laugh till I was blue in the face. Eventually we dug up a ratty old pair of black walking shoes that I ended up wearing the rest of the day.

The class ended up going just fine - once I contained my giggles.

I think I need a VACATION

Valentines and girls

I remember the good old days in elementary school when valentines day came around, and everyone gave out valentines to each other. I would always sneak in the candy hearts that had secret messages written on them...URAQT or I like you for that one girl...and "you are nice" for that other girl. It was cool because you could pick out the superman valentines cards because you liked them, not because you knew the girl would like it. When I got older and didn't care as much I stopped looking at the messages on the candy hearts and it got me in trouble a couple of times. I remember in the first grade I would eat glue to impress girls, and I was even brave enough to sit three of my crushes down at the same time during play time to tell them that I liked them all, but I liked them in a particular order...each for thier own reasons. I don't know if they liked me back though because I was the kid who wore the same pair of corduroy's for the entire year. It's funny how every grade there is a new crush, and I can remember thier full names and everything, but I couldn't tell you anything about fourth grade and up, it was all a blur. I think it is easy for kids to have so many crushes because almost all kids are cute in thier own way, but then we all hit this ugly stage at sometime in our lives and some of us never recover. I guess I am not talking about Valentines anymore but who ever said blogs had to make sense?
Joni was the cutest little kid EVER, not kidding, she was the curly haired fro blond girl with enough energy to ware any adult down. She claims to have had an ugly stage in junior high, but it served her well because all of the guys in her school that made fun of her in junior high wanted to ask her out in high school, and she promised herself she would never go out with any one of them...and she didn't. That's probably the coolest thing a girl can do when she looks "good" to the world, is deny those who didn't see who she really was. I am constantly reminded of a video I saw when Joni was a little kid and she had a bug in her hand, just curiously inspecting it, when her mom said, "Joni, don't eat that" and Joni replied, "but I want to", and stuffed it in her mouth. She hasn't changed much when it comes to life as an adult.
I am experiencing writers block and I can't write anymore right now...writer's block is wierd. That makes me mad because I was going somewhere with all of this, but the wheels were just spinning too fast. I think I need to learn to type faster so I don't keep doing this in blogs.

White Blur

There isn't any reason I am posting this picture, Joel sent it to me a long time ago and I just found it again. I call it the white blur. We were supposed to be taking pictures of the nieces and nephew jumping and watching thier facial expressions, but I couldn't just sit there and watch. Time seems to be a big white blur lately...I am sad to say I measure time by how often I pay the bills or the rent, and I have been doing that a lot lately so time must be flying by. Joni and I have known each other for over four years already, carter will be 4 soon, I have been home from Chile 6 years, and I have been in Texas of all places for 8 months. Maybe that explains me craving old school video games lately, I can't get the Mario music out of my head and I don't know if it ever will leave my head until I find somewhere to play it.

Last night Joni and I went to Walmart to buy a scale, some rubber gloves, and a gallon of milk...we always try to guess someone's life story by looking at what they buy, or how they act-it's a pretty fun game...I can only imagine how we are "classified" sometimes. Speaking of which, there really are a lot of crazy people here, I know I have said it a lot, but it is true. I was thinking last night how many kids I feel sorry for because if they become anything like thier parents than they are doomed. Seriously, it should be against the law for some people to have kids, and they are the ones who end up having ten kids. At this rate by the time I hit the half century mark I am going to go crazy with the number of insane people there are in the world. Maybe everyone else is normal and I am crazy. You never think of those in your "bubble" being crazy but who knows. All I am thinking is that kids deserve the right to grow up normal, learning to respect others and themselves, eating a proper diet, experiencing discipline etc etc. Then let them be free to choose how they live and hopefully they had a good enough upbringing to get them by. Some kids just don't get a good fair start...which explains all the bad drivers out there. I know it is the easiest thing in the world to be judgmental, especially with other people's kids, but come on. I wonder sometimes what kind of childhood George Bush had. Thanks mom and dad for doing your best, even though I am a bit messed up sometimes, you guys managed to do a pretty good job at the parenting thing. Thus concludes the most random blog I have ever written.

Healthy and Happy

This week I am at a dialysis center and let me tell you - I am so thankful for my health and the health of my family! Honestly, I have never seen so much blood in my life. Even though I knew the process it was quit shocking to see people with huge tubes (about the size of my finger) pumping blood from their artery into a machine. Most patients have no remaining kidney function, thus making no urine, thus not clearing ANY waste or fluid from their systems.

They have to be at the center 3-4 times each week for 4 hour sessions. Since no fluid is removed via urine the average water weight gain between visits (in 2 days) is 4-7 pounds! Talk about uncomfortable. They have to completely overhaul their diet and take a dozen medications that can cost ~$2,000 each per month. Not to mention the co-morbidities most patients have such as diabetes, HIV, hypertention, congestive heart failure... you name it - the list goes on.


I'm sure I will continue to feel thankful for my health as my next rotations are at gastric bypass, diabetes, cardiovascular rehab, trauma/ICU, diabetes and liver transplant. I am learning a lot about not only the human body, but about people. I've decided that every patient needs (and more importantly, deserves) a person who see's them as a person, not a disease. It's amazing to see how much a genuine smile and a little listening can make someones day. Especially patients who beginning to feel like a number in the system.

Anyways... I just wanted to say that I am definately counting my blessings. I never want to take my health for granted again. Love you all!



JONI

Renewed

Another interesting day at church today, I think Isaac (the severely autistic kid) didn't take his meds today. It is truly a workout to keep track of him. I am getting pretty good practice with my reflexes, every time he jumps up to run away I grab him before he takes two steps and sit him back down. I am learning that you can only use one or two words to tell him what to do, but I still need to figure out the spitting and flailing arms thing. My most used words with him are "sit, reverent, sing, quiet, bad, color and Jesus" Every time I use one of them he likes to repeat it as loud as he can. I have found that when I sing the primary song in his ear he settles down long enough to try and repeat me, then he goes crazy when it is done. I wasn't the only one with troubles today, Joni and I found out that Hannah( the mentally handicapped girl in the wheelchair) is learning to walk (I never knew she could). Her mom let her out of her chair and she turned into a little monkey crawling and walking everywhere with Joni following her every move. Believe it or not we survived, Joni taught the lesson while avoiding getting her eye poked out by a marker from Isaac, and I kept the kid from sticking his fingers in the socket and harming anyone else. The funny thing is when we are done and on our way home, we feel like we need to disinfect our clothes and hands from all of the craziness and spit and boogers and whatever else we came into contact with. Isaac thought it was hilarious that he had horrible gas today too. I guess I will never understand what parents go through when raising a kid until we have some of our own. In the mean time this calling is great birth control.
Joni and I have decided on Texas A&M. When we talked about the positives and negatives it was pretty one sided except for the desire to be near everyone. Hopefully someday soon we will be in a position to choose to be closer to everyone, but until then we feel it is the smartest decision for us and most importantly the right one.
Getting accepted into A&M has been a huge boost to my confidence. I admit it is a partially a pride thing, but I have found a renewed energy to be better on all fronts. Joni thinks that we somehow switched places because I asked her if she wanted to go to the mall last night to spend some Christmas money, and I have wanted to workout more often. I bought a couple of ties and a new shirt, even though it took me almost an hour to talk myself into buying them. I couldn't help but laugh because I get totally lost in the mall, and Joni knows her way around even though she hardly goes there. But then we go outside and Joni doesn't know north from south but I know what I am doing on the roads. Hope everyone is doing well, these blogs are a great way to feel closer to everyone, keep 'em coming.

WOO HOO

You are probably wondering why this big picture of Texas A&M is on our blog...but if you know me at all or ever talk to me than you have probably already figured it out. I got accepted into the Masters of Science in Human Resource Management program at TAMU. At first it didn't seem real. Joni was jumping up and down and I was just standing there with my mouth open, but now the excitement of the whole thing has gotten to me. Joni and I will not make a decision right now, because I want to make a smart decision, not an emotional one. But to be honest, something pretty big has to happen to make us not go. If we go to College Station we will continue our adventure in Texas in a small town which will be refreshing. If you like statistics I would say 80% College Station, 20% returning to Logan, but you never know with us. We are having another "artic blast" this weekend. I am laughing because on the news right now they are interviewing people at the supermarket who are buying as much food as they can in case they get stuck in thier homes for several days. I can't get over how rediculous these "storms" are here. Actually tonight I drove home in a monsoon of rain...2 inches in 2 hours. My wipers were on high speed and I still couldn't see, and because it is so flat, you have to drive down the middle lane or get swamped by water. Anyways, I was reminded again today of how lucky I am to be where I am and to have family that I love and who support me, and also have such an awesome wife. I thought it was cool how excited Joni was for me when I opened the letter, she is so genuine. I will never forget when I proposed to her and she didn't even look at the ring. She was so excited and filled with emotion and didn't care about it until I forced her to look at it. So I guess you could say I feel pretty good today. Whatever happens, I am an Aggie for life. Now I need to eat the pumpkin pie that Joni made for me!

I had no idea

I found out two things about Joni this last week that I might never have known if I hadn't slept light for some reason. I always sleep like a log and nothing can wake me up until I am ready to wake up...unless I really have to go to the bathroom of course. Before you start worrying about me having bladder problems, I have been drinking an obscene amount of water lately as well as eating like a champ so that my mom doesn't tell me I look like I am sickly...after I had the worst flu I can remember having in years on Christmas. Anyways, so I found out that Joni sticks her ice cold feet on my back while I am asleep. While I am thinking this could be the most cruel thing I have been unaware of since we have been married, all of you women out there are probably thinking...yeah, so?. Cold hands and feet on back is a practice that needs to stop. I bought Joni these really cool instant warming packets a couple of Christmas' ago that have been used once or twice and are now in our drawer of memories and trinckets that we never open. I have learned that women experience cold hands and feet because of something to do with all of the blood flowing in or around the abdominal region so as to be ready for childbirth...don't think I didn't do research before making accustations. So naturally I feel bad for women in this sense, although I am still curious how that makes it normal to place your apendages in screaming hot water in the sink. Are women blessed with a tolerance to heat and an intolerance to cold? If I recieve 2nd degree burns from using the sink after a female uses it, am I the one with problems? Which brings me to why women have to use body heat to warm themselves up. I am definately not warmer than the water that comes out of that sink, so what is it that makes me a likely candidate to put a stop to cold hands and feet? Then if I don't succomb to the death-cicles known as my wife's cold hands and feet, should I feel bad? Are her feet emotionally cold as well? When I yelp in shock like goofy from a disney movie, is that supposed to put a smile on my wife's face or should she feel bad for the shivering and now pale body formerly known as her husband. Here is a question for all of the mom's, wives, daughters or whoever you are, why do you think you have so many little booty socks and slippers and things of that nature? hint: it has to do with men's intolerance for death-cicles. Think of what presents you have been given in the last couple of years...anyone?
On a more funny note, Joni talks and giggles in her sleep. I felt the kind of joy you feel when you figure out the meaning of life. I would have laughed harder if it wasn't 3am. For her sake, I hope that these two phenomenons are not related because if they are, then she is the devil.
Maybe that explains the realism to some of my "bone chilling" nightmares. Don't worry mom, I don't have nightmares.

One Fast Buffalo

As requested, I have replaced the devil picture with something cheery and holiday-ish.

I'm on my way out but I just thought I would add something to the blog that made me giggle a few weeks ago. I was in the Baylor research library and I went to look something up on google. Everything that had been previously searched under the same beginning letter popped up under the "search" box. Out of pure boredom I ditched what I was doing for a while and typed in all the letters on the keyboard to see what other people had searched for. I was laughing so hard I decided to write some of them down.

• inability to gaze upward
• tea causes much urination
• one fast buffalo
• smooth quill ostrich boots
• fanny bag joe
• full quill ostrich boots
• how to title a term paper
• nutmeg liver
• eskimo in diaper

So... thats that.

Alli is a CUTIE pie

Shon left for his mission in Detroit.

It looks like that is all the photos Blogger is allowing for the moment!

It was great to see all our friends and family for all the holidays, even if it was a bit of a puke fest in Ashton we still know how to have a good time, right?! Love you all.

Joni