Happy Birthday, Holly!

Today is Holly’s *mumble mumble* birthday.  Everyone be sure to call her to wish her a happy day.

Hannah vs. The Outbreak Monkey

Over the past month or so, everybody in the family has been battling one form of illness or another.  It all started with everyone suffering from bad stomach cramping.  It then evolved into a mutant virus that might be confused with the stomach flu.

Emma was the first to begin exhibiting flu-like symptoms.  She ended up missing two days of school and, even now, is still not functioning at 100%.  Holly also got hit by this bug causing her to miss three days of work.  I think that she is now finally over it after a week of suffering.  I’ve been experiencing some symptoms including stomach discomfort and a fever but, so far, I’ve managed to avoid too much downtime. Alex has been able to avoid the majority of the contagions very effectively.  Hannah, on the other hand, has not.

11 Years

On Saturday, Holly and I celebrated our eleventh year of marriage by realizing that we’re old.

I wanted to do something nice with her so I made reservations at Ye Lion’s Den, a restaurant in Ogden specializing in deliciousness.  When we usually go out to eat, I try and get something that won’t break the bank; anniversaries are different though.  I like good food and if I go to a place with really good food, I want to enjoy it.  Needless to say, I enjoyed it.

Holly decided that she would be a bit adventurous and order her rib eye steak medium.  (Normally, she likes her meat very well done.)  I think that she mistakenly asked for medium rare though because that cow just needed a few band-aids to get it back out grazing in the fields.  She ended up sending it back and a few minutes later, she received a piece of meat that was no longer mooing and was absolutely amazing.  Fortunately for me, she couldn’t eat it all so I got the leftovers.  The meat wasn’t as good the next day but it was still very tasty.

Halloween 2008: The Aftermath

So Halloween this year was pretty good.  We started our festivities early in the week with some pumpkin carving.  We had five huge pumpkins but a lack of time so only three of them ended up getting carved.  Holly decided that it would be fun to do Shrek and I unleashed my inner geek (what’s new?) and did Mario of Super Mario Bros. fame.  Emma decided to do an original creation which turned out pretty good.  Like every other year, there were lots of dads commenting on how cool our pumpkins were as their kids took our candy.

This year will be known in my mind as the year of the recycled costume idea.  Emma decided that she wanted to be a devil, Alex wanted to be a tiger, and Hannah wanted to be a clown.  Whether it is dumb luck or just coincidence, we have each of these costumes in the appropriate sizes in our costume box.  Everybody was happy and we saved money.  You can’t ask for more than that - especially if said costumes yield free candy.

Greed And Corruption: The New American Way

Given the recent headlines, you may think that this is going to be a post on the economic crisis that our country is facing.  Well, you’re wrong.  However, what I say in this post can be related to the problems that our economic and housing sectors are going through because the root problems are the same: greed and corruption.

I actually want to give everyone a follow-up on our recent car situation.  You may remember that our Dodge Colt finally died and that we had to buy a new car.  If you remember those facts, then you probably also remember how the fine folks at Auction Direct in Clearfield made a very valiant effort to screw us over.  At the time, it looked as though our returning the Nissan Maxima was the end of the story but it actually wasn’t.

The Pinks Of Their Eyes

This morning, Alex woke up screaming.  Holly went in to see what the problem was and found him standing in the middle of the room with his eyes closed.  Holly asked him what was wrong and he told her that he couldn’t open his eyes.  She asked if they were glued shut and he said that they were.  He also said that Emma did it.  (Emma can be so mean. )  She took him into the bathroom and cleaned the excessive amounts of eye boogers out so that he could once again see.

It was at this point that Holly was convinced that she, Alex, Emma, Chelsea, and maybe Hannah all have pink eye.  She took the kids to the doctor where her thoughts were confirmed.  Chelsea got lucky and just has allergies.  For now.

Back In The Workforce

This week Holly began orientation for her new job.  Yes, that’s right.  Holly has re-entered the workforce.  This time though, instead of playing with surgical tools, she gets to play with real live people.

Let me start at the beginning.  A few weeks back, Holly found a job posting for a LPN in the psych ward at a hospital in Ogden.  It was a part time position and she was itching to start using her nursing abilities so she applied, interviewed, and got the job.

The job will be good for a few reasons.  First, Holly will have better benefits than I do which is never a bad thing.  It’s also an IHC facility which we learned from her stint at LDS Hospital is just plain awesome.  (They treated her really well when she worked for them before.)  They will also work around her school schedule which will allow her to finish her last semester of nursing school, become a RN, then move to a different department (hopefully labor and delivery.)  Probably the best part though is that she’ll get experience in a medical field.  Sure, she could go to work at a nursing home but who wants to do that when you can work in a psychiatric ward?

For The Birds

Last week, Holly was surfing some internet classifieds and came across a listing for a free parakeet with two cages.  She immedately asked if we could get it, making sure to let me know how much Emma would like to have a bird.  Me, being the nice guy that I am, told her to go ahead and call to see if the bird was still available.  She told me that she would and I didn’t give it much more thought.

Later that night, Holly had a study group for school so she was gone for the evening.  When she came home, I was in the front yard with the kids.  As Holly pulled up into the driveway, I noticed a bird cage on the passenger seat in the van.  Sure enough, Holly had gone and picked up the bird.  I could tell that she was excited since there was huge grin on her face as she opened the car door.

Happy Fourth Of July!

As a kid, whenever anybody would ask me what my favorite holiday was, the answer was obviously Christmas.  After all, what kid doesn’t like Christmas?  Free toys, lots of candy stuffed into clothing designed for feet, and did I mention free toys?

Now that I’m a bit older, I still love Christmas (I think it’s the free toys thing), but I’ve developed a deep appreciation for other holidays.  Thanksgiving is awesome but the Fourth of July holds a special place in my heart.  There’s something about seeing an American flag flying as a wing of F-16s fly overhead that makes me extremely grateful to live in this wonderful country.  Add to the the fact that we’ve developed some really fun family traditions, and you have a day that we all look forward to each year.

Congratulations, Holly!

I just wanted to take a minute and let everyone know how proud I am of Holly.  Last week she took the test to become a licensed LPN.  The test took her a few hours but in the end, she passed.  So now Holly is officially a licensend practical nurse.

After she graduates in the fall, she’ll take the test to become a registered nurse.  Given how smart she is, I don’t think that test will prove any more difficult than the LPN one was.