Missed Free Throws

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=355591250469095019

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8295131825286548614

Here we are completely missing our free throws.

Jazz Road Trip. The Jazz made their trip through the midwes visiting Chicago and Milwuakee in back to back nights. Thanks to a sweet hook-up from my cousin Scott (Thanks Scott) we had VIP pregame passes and 3rd row seats, got to talk to the players etc. Of course, they killed us so that kinda ruined the perfect night, but still a good time.

A group of us outside in front of the famous Jordan statue. I still think he pushed off. The ought to build a statue of that. Cheater.

Now we're in Milwaukee. Senator Kohl, owner of Kohls department stores also owns the team and since the half or my ward that isn't medical students are Kohl's employees, we got a special hook up to this one too. The seats were in the bleachers but we got post game access to the court to shoot a free throw. Here's Tricia with Boozer in the background. Tricia didn't care about the players. She just hoped to run into Bolerjack. Which she did. And we did win in Milwaukee, thank goodness because Milwaukee is horrible.

Sam does He Man

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2257081819353562779

Here's a video of Sam reciting the intro to his favorite cartoon, He Man. Cartoons today aren't as quality as they were back when I was growing up, so thanks to Youtube, I've introduced Sam to all the classics, like GI Joe, Transformers, and of course He Man. Here's the translation:

Hi. I'm Adam, prince of Eternia and defender of the secrets of castle Grayskull. This is Cringer my fearless friend (showing his toy lion). Fabulous secret powers were revealed to me the day I held aloft my magic sword and said, "By the powers of Grayskull" (Sam adding theme music) "I have the power!"
Cringer became the mighty Battlecat (shooting Cringer with magic sword) and I became He Man, the most powerful man in the universe! (punching).
Only 3 others share our secret; our friend the sorcerous, Man of Arms, and Orco. Together we defend castle Grayskull from the evil forces of Skeletor (more theme music).

Kate wears glasses now. She is supposed to wear glasses anyway. She is far sighted, to a different degree in each eye which gives her a problem when trying to see up close and could lead to problems down the road if she doesn't wear her glasses. The only problem we are having now is getting her to keep them on her face and keep them from getting broken. She is currently on her second pair which is hanging by a thread after being bent back into shape repeatedly. We thought we'd hurry and post some pictures now since pretty soon her glasses will both be held together by duct tape.

On our way out to church this morning. The snow is finally starting to melt after a record snow season so far and more in the forecast.

Couldn't help but to make a WWII association with this picture which Tricia won't let me mention.

We thought getting her favorite Kitty some glasses would make the process easier. It didn't. She doesn't like Kitty to wear her glasses either.

Making the best of the snow this year with sledding...

snowmobiling...

more sledding...

and grilling.

Now that it's March, we thought we'd finally put up some Christmas pictures. Here are the kids Christmas morning.

Christmas eve.

Sam gets some transformers. He only likes the bad guys. The decepticons. No one else can play with Megatron.

Kate loves kitties. This book gets read often. When we see cats around the neighborhood, she calls them by the names of the cat they resemble in her book.

# 3 has a gender.

Another little girl headed our way.

Thanksgiving 2007

Sam chows down on some thanksgiving dinner. Wasn't a big fan of the cranberry salad. It'll grow on him.

Kate, the big eater in the family, prepares to go at it.

Sam's Latest

Sam usually throws such a fit when its time to cut his hair that we decided just to delay it for as long as possible. Eventually it couldn't wait any longer. Sam actually did pretty well at the barber (Tricia bribed him with a trip to the toy store) and now no longer looks like his little sister.

Tricia went in to check on Sam the other night and found him sound asleep.

What's Sam so happy about? And why is the furniture stacked against the bathroom door. And where is Kate anyway?

Sam lured his sister into the bathroom and then decided to barricade her in. Usually we can preempt his attempts to bother his sister (she's quite the tattle tell) but she apparently didn't mind being left alone in the bathroom and eventually was able to escape.

Halloween 2007

Sam helping his sister find a pumpkin. Kate uninterested in Sam's selection.

Everyone found a pumpkin to match their size.

Sam flexes his power ranger muscles. He had wanted to be a power ranger for months before halloween so we finally got the costume. Sam was excited for weeks leading up to Halloween and we thought we were all set. But the day before it was time to actually wear it, he heard his good friend Sam Tyson was going to be a knight and from that point on the red power ranger costume was a big dissapointment. If you ask Sam a question about what he likes, he usually answers "What does Sammy Tyson like?" Hopefully Sammy Tyson goes on a mission and marries in the temple because if so, we are set.

More peacock. These two pictures happened to be taken in the brief 5 minute period that she actually wore her wings and headband. They spent most of the night on the floor.

I realized I haven't said much about Kate in this blogspedition. Since we only seem to do this once every 6 months or so, I'd better not leave anyone out. She looks a lot like Sam, but she definately acts different. She is definatey more "girly". She is scared to death of being tossed in the air, loves necklaces, and is fascinated with shoes. She is our cuddly baby, the snuggler that Sam never was, and loves to give hugs, crawl into our bed and lay her head on my chest and being wrapped in anything soft and cuddly. Here is Kate on her 1st birthday. She loves the doll she got, as well as her stuffed animals. Sam will usually give one to her if she is sad and it cheers her up. The other night, we decided to let Kate cry it out when she woke up unexpectedly in the night. When we finally did go in there we found her crib full of all the stuffed animals and dolls in our house that Sam had been throwing in there to try to keep her quiet so he could sleep.

Baby #3 is on it's way. We are very excited. Here's the little guy's (or girl's) first photo as a 6 1/2 week old fetus. We both think boy, but then again, that's what we said about Kate. April 19th is the big due date. Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately) I don't learn to deliver babies until June so I won't be performing this delivery. When Sam heard the news, he asked where babies come from. We told him that they come from Heavely Father and he seemed satisfied with that explanation. What he doesn't seem to understand is why we need another baby when we already have one. He is excited though that he and the new baby will have birthdays close together.

So here it is, the family Crosmobile. Thanks to Mike for doing all the research and reccomending the Toyota, we followed suit and joined the ranks of the satisfied minivan owners despite Tricia's past declarations that she would never be a minivan mom. Having the extra car is handy. Now mine stays cheerio free, and Tricia appreciates not having to get the family up at the crack of dawn to drive dad to the hopital, or getting a sitter to come over at night while she picks me up. The extra size has already come in handy when Tricia's family came to visit last week and all 8 of us were able to cram in together. And of course, it will be nice in April when when it comes time for that 3rd car seat.

For the better part of most days, Sam isn't Sam. He is any number of different ninja or super hero characters that he knows by name, weapon, super power of choice, etc. Of couse I spend most of my day as whatever villain that super hero usually fights. You can usually tell when Sam isn't Sam by the faces he makes as he gets into character. These are the faces Sam makes when he is contemplating how to cut off your legs.

Which could usually be done with any number of different weapons at any given moment that he is usually carrying around. This is pretty typical for him: more weapons than clothes.

Although he is preferring ninja weapons to guns these days, any one of his weapons can be turned into a gun at any moment if he closes one eye and aims it at you. The same goes for anything else he happens to be holding. On more than one occasion I've looked up across the dinner table at him to see him giving one of the "bad guys" in our house the one eye squint before taking it out with whatever he is supposed to be eating or eating with.

Visitors from Utah!

Me and my awesome parents.

We found this great little park right by our hotel in Chicago where Sam and Kate got to swing and see the ducks. They both LOVED seeing their grandparents and I'm pretty sure the feeling was mutual. Sam has already told me twice this week that he misses Grandma and Granpda.

We had an early birthday party for Sam (which of course he loved). One of Sam's favorite things about birthdays are the party hats. Here he is with my sister Amy and her son Robbie.

Sam playing swords in our front yard with Grandma and Robbie.

Amy, Rob and Robbie and our little family in front of the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago. A place which we will not be able to afford again until Marc is a doctor, so thanks mom and dad.

Thank you, thank you, thank you to my Mom, Dad, Amy, Rob and Robbie for coming to see us. We love you and miss you already. We would love to have any of you in the land of Wisconsin. It's a pretty fun place-well that's debatable unless it's rummage sale season or you really like the Packers-but we are only one hour from Chicago! So come and we'll party!