"dude, this thing is so awesome!"

that is what ben has said about 53 times tonight since coming home from the ward youth pool party bearing this:





















they were playing pool basketball and he was attempting a slam dunk from the edge of the pool and one of the kids pulled his feet out from under him (it was him and another leader, our good friend Ed Harman, against all the boys).


i most definitely think that this is NOT awesome.

write 750 words a day

i'm not sure why, but i signed up for this challenge after i read about it on kate's blog... she's my beautiful and amazingly talented cousin-in-law who, by the way, is an fantastic writer. i hate writing. and i, unlike kate, am not very good at it. but maybe it will help me get all the jumbled thoughts out of my head and then i won't be so cranky all the time. oh wait, maybe i'm cranky because i'm the mom of three wild boys (which is also one of the main reasons why i'm insanely happy). but i digress... if you need a good excuse to journal, you should sign up for the challenge. hopefully i can keep at it every day. if you miss a day, they put you on the "wall of shame." HAHA!!!

stealing hearts everywhere

on tuesday last week for a last summer hurrah before school started, we took a trip to the beach in capitola with our good friends, the geddes. there was a group of people right next to us that were in love with oliver. he decided to go ahead and sit down with them and chill.

lizard catchers

joel and kadin are completely obsessed with snakes and lizards lately. friday at the park they caught this tiny little guy:



they were SO excited about catching it and they were just so sweet and gentle with it. it was pretty cute to watch them taking turns holding it and passing it back and forth to each other. joel keeps telling me that he wants a python for a pet. ummm.... dream on, joel.

crazy kids

with three boys, no matter what precautions ben and i take, there's bound to be countless bumps, bruises and trips to the emergency room in our future. so i try really hard not to freak out when my kids do stuff like this:

a few minutes after this video, joel got the swing going really fast and couldn't hold on while the swing was whipping him around. he flew like 6 feet before landing. yikes. he bounced right up totally laughing his head off. are anyone else's kids like this?!?!

Some thoughts about a very touchy subject

Hello readers-of-this-blog,

Yesterday I watched the movie trailer for a movie about the infamous California Proposition 8. The movie is entitled, "The Mormon Proposition." Then I watched a video by some of Whit's friends from college, who argued for homosexual marriage.

I have heard, both in person and through other media, and read many arguments against such a proposition. For those who aren't familiar it was a proposition to have marriage remain between man and woman only. Many who were against Proposition 8 have inquired, "if you claim to have any kind of a heart or love for others at all, how could you vote for such a thing as to deny a group of people the opportunity to claim their relationship status as 'married'?"

As a very sensitive person (believe me, I have been a sensitive boy from my youth, just ask my parents and siblings) who voted for the proposition, this statement has caused me to meditate and ponder in great length about my decision to vote for such a denial.

In my sincere and honest soul-searching, I have come to two significant (for me, at least) conclusions about my decision:

1. The ability to separate the act or life-style from the individual is the key to remaining a loving individual and still stand for principles that are difficult for many people to swallow. Some participants on BOTH sides of this issue have tremendously failed in this regard. Because I feel a bit like I am on the defense here :)...I can name several people (not just one) who are homosexual, who I love and respect. I love Mike for his ability to make me laugh and I respect him for his untiring work ethic. I love Paula for her hugs every time I see her. She brightens my day. I love Pam for her terms of endearment that make me feel good about myself. There are several others as well, but these are a few of my most recently made friends and associates who are homosexual. Obviously, this isn't "proof" to anyone who is reading this that I am sincere or without any guile at all. If you really want to know, ask my friends and associates if I have treated them with any more or less respect and love than others and put me to the test. I'm not perfect at all, I know, but to genuinely love and respect everyone around me is, I believe, a gift I have been given. Not once during my voting or my support of Proposition 8, or ever since then, did I harbor feelings of animosity or hatred towards those who voted against the proposition, homosexual or other.
2. What is so beautiful about this country is that you can actually stand up for moral and ethical principles that you believe in and you have the means given to you to fight for them. I'm not just talking about my own beliefs, here, people. If a coalition of Mac Users for Georgia Domination (MUGD) wants to require everyone in the state of Georgia to only purchase and use Apple computers, that is their privilege and their duty, if that is something they truly believe is worth fighting for. I'm sure the Apple company employees would support that! I realize that this particular example is a bit ridiculous, but when my state asks me to take a stand on one side of the re-defining-of-marriage line I will stand on the side of marriage between man and woman every time. That is my privilege and my duty just as much as it is for homosexuals to stand and fight for their side. I must stand where I, personally, believe is right on every issue that is brought before me.

Now I may not be on the same side of an issue as another individual, but this certainly does NOT give me the right to persecute and belittle that person, or treat them any differently than anyone else.

Who is fighting for or against individuals here? Not me. I can look in your face, whether or not I agree with your position, and truthfully tell you that I love and respect you, and that because of who I am and what I believe, this is where I will stand.

Some may be reading this right now and may still think that I have a shriveled heart and a dead soul and that I care not for the feelings and the beliefs of others. If this is the case, all that I can do is to invite you, as the author Charles Dickens wrote long ago, to "Come in! Come in! and know me better..."

Love,

Ben

funny joel

last monday for family home evening we talked about how jesus loves others and all the different ways he served the people he was around. in particular, we talked about how he healed a blind man and gave him his sight.

so today at church, our aunt laurel was sitting next to joel and drawing a picture of bat for joel. as laurel was drawing, she told joel that bats can't see. laurel left to sing with the choir and as she was walking away, joel leans over to me and says:

"mom, mom! did you know that bat's can't see? maybe jesus can give them a blessing and then they can see again!"

haha!

and just because you can't have a post without a picture of cute boys....
*side note - joel is holding oliver because oliver wanted so badly to knock all the blocks over!

Oh, to be a stay-at-home mom...I mean dad

Whitney is in Washington D.C. with her mother and 5 sisters, so I took today and Thursday and Friday off of work to be with my boys...and because we can't really afford to have someone else take care of our kids during three entire work days.

After a day (which, let's be honest here, is not sufficient to really make any conclusions), I could totally do this. I mean, be a stay-at-home dad. I woke up, had breakfast with my boys, got everyone to their preschools on time, fed some lunch, played some old-school supermario brothers and some other non-video games like wrestling and playing "monster," and designed and constructed pretty much the most awesomest train track ever built (Whitney recently bought a ton of tracks cheap from the internet).



Now we're going to eat dinner at Denny's, not because I don't want to make dinner (I totally know that's what you were all thinking), but because that's our tradition every time mommy goes away for a couple of days, just on the first night that she leaves.

Can anyone match the fatty goodness of a choose-your-own-grand-slam meal complete with bacon and sausage? I think NOT!

I'm sure the whole stay-at-home thing gets really old really fast, and it can be way harder lots of the time, but, Oh, what a pleasant day this has been :)

a tisket a tasket....

three dudes in a basket.

and if you wouldn't mind.... i'm a finalist in a giveaway for a photo session by this girl. click here to vote for me. just leave a comment with the word "whitney." thanks!

baby legs. not legwarmers.

so ya, technically they are legwarmers, but the "legwarmers" i purchased are called "baby legs" and oliver IS a baby. the word baby does not imply a specific gender, does it ben?

i have 2 reasons for putting baby legs on my kid:

1. if you hadn't noticed, oliver is a bit rotund. :) i still have yet to find a pair of pants that button around his chubby tummy. i'm serious. i got out a pair of joel and kadin's old size 2T jeans (oliver is only 13 months old), complete with an adjustable waist of course, and even though they are 5 inches too long on oliver, they are too small in the belly. solution: a cute onesie and baby legs!!

2. i just like them. i think they are darling. and i think they are especially darling on oliver... my precious, chubby dude. i mean how can you resist this kid?

i'm 100% positive that ben has NEVER purchased one single item of clothing for any of our children. so i offered to let him take over this job and then i would let him have his way in the "legwarmer" debate. i thought that was fair. he decided not to take me up on that offer. and why would he? he doesn't care what our kids wear... other than baby legs, of course. and i LOVE to buy clothes for our kids. for me, it's one of the many perks about being a mom.

so thanks for all your input... all your positive reinforcement, and even for all your "NOT OKs" :) but this girl is stickin' to her guns. and ben has consented. thanks babe! you can pick out our next kid's name.