BSU vs. ISU

Okay so maybe that last post was a yawner, a little too philosophical? But don't breath a sigh of relief too soon because I plan to follow up on those thoughts at a later date.

Meanwhile! Bronco football is the word around here. On Thursday Richard told Cameron that Saturday was "Game Day". Cameron thought that meant we were going to the "game house" (Boondocks maybe?) and it took a good deal of persuasion and distraction to help him get over that let down.

Well Julie got tickets to the game last night and since Richard and I are both ISU alumni we couldn't pass it up. Besides, even I can enjoy 3 1/2 hours of football on as pleasant of an evening as last night was. I was a little torn about who to cheer for, because Richard and I jumped on the BSU bandwagon as soon as we moved to Boise. But I have Bengal loyalty too. So I wore orange, how's that for neutrality? And cheered for both teams. (Although I couldn't cheer for ISU too loudly because we were sitting in the players's guest area and I didn't want to upset the numerous player girlfriends surrounding us.) I was happy to see ISU at least get on the scoreboard.
My two favorite moments from the game were courtesy of the Bronco Marching Band. (I guess I am a bando at heart afterall.) The first was the goosebumps I got during the Star Spangled Banner and the second was the wave of nostalgia that washed over me when the played the ISU fight song. Ahh the memories. They even spelled out ISU on the field. How hospitable! I enjoyed some actual football moments too I guess. :) Oh and the mini donuts? Yum yum.

Authenticity, Part I

I had an experience the other day at work that really got me thinking. Then I listened to two podcasts that really set my mind spinning. The first was an episode of “This American Life” called ‘Got You Pegged’ and it was about the judgements and assumptions we make that are often wrong, but sometimes necessary. The other podcast was “On Point” with Tom Ashbrook and it was an interview with Richard Todd who has done a great deal of study and writing about authenticity. But first, here was my “foot in the mouth” experience.

I guess everyone does this, we do it all the time, but at work when my patient walks into my operatory I make immediate assumptions. It is almost sub-conscious, the way I surmise and conclude based on appearance and a couple minutes of small talk. Then I get on with my work; taking radiographs, cleaning teeth, educating the patient, etc. Well at the end of this particular appointment we were chatting while we waited for the dentist to come in for the exam.

Me: Where do you work?
Patient: St. Al’s. (Hospital)
Me: Oh? Are you a nurse? Receptionist?
Patient: No, actually I am a physician.

So most of you are laughing at me and thinking I was out of line to lead the questions in that direction, but hindsight is 20/20 and she did not strike me as the doctoral type. (Obviously.) I apologized and she was very gracious. It was probably quickly forgotten by her, but all of the sudden the last 53 minutes rolled through my mind and I realized I would have done things very differently if I had known she was educated, experienced, and… well… intelligent. For example, part of the appointment involved measuring the depth of the gingival sulcus around the teeth to see if there is a loss of periodontal attachment. Although I could have used those words with her, that isn’t usually the way I explain things to people, I try to simplify. “I’m measuring the gums around your teeth to see if there are any ‘pockets’.” My point is, here was a woman with a far superior knowledge of human anatomy than mine, and I was over-simplifying based on my poor assumptions about the level of her understanding.

What made this so disappointing to me was that I explain oral health in different ways to different people. I suppose I sometimes oversimplify or don’t simplify enough, but this time I had her pegged for someone on the complete opposite end of the spectrum. I really dumbed it down. So how did I go so wrong? Am I that bad of a judge? Why do I have to judge in the first place? I guess the bottom line is that I need to ask more questions at the beginning to make a more sound judgement. But boy did I feel foolish. I felt like I need to work on treating everyone the same, but it's not exactly that simple.

Poor Little Eli-Pie

The last couple days have been miserable for Eli. He got a bad cold and we had a rough night followed by a rough day. It seems like you assume that after the newborn weeks pass, sleeping through the night will become a routine again. Are we unique in that that doesn't seem to be the case around here? But Eli seems to be on the mend now. Here he is before he got sick.
Here he is yesterday, feeling quite lousy.

I don't know if it is because Eli has been getting so much attention, but Cameron has had a major relapse in the potty training department. After four good months we are back at square one! He's even in pull-ups, which he never really had to use before. Someone please tell me it will get better!

On a lighter note, Cameron has been calling me "Mama" lately instead of "Mommy". I don't really mind but Richard and I were curious about it. Cameron knows that Richard calls me Jo, and he and Eli call me Mom. So when Richard asked him about calling me "Mama" Cameron said "Should little boys call her "Jo-Mama"?

Cameron-isms

I always knew that parenting wasn't going to be straightforward. But every once in awhile one of the boys does something so unexpected that Richard and I just kind of stare blankly at each other, thinking "What do we do about this?" Last night Richard put the boys to bed and a few minutes later Cameron came into our room asking Richard to get the "hills" out of his blanket. Over the next 20 minutes Richard and I were repeatedly called back to his room to get the "hills" out of his blanket. He was very distressed and could not be appeased. Finally, at my wits end I explained to Cameron that blankets just have "hills" and there was nothing else we could do. He seemed to finally surrender and we were all able to go to sleep.

We had another "Unphotographable" moment yesterday. The reason this moment was unphotographable was because if I had taken the time to get my camera the neighbor who witnessed the drama would have thought I was a negligent mother, and she would have been right. So the picture I didn't take was:
Cameron on his bike, not pedaling, his face frozen in fear. He was yelling desperately for help while powerful gusts of dusty wind blew him down the sidewalk, at a speed much greater than he could ever achieve by pedaling. I raced toward him, blinded myself by wind and dust and rescued him from his bicycle that had been hijacked by mother nature.
Needless to say, a big wind storm had blown in rather suddenly. He was quite traumatized. I brought him inside and held him until he quit sobbing, and after that he just laid on the couch wrapped in his blanket. Of course by the time Richard came home he was as animated as ever, and told a dramatic version of the story to his Dad, proud he had survived.


This is Cama-lama on the dock up at Lucky Peak last weekend. This morning I overheard the following in Cameron's bath. The rubber duck yells "Hit it!" to the plastic boat. Then the plastic boat goes "vrrooom!" and Cameron yells "Woo hoo!"

Cameron loved watching the "Olymp-kits" as he called them. His favorites were the diving and the racing. He competely changed his stance after he saw the real way runners "take your mark". Cameron got some tools for Christmas last year and has always had trouble keeping his hard-hat on. So I just used one of my head-bands to help him out.

Can't Get Enough Blogosphere!

Okay everyone, go ahead and roll your eyes because I have created another blog. It's an "idea sharing" blog of sorts... it won't really interest many of you. But for the craft/homemaker types you can stop by!

http://www.secondratepursuits.blogspot.com/

I call it Second Rate because nothing I do is First Rate. I don't mean that in a self-derogatory way, I just mean I am a beginner at just about everything.

Oh and also because these pursuits are, ideally, secondary to the more important pursuits in my life.

Anecdote Time

Warning: This post makes reference to certain female articles of clothing.

I suppose this conversation happens between mothers and sons all the time, but that didn't make it any less amusing when it was my turn with Cameron.

The scene: I am folding laundry and Cameron comes in the room. He picks up a bra and the following conversation ensues:

Cameron: What's this?
Me: Oh, that's mine.
Cameron: What is it called?
Me: It's called a bra.
Cameron: When I was a girl I had one of these!
Me: Oh? Hmmm.
(I don't even know where to BEGIN with that statement.)

He proceeds to swing it around and around whacking Eli in the face.

Me: Cameron please don't play with that.
Cameron: Oh, is it just for little boys to look at?(We often tell Cameron that some things aren't to touch or play with, just to look at.)
Me: Um, not exactly. (Actually thinking "Heavens No!")

Play Your Heart Out!

That was the theme for the fair this year, so play we did! We started off with gyros in honor of Evan. (I'm sure they are not as good as an authentic Greek gyro but we'll settle.) I wish I could attend the fair in two installments, once with all four of us, and once with just Richard. It's hard to do what we want to and what the boys want to but it was fun anyway. Cameron loved the horses of course, Eli not so much. Too big I guess. My long-term blog readers will remember pictures like this from last year... couldn't pass it up.


We had to take a second mortgage on our house to pay for the rides, but it was worth it. Cameron just grinned the whole time. Our agreement was one ride for me and one for Cameron. But a nice family who had had enough gave us some more tickets so Cameron got to ride a few times.
By the time I rode the swings it was dark so the pictures didn't turn out. I felt a little ridiculous standing in line with a bunch of tweeners and I may have even sprinted with all the other 11 year old screaming girls to get a swing on the outside. But I loved every minute of it! I love the swings.
Eli was much happier around the smaller animals.
We finished off the night with an elephant ear, that I am pretty sure was Eli's favorite part of the night. Richard was easy to please with a giant strawberry lemonade. It was good times.

Another Road Trip

For most of you, or all of you, this post might be dull ramblings and although I haven't yet claimed my blog to be my journal, I just feel like I should document this trip and this is the format I find most enjoyable for such documentations.

There aren't a lot of pictures to capture the moments for two reasons, the first being that everything seemed to go by so quickly. Our stops were brief. The second reason is that this road trip was just me and my little guys and found that my hands were always busy. It actually turned out to be quite challenging. (Don't ask why that surprised me, it shouldn't have.)

First stop after departing Boise was Mountain Home. We stopped there to see my friend Autumn and her new little boy Justin. He was so sweet and it felt nice to hold a newborn. Cameron had fun playing with Lizzie and I think Lizzie was having fun too because she asked if Cameron could stay and I could pick him up on my way home.

Second stop was Twin Falls where we took my little brother Darren to lunch at Pizza Hut. Darren loves the boys, he's a great uncle and we wish we could have spent more time with him.

After dropping Darren off at work we went to see my college roommate Ashley. I hadn't seen her since her wedding last summer and she hadn't ever met Eli. I'm looking forward to someday meeting her little offspring. :)

From there we went to Jodi's house where we could relax a little bit and Cameron was happy to play with another person his size again. In fact he was having such a good time he didn't want to go to the Twin Falls temple open house with me. So, I went alone. Which turned out to be a really nice and reflective experience. I'm grateful I had that opportunity. If you are still reading, thank you Jodi and Eric for a delicious dinner, babysitting my boys, generous hospitality and just good company.

We stayed in Twin overnight and the next morning hit the road for Provo. It was a long morning to say the least! I think the most difficult part of the trip were the regular visits to public restrooms. Cameron still requires frequent potty trips and it was a nightmare trying to keep Eli from touching anything while helping Cameron do what was necessary. Inevitably it ended up that Cameron and Eli would both need hand washing which meant lifting them both to the sink and maneuvering hands, soap, etc. Then helping them both dry (curse the air dryers, I don't care if they are environmentally friendly!) without letting them touch anything again. I'm really not an excessive germ-a-phobe but public restrooms are just a little too icky.

Once in Provo we headed to the graduation. I thought the boys did pretty well and I really enjoyed the talks by Richard G. Scott and John Hughes, who spoke at the second commencement the next morning. Two graduations, yes that is the way it is at a big university like BYU.

Hence, the only picture to document our trip. Congratulations Laura. College graduation is a pretty big deal in my opinion. Good for you!
We had BBQ with family on Thursday night and went to lunch Friday after a nice tour of campus with the fam. Then we headed home! The drive home went relatively smoothly, and I felt a little bit better because Gordon and Julie were close at hand and very helpful.

The only stop I didn't get to make was at IKEA. I figured if a public restroom stressed me out then I better not venture into that huge abyss. Maybe next time.

I have a new gratitude or a renewed gratitude for the following things:

-paper towells for drying hands
-the car dvd system
-Richard!
-good friends
-new friends (Michelle probably won't read my blog but Laura's sister was a ray of sunshine to me while in Provo)
-temples
-cruise control

One last story: Ben got Laura some balloons for graduation and she gave one to Cameron. Of course he let it go and it started floating up to the sky. He begged and begged me to get it back and I tried to explain that it was too high. He said "But we just need a ladder!" Ben was quick to reply "We just need an airplane!"

One more camping trip

My wonderful in-laws (Thank you Gordon and Julie) let us borrow their boat for an overnight trip to Spring Shores at Lucky Peak. Luckily Eli survived this camp-out without injury! Our friends Sean and Kim came with us and even let me beat them in "Oh Heck". (Very unusual, "I never win games!") It was Kim's birthday so we had melted cupcakes and sang to her. Cameron loves to sing the birthday song.

Eli learned how to say "Dees" for the camera and was offering plenty of smiles. The boys found the perfect spot to throw rocks and feed the ducks. Go Kim!
It's your birthday!
I had to get Richard in here somewhere! He is totally in his element. For those who don't know, our first date was a disaster. For various reasons we went on a second date, which was waterskiing. That's how he won my heart.
This life jacket was Richard's when he was a little guy. In fact on the back is written "Richie Bird" in permanent marker.

I'm really going to miss summer. But today was kind of fall-ish and I can appreciate the coming season. Bring on the bouquets of sharpened pencils!

A Shoot

To compensate for numerous picture-less posts, I have over-loaded this post with pictures. My friend Krista did a little photo shoot for the boys. I think the pictures are fabulous, but I might be biased because they are my adorable children. It was a bit of a challenge to keep the boys focused, too many rocks to throw, trails to run down and then there were the dogs to watch...

Does anyone remember the book Maniac McGee? That's who Cameron reminds me of...running running running.

Eli of course, story of his life, always trying to keep up.

Thanks so much Krista!

Has it really come to this?

I rarely give my phone number to the pesky cashier who is just doing what their employer requires by asking for it. (Sometimes I can see in their face how much they hate asking.) But I must have let down my guard the other day at Deseret Book. I don't remember giving anyone my phone number but I must have been distracted and assumed it was safe with DB. Boy was I ever wrong! The following is the conversation I had on my cell phone, the best I can recall:

Deseret Book Phone Solicitor: Joanne, may I have a few moments of your time to tell you about a program that we, here at Deseret Book feel very strongly about?
Me: Sure... (Thinking to myself "Is this what I think it is? A sales call from Deseret Book?")
DBPS: blah blah blah movies these days are poison for our spirits blah blah blah even PG-13 ratings are questionable. . . we need movies that are good for the family to watch. . . do you agree?
Me: Sure...
DBPS: blah blah blah a program where we send you four movies for ONLY $12.99 each blah blah blah we are not a club so you aren't required to make any purchases thereafter. . . these movies are even made by LDS producers. . . can we count on your support for this program?
Me: Um no. I rarely buy movies, I usually only watch them one time and wouldn't be interested in this "program."
DBPS: Oh yes, I completely understand. blah blah blah you could purchase only two of the four movies . . . donate them to a school or family when you were finished blah blah blah By purchasing these movies you are supporting a clean and good movie business . . .Can we count on you to help make the world a better place by participating?
Me: Maybe if I had lots of money I could buy a movie when I wanted to watch it and then donate it to someone. I'm not interested.
DBPS: Yes yes, absolutely I completely agree. BUT you can also do your part by purchasing only one movie! I'm sure we can count on you to contribute just this much to so great a cause!
Me: (By now my charity was waning and my patience had run dry.) Quite frankly I am feeling a little manipulated here, and I guess I didn't think Deseret Book was in such dire straights that it needed to resort to phone solicitations.
DBPS: (no script to respond to that) Um.... okay have a nice day. Thank you for your time.

I have a lot of other thoughts about this, but I'm more interested in your thoughts. Can anyone make a defense for this business I have patronized as long as I can remember?

A New Bike

In my post about my new iPod I may have suggested, okay I plainly stated that Richard was into buying material gifts to compensate for his extensive travel. Of course he compensates in more meaningful ways too, but last Saturday Cameron was the recipient of Richard's generosity. Richard took him to the store and bought him a bike. We had been talking for awhile about how Cameron was probably ready for something to ride and so as usual Richard executed. Tonight the little guys and I went on a walk with Misha and Cameron got to ride his bike. It was so much easier for me to just push Eli instead of both of them in the double stroller. (Those things are heavy and hard to maneuver!) It may sound cliche, but I really can't believe my little Scooter has grown up so much!

Unphotographable

A friend of mine posted about this and I thought it was brilliant. She got her inspiration from this blog: http://www.unphotographable.com/ This guy is actually a photographer but once in awhile for whatever reason (forgot his camera, picture taking wouldn't be appropriate) he doesn't snap or shoot. Last night I totally had an unphotographable moment. Firstly because I forgot my camera, but doing so gave me the chance to enjoy the moment wholly without capturing it digitally. They say a picture says a thousand words, but I'll try to keep it brief.

The pictures I didn't take...

were of my family and friends sitting on blankets on a grassy field anticipating the Kuna Days fireworks. Richard keeps a wary eye on the impending sprinklers to our right, prepared to jump the moment they spring up from the grass and threaten to impair our enjoyment. At last bright lights and a loud bang bring us all to attention and send Eli in his best sprint to Richard's lap for safety. The show begins and the children are captivated. I am captivated by the colorful display. Everyone aahhs at infernal fireballs that mushroom up into the sky, purple, blue and orange. The brightness from the lights makes the cheeks of my boys shine and I can see perfectly the intensity on their curious faces even in the darkness of the night. Periodically Cameron tries to describe to me the excitement he feels while watching the show and I try to hush him and redirect him back to the fireworks. After an awesome display of colors and sparkles we think the show is finished only for it to continue on, mesmerizing its viewers until the last explosions and flares have blinded and deafened us. Cameron's cheers bring smiles and laughs as we appreciate his appreciation.

Way to go Kuna! Pretty good fireworks for a town who sends around a man before the show with a brown paper bag to collect contributions. (At least that is what he said he was doing...)

Any Takers?

A long time ago I borrowed the original Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants from my sister. Months went by and I never watched it. I kept saving it for a night when Richard was out of town but there were just too many other movies or something. Anyway, I saw the other day that there is a sequel coming out, so after a rough and lonely evening tonight I needed something girly. Sure enough it did the trick! I cried multiple times (like I said, one of those evenings) and loved it. So what did I do when it was over? What anyone else would do of course! I got on the internet and watched the trailer for the next movie. (I might have even watched it more than once...) Anyway, I'm sure Richard isn't going to be interested so anyone else who wants a GNO let me know! It comes out August 6th.