A couple of observations

1) Cotton shorts really are pretty versatile. This morning, when I saw what Adie was wearing, I was really surprised to see her size S (in girls - out of the toddler clothes) body fit into her brother's 12 month shorts. Sure enough, they may be a little small, but overall, don't look that much different than other clothes she wears. The shorts also seems to fit Chase pretty well when he's wearing them. Who knew those two would be sharing clothes.

2) Since when was Michael Jackson's music considered oldies? The Jackson 5, sure, but I was surprised to hear "Billy Jean" on the oldies station this morning. Oh wait, it was released in '83, so the song is 27 years old! I guess that does make it an oldie. It really makes you feel old when music that came out after you were born makes it to the oldies station.

On an unrelated note, as I type, Adie is adamant that I type, "Adie misses Adie's friends." So, there you go.

The Dance Recital

What better way to say "Happy Fathers' Day!" than show you a picture and video from our daughter's first dance recital. Really, Adie out did herself, entertaining both Brett and me. I am sure Brett was a very proud papa while watching Adie twirl, do the chicken dance and a number of other funny antics during her first ballet performance. So, to Brett we say, "Look at your talented offspring, you lucky man!" and to Adie we say, "Congratulations on a job well done. You entertained your parents even more than we expected you to."

On a quick serious note, Brett is an absolutely wonderful father. I couldn't have married a better man for the job. Also, we really are very proud of Adie. As 3-yr-olds who have only taken ballet for 2 months, I think Adie and her friend, Kenzi, did a wonderful job at their dance recital. The performance won't soon be forgotten.

Now, on to the video. It only took 4 takes to get the girls dancing :)



And one photo from the performance (Brett has a few more he will post later).

The whole thing was way too cute!

Goodbye, Grandma!

On Friday, my sweet Grandma Savage passed away. She's been sick for a few years now and I am so happy she gets to move on, but I will dearly miss her. She was such a good woman and example to me. I have so many positive memories of her. What a wonderful legacy she has left. Some of the things I will remember most about her are having mashed eggs and freshly squeezed orange juice for breakfast at her house, music and singing, always singing (and it's still one of my favorite things to do), having sleepovers at her house and her doing make-up for my cousins and me, her good-smelling bathroom and her detailed photo albums. I think her obituary was a wonderful encapsulation of her good life. How special grandparents are. I love all of mine so much.

We were just looking at some photos we had of her from my brother's wedding a few years ago. It made me smile and I just wanted to post a few as my little memorial to her. I love you, Grandma. Thank you for everything!

Visitors!

Many posts must be done. Again, I am behind, but I have to start somewhere! The last couple of months have been full of visitors. First, my dad came in town for a week. One of my dad's talents is being a wonderful grandpa and the kids had a blast spending time with him. Mostly, we just hung around, went swimming, etc. but we did do a fun day trip to Tombstone and had a birthday dinner for my dad at the Cheesecake Factory.

My dad and I posing for a picture taken by Adie. Not too bad!


Not sure what was going on with this rock, but I love Adie chilling with her sunglasses here.


Riding on a saddle at the Tombstone courthouse.


Grandpa and the kids taking a break after our tour at the Tombstone Courthouse.

The gallows! These are a replica of ones that were originally in Tombstone, kind of creepy, but really interesting. I actually really enjoyed Tombstone and would like to go back and see a bit more. I heard it wasn't great so maybe going there with no expectations helped me enjoy it more.


The kids loved hanging out with Grandpa on the bed, just talking and playing. I know neither child is smiling, but I assure you, there was lots of laughter during these moments.


I really struggled to get some good pictures (this is why Brett is in charge of photography at our house), but this is the best I have from our visit to the Cheesecake Factory. Can you see Chase going to town with the brown bread? He was a huge fan.


Shortly after my dad left, my friend, Kim, and her husband, Paul, visited us from Houston for a day. Sorry, Kim, this is the only picture I took. I don't know why I don't have more from that day. Anyway, besides having a little grilled dinner, we tried to go to Colossal Cave with them but didn't realize it wasn't very kid-friendly, so mostly we just drove around and talked. It was so good to catch up.


Adie has also had her friends come and visit a few times (names not mentioned to protect the young and innocent ;) ). She and Adie were enjoying a movie while snuggling under a blanket and eating popcorn.


Another day, they got to have fun with homemade playdough. It was my first time making it, so it wasn't stellar. I'll have to keep perfecting the art of playdough-making, but at least it provided 20 minutes or so of entertainment.



We also got to have a nanny with us for a week. Our cute neighbor came over to help me out for a week. She is fantastic with the kids. Here she is helping Adie paint a toy elephant.

She also helped develop the children's musical skills. They had so much fun playing with her.

We always love visitors, whether they travel long distances or live around the corner. So, please, feel free to come on by!

Do you Groupon?

Have you heard of Groupon? If not, you ought to check it out. I am becoming mildly obsessed. If you aren't familiar with how this works, there are a number of cities who have a groupon each day and you have to buy it within a certain time frame. Basically, you buy something in advance but for, usually, a really decent discount. Then, they email you a coupon that you print off and use by the expiration. The expiration is usually a long way out, like 6 months to a year. I have bought things like a family zoo pass to our local zoo, for more than 50% off, a tour and dinner at a local cave (for a date night), a discount at a nut store (do realize how expensive it is to buy raw nuts?!) and today I paid $40 to get $100 at Shabby Apple (an online modest clothing retailer, with the most adorable dresses for women and girls). That's a 60% discount, people! Although many of the deals are local to the area you live, the great thing about the Shabby Apple deal is that, while it's a Tucson deal, it's actually online, so anyone can buy the coupon.

So....I encourage you to check out Groupon and then, if you are feeling like a new dress, check out Shabby Apple. You could get a $100 dress for $40. That ain't bad, folks! If you are interested in this deal, just make sure when you go to Groupon's homepage that you choose Tucson as your city. You can always switch to other cities. I always check out Phoenix and SLC too, or if you are gong to be traveling to another city, you can check out the deals they have posted on that city too. The whole thing is just fabulous and I wanted to pass the info along. Happy Shopping!

Football, BYU and U

I really hope that anyone who reads our blog on a regular basis realizes that Sabrina and I blog about what we are passionate about. That would be politics, kids, and college football (Sabrina) and technology and college football for me. That's a double helping of college football for you, and here's today's second serving.

The University of Utah got their coveted invitation to the PAC-12. I do read a number of BYU football boards and Utah fans have been gloating for months on the BYU boards that the U was a shoo in. They were convinced that they were the crown jewel on the radar of the PAC-10 and would be the first to be offered. Football coach Kyle Whittingham (according to the rumor boards) was even telling football recruits that Utah football would be playing in the PAC-10. Well Utah fans, here's your day. You're welcome to it.

Now don't take this as sour grapes. I've been expecting that if offered, Utah would certainly take the opportunity. I also expected that if offered, BYU would move to the Big-12. Though that would be less certain because BYU's Sunday no-play issue. Money drives everything.

Utah, you're welcome to being Colorado's travel partner. I suppose they will be your in-conference rival from now on. While everyone else in the conference is paired up with another school that is within a few hours driving distance, now your partner is 9 hours drive away, AND you have to go through Wyoming to get there. Be grateful that CU was signed up before the Big-12 turned the PAC-10 down, otherwise Utah would be staying in the MWC. On the bright side, all the schools in your conference are at least a 9 hour drive away. That should help prevent any mischief from occurring on your campus by your in conference rivals.

I really question the cultural fit of Utah in the PAC-12. Yes, they are an "academic" institution, but as I'm often reminded, the U of U is the place of the apostles and prophets. I mean, if you want to achieve greatness in Mormondom, Utah is the place to go, right? The U of U has the largest institute in the church. Utah, good luck being in a conference where you are by far the most conservative school. You just became what you always mocked BYU for being, the religious school dominated (at least relatively) by Mormons.

A couple last thoughts.

Most BYU fans have been bugged that BYU has never been on the radar of the PAC-10. It has less to do with the quality of the program (obviously, since CU got in), and more to do with culture and the values which BYU espouses which are not valued in the liberal "academic" world. Once I heard that Utah was joining the PAC-12, I realized that since Utah is joining a group of bigoted anti-Mormon individuals and institutions which despise and mock the things which BYU stands for, Utah should fit right in. (Ok, I kid, I kid)

What are they going to call the Big 10 and the Big 12 now? The Big 10+2 and the Big 12-2?

To Celebrate or To Lament

Readers of this blog will know we like to follow college football around here. I think most are also aware that we are a house of split allegiance. Being a U of U graduate, I couldn't help but be excited that the U is joining the Pac 10 / 12 (whatever it will be called now). I realize the U was definitely lower on the list of choices the Pac 10 was trying to invite, but it's still a great opportunity and will hopefully benefit the school in many ways, not the least of which is athletics. So, I celebrate the fact that if the U is able to have some fantastic seasons, like they have in the last few years, their chance to go to a national championship game is exponentially greater (I do recognize that to have an undefeated season in the Pac 10 will be a more difficult achievement than doing so in the Mountain West).

All that being said, I do lament the fact that they just up and joined the great evil that is the BCS. Rather than trying to bring it down by proving a mid-major conference can and does produce worthy opponents year in and year out, they have succumbed to the seduction of receiving more credibility by being in a supposedly "better" conference. I like to believe that the MWC does have some teams worth giving the time of day to and they have been unfairly disadvantaged by the current BCS system. I am not saying all of the MWC teams would stack up against all the SEC teams, but on any given year, in football at least, they might stack up to the ACC or the Big East. So, in my celebration, I lament the fact that the U did not stand on principle and push for more equality on the college football field. Luckily, at least according to many BYU fans, Utes and their fans have no principles or standards, so there wouldn't be any expectation for us to use them anyway.

I do realize, above all, it's all about the money, so since this deal bring with it a lot of $ it most certainly is a savvy business decision. But then again, isn't that what is so wrong with the world today? In general, we give up our principles in order to cash in to get ahead. See with me, everything can become philosophical, even college sports.

Brother/Sister Doe

So, one of the questions Sabrina and I have had is how do you refer to neighbors/friends within your ward? Growing up, I don't believe my parents ever taught us to refer to others as "Brother So-and-So". It was always "Jeff" or whatever the individual's first name actually was. The sole exception was the bishop. Sabrina was raised with similar expectations to myself.

At this point in time, however, Adie is getting old enough that she's beginning to call her friend's parents by their first names. At church, she calls her teachers by "Sister ...". Do we try to have Adie call her friend's parents by "Brother/Sister" as well?

I believe that the church has a non-doctrinal policy that everyone should call everyone else "Brother/Sister" at church. Though that could just be me remember something someone told me sometime.

Any thoughts on what you do?

Kitt Peak

Every year, Sabrina and I alternate being in charge of Valentines day and our anniversary. This year, Sabrina was in charge of the anniversary and so we went to the Kitt Peak observatory for their night observing program. I have to say, it was a lot of fun and very cool. We went with a big group, and while we didn't know most of the people, it was still quite enjoyable. We got to go learn about the observatory at Kitt Peak, look through a fancy telescope (though not the biggest ones on the mountain). There are actually 27 telescopes at Kitt Peak.

We arrived and got a boxed dinner. Turkey croisant sandwich, which was good enough. Then we watched a movie, they gave an orientation training, they handed us binoculars and then we went out and watched sunset. We used the binoculars throughout the evening to look at objects in the sky. Not as good as a telescope, but it gave you something to do when waiting for your turn. We also were shown one of the research telescopes up there. After that, we got to go up to the larger telescope we were using for the evening. We looked at a couple of the brighter objects in the sky and then learned how to use star charts. By this time, it had gotten quite dark so we got to look at a number of different objects in the sky, galaxies, star clusters, planets, all in all it was very cool.

Anyway, it's worth it if you are into astronomy or even just science. Towards the end of the evening, after we'd been outside for a couple hours and our eyes had completely adjusted, it was amazing how many stars you could see just with your eyes. And then when you used the binoculars, it was pretty incredible. Anyway, here are a few of the pictures from the evening. If you happened to go with us, I'm finalizing some more of the pictures and I'll be posting them to my photo webpage. I'll send the link via email.

Sabrina testing her binoculars

One of the telescopes, as seen from our sunset overlook

More telescopes, including a radio one

Our group. We didn't know many of them, but it was still fun.

Inside the visitor's center after it was over. The big circle is the size of their biggest telescope up there, 4 meters.

He's On the Move

Why is it that the moment a child begins to crawl they go straight for cords, outlets, dirty shoes, everything that you want them to avoid? Ever since the day Chase finally figured out how to roll, he has been ready to crawl and yesterday he finally officially got it figured out! Ever since then, I have been reminded about how not baby proof our house is. It's fun though to watch him hit this big mobility milestone. It's only going to get crazier from here. No more leaving him contentedly playing with toys on the floor. I'll have to keep my eyes wide open. And for no good reason other than it's fun to see a picture, here is a fun picture of the kids "helping" me with laundry.


We'll see how ambitious I am feeling after church today. Maybe I'll post some stuff that has been back-logged for a while. We've actually done quite a few fun things in the last month or so. Maybe I should document them....