Benjamin's Weekend Girlfriend

So, we are nursery leaders in our ward, and one of the little girls has become quite attached to my charming husband. Her name is Lily, and she has beautiful curly blonde hair, and a smile that can obviously melt my man. It's funny to watch her take Benjamin by the hand and lead him somewhere in the room. She will consume all his efforts and wrap him up in her imagination. They cook meals and taste everything good. They balance bean bags on their heads, and pretend the snakes are real and squeal about them. It makes me smile so big. Lily's mother is also in nursery with us, and she has told me that Lily is going to be quite a little lady someday soon. She already asks her dad to give her long kisses goodnight, and he's predicted she will be the best kisser in her class.

With all this background information, I was discussing something with one of the other adults in nursery this week. I glanced around, and mentioned I'd better go make sure Lily wasn't hitting on my man, and looked across the room right in time to see Lily plant one right on his cheek. Needless to say, I dashed over there, as quickly as I could and asked her (hopefully politely) what she thought she was doing. She put her finger to her mouth and told me to "Shh! He's sleeping." So...I hurriedly told her that only his "true love" can make him wake up. She kissed him again. Benjamin (he's a smart one, and could see the jealousy in my eyes) lay still, very very still. I told her I'd try, and gave him a little kiss RIGHT ON THE LIPS (which Lily said later was the "magic kiss"). To my joy, he instantly woke up.

I realized that maybe I shouldn't have even said anything, because maybe we shouldn't introduce kissing games in nusery...but Lily's mom thought it was very funny. Next it was Lily's turn to be asleep, and she wouldn't wake up when I kissed her hand. I'm fairly certain she was waiting for Benjamin to try to wake her up. Luckily, one of the little boys needed help fixing a train track or something, and Benjamin was distracted.

The next week, as far as I know, there was no kissing happening in nursery. But maybe Benjamin didn't tell me for a reason...Picture of Benjamin and his weekend girlfriend below...

After we clean up all the toys, it's BubbleTime!! Everyone loves the bubbles, and we're even teaching the kids how to eat the bubbles.

Hunstman Senior World Olympics

This past week, I got to go to St. George, Utah, and offer free hearing screenings to the athletes of the Senior Olympic games. We screened otoacoustic emissions, tympanometry, and pure-tone testing. It was pretty fun, although we were expecting to have more senior citizens come find us. We had some slow spells, because we need quiet for the testing, and they separated us from the other health screenings. Oh well. It was fabulous fun.

Testing the flacticity (flexibility) of my tympanic membrane.


The tympanometry guns look brutal, don't they?


Watching some of the senior men's volleyball. Russia vs. (unknown)


Rachel, Heather, Jenn, and Kristi


Stephanie, Heather, Emily, and Nancy

this is not an announcement

After having a fun discussion with Garrett and Katie about baby names, we decided we should write them down so we don't forget any of our favorites. These are in no particular order.
Let us know what you think.
Boys
Girls

Joshua
Riley
Caleb
James
William
Dallin
Ethan
Jonathon
Jesse
Carter
Michael
Jacob
Joseph


Rachel
Avery
Hannah
Charlotte
Afton
Ivy
Rebecca
Merry
Zina
Sarah
Emma
Elizabeth
Aurelia
Marie
Dixie
Lily

We are also trying to think of possible names that resemble our grandparents' names (cause we don't exactly want to use them directly much. can you blame us?): Florence and Vard, Bulah Beatrice and Harold, Eulalia and Doyle, Arelia. But we're not having much luck. What to do....

Note Bene:

There is a poll on the right hand side.
Let me know what you think.


results are in.....
3 votes for McCain's health plan
2 votes for Obama's plan

The Cold War

Today I have banded myself with a new fraternity. It's called club for rednecks, psychos, and lunatics.

I bought a gun.
I'll go ahead and answer your questions in advance: Yes, it's dangerous; and no, they didn't check to see if I was mentally stable before giving me a lethal weapon.

Honestly, it's probably safer that way. It's kinda like the cold war. If enough crazy people are carrying big enough weapons, then no one can be the aggressor. The penalty is too high.
Level-headed people with guns are worthless,and truly maniacal weapon wielders are dangerous. But give guns(or nuclear weapons) to the enough mildly insane people, the ones who are probably OK, the ones who have only lost a few marbles, me (still looking for my favorite blue marble that i lost while i was water tubing in GA), then the world becomes infinitely safer.
No one flirts with the "edge" of the laws, because my goofy cross-eyed grinning face might not be able to tell which side of the line they're on. You just don't test a loon.

So, peace is preserved by that time honored adage: "Better safe than blown up".



after receiving a few questions about this gun i guess i should explain more. It's a hi-point 9mm handgun (nice shiny black semi-auto pistol). We got the gun for two purposes:
1. safety, although springville isn't the world's most dangerous city, it's a long term safety investment.
2. it'll be fun to go shooting every once in a while. (mostly this reason is just a bonus, we wouldn't buy a gun for this reason).
Thanks for the comments/questions.