Summer Travel Plans

9 Days To Twins! ... let the nesting begin, oh wait, Molly's life is just one big nesting period already.

We wanted to let everyone know of our summer travel plans so you can plan to either clear your schedules, fill your schedules, or somewhere in between.

Unfortunately, as much as we'd like to join in the scout camp/cabin activities at the end of June, we just won't be able to make it work. We'll have to look forward to our big trip later in July...

Saturday, July 21: Arrive in Utah (we may drive Friday afternoon/evening depending on work)
Sunday, July 29: John flies to CA to work while the rest of the family stays and has a great time
Thursday, August 9 (most likely): John flies back to Utah
Sunday, August 12: Drive home to CA

Ang and I may be back in Utah in early October depending on how the St. George marathon lottery and our summer training go. We plan on not bringing the kids so we can both run the race, but we'll see how it all works out.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO DAVE!!! Let's see, I guess he's about 31 now...dang Gino!

funny comments continued

alright...alright...I'll make a comment...all of our kids have said so many funny things at time. I have to laugh at the ones mentioned. I have written several in my journal so I won't forget. But, here are some ones that come to mind: Micah: "mama hold you!", Kennan: "I know how to say cold in Spanish...brr..." Or, after putting a lifesaver in her mouth, "how do lifesavers save lives?" Morgan: referring to the street, "Are we driving on Satan's roof? Because we know he lives underground." Brig doesn't say much yet, but I love it when he sees something that he wants or is excited about. He makes this sound like he's sucking in the air with his mouth open. He's so cute!

A great weekend and a few photos

Some pictures from Brig's birthday celebrations:

It's nice to sit down after a full weekend. Dishes are done, Brigham's asleep, Morgan's about there too; Ang and girls at a YW fireside, and me with nothing else to do.

I took the girls to the tennis courst Friday evening for an hour of hitting (and a lot of chasing) some balls. It's fun to see the girls doing well at different things. Kennan seems to have an extra knack for tennis, but they all enjoy it a lot. Saturday started off nicely with Angela and I both doing good medium range runs (8, 7 respectively) with friends. By the time I went at 8, it was getting quite hot and I felt it a bit by the end. We divided forces to get Kennan to tennis class and Micah to a birthday party. She seems to have more parties than the other girls, and they always espouse how "unfair" it is that she gets to go to so many.

I took Morgan with me to the first three innings of Stanford v. Oregon State baseball, which was very fun although pretty hot. It was about 88 degrees on Saturday - unusually hot for here. We then hurried home and all drove up to the Oakland temple. The girls did a fabulous job tending Brig at the stake center with other kids, and Angela and I thoroughly enjoyed our first simultaneous temple trip in a long time.

Friday and Moving Day

I'm moving jobs again...ok, I'm just moving my job to a new building, but I got your attention, right? Yeah, after two months of four people sharing an office built for two people, we're finally moving into our new digs. It's funny how much rampant excitement is generated by something out of the ordinary happening.

As Clint pointed out in a response to yesterday's post, it's NEVER too early to start thinking about the weekend. The highlight of our weekend will be our trip to stake temple day tomorrow. It should be interesting because our ward is providing babysitting at the stake center adjacent to the temple, so we're taking the kids up with us and leaving them with the bishop and his wife. I'm sure Brig's not going to be too happy about that, but we're counting on Micah to be his buddy and look after him.

Other weekend plans: Micah achievement days, Micah bday party tomorrow, Kennan tennis, family bike ride or tennis, RELAX (catch up on 24, watch this week's Lost, watch Casino Royale that's been sitting on our counter for two weeks), Sharks v. Red Wings, Jazz v. Rockets, morning runs, and church stuff.

Music from my Ipod that's played while I wrote this post: Bob Marley, Live, Linkin Park, 3 Doors Down, Daughtry, CCR, Van Halen, Led Zeppelin.

Thought you might enjoy a walk down memory lane as I reminisce about some funny things the kids have said or used to say: Micah- "lasterday and lastermorrow", Morgan- "I wasn't sleeping, my eyes just went black", Morgan- "I dreamed of black last night", Kennan (in reference to the rap music blaring from the car next to us)- "Dad, I like Chinese music", ... So here's an opportunity for you all to chime in - what are some more funny things you remember about our kids and stuff they've said? (Angela, this would be a good time for you to chime in.)

Have a great weekend!

One more day til Friday

13 Days to Twins! I received an unofficial second-hand report from Dad today that Molly is feeling good. I believe she was instructed to continue feeling good (aka not delivering) until the Texas trippers return from San Antonio...then she can feel as bad as she wants.

In titling this entry "One more day til Friday", I risk giving you the perception that we don't like work/school/weekDAY activities. That is not the case. We just happen to like weekEND activities a little bit more. There is a little more freedom to sleep in, a little more time for longer runs, a good chance of an afternoon Brig/Dad nap, and more family time (a good thing til we get sick of each other). But seeing as how we have a hard time looking beyond the next couple of hours sometimes, we'll just get through today and then worry about the weekend later...

I know something most of you don't know...you'll be getting a call (Richards family) from Dan and Hailey soon...let me just tell you, it's good news. More on that tomorrow after everyone knows. Have a great time in San Antonio all you who are en route to the great Republic of Texas. Give my regards to Rudy!

Forgot to Mention

14 Days to Twins!

also, here are some items to watch for in coming posts:
- summer travel plans
- various Top Ten lists (ideas?)
- photos
- Star of the Week feature
- and more...

Thanks to Spencer for commenting on yesterday's post; great to hear you're teaching your kids true priorities Bro!

With Micah's Missions project in full swing and STAR testing at school every day preventing us from staying up too late, we haven't had the chance to read in the evenings as we usually do. Micah and I have become engrossed in the Eragon series - we finished the first book and are halfway through the second book, called Eldest. We're sort of waiting for this one to get good, but it's still really fun to read - we try to do it every night. We've got a few books/series lined up for when we're finished with that one: Harry Potter 6 (and eventually 7), Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys, The Great Brain, It's Not About the Bike, Band of Brothers ... you know, the classics.

Great to hear that Matt signed up for St. George - can't wait to run it with him. Anyone else?

NOTE: I've added a new feature you'll see to the right hand side under the picture - a link to my training blog that gives details on what my daily workout regimen is. I know 99% of you won't care, but for those who do, it's there.

A quickie

15 days to twins! (Molly will be mad at me for creating a false hope if it's longer than that...)

Ahhh, 70 degrees and sunny. I really shouldn't complain about the few cooler days we've had lately given what the Back-Easters have gone through, but it's nice to have things back to normal here.

Kennan was a stepsister in her 1st grade production of Cinderella this afternoon. Some would say she was a little too good at bossing Cinderella around, as if she has practice at home...I just say she's an extremely talented and discerning actress who understands the subtleties of her ever-expanding roles. Yep... She was great and had a fun time.

An official request was logged by Caroline for more family pictures on the blog. I'll work on that and have some up soon. Any other requests??? Anyone want an analysis of the Playoffs, or movie suggestions (kidding...I don't have any), or ideas for vacations (hint: starts with Los and ends with Altos)?

Later

Who knew?

Kennan and Morgan are rugby fans! They went with me to Saturday's game, sat through the intermittent rain and cold, and had a great time. I'm sure it had a lot to do with the plethora of treats and snacks we brought for them, but I like to think just a little piece of their enjoyment hinged on the watching of the greatest sport known to man.

BYU won both games this weekend to set up a national semi-final match against Penn State next week. Thankfully, they're coming to me again, this time even closer, as the Final Four is at Stanford.

Micah is working in a big project at school that is the culmination of their class's study of missions. She is going to make a replica of her assigned mission, and we're currently debating what the best materials are going to be for her to use. The favorites range from a "gingerbread mission" to clay to cardboard...we'll see what happens.

Micah and Kennan are also practicing for their upcoming play, Wizard of Oz, in which Kennan is a crow (I think...I hope...crap, I don't know for sure), and Micah is the Scarecrow. This is fun for them but the adults in our family will be glad when it's over. Angela seems to be on a constant drop-off cycle between play practice, swim team, and other stuff.

So is anyone else out there addicted to "Lost" like we are? I cannot get enough - I actually hate to watch it each week because I know I'll just have to wait another week to see the next part. I could dedicate this blog completely to just discussing Lost and keep it entirely interesting, but I won't...

Might I also recommend for you sports fans out there to read Bill Simmons - The Sports Guy on ESPN. If you haven't already discovered this column, he's hilarious in a twisted sort of way. Check it out, but know this...the background of his articles is very yellow so it may be difficult to read at work because it doesn't even look remotely like anything you should be reading at work...worth the risk though.

Finally, I'm officially kicking off the "Countdown to Twins" (no, not ours) section of this blog using an assumption that they'll make their grand entrance on May 9th...16 DAYS!

Once they're born, I'll officially kick off the "Countdown to Insanity"...;-)

Ciao

Great morning

How does it get any better than this...?

Went for a great run with some new training partners (including a surprisingly fun "feats of strength" portion on the local park's gymnastics rings), everyone was happy this morning, got to drop off Morgan at a friend's house, donut and breakfast burrito day at work, and now it's work 1/2 day and head off to rugby heaven.

peace out

Business and Random thoughts

It's been interesting to watch some big companies announce their earnings lately (Yahoo, eBay, Google). There's a wide spectrum of success in quarterly results, and it makes me grateful to work for a great company that (debatably to some) seems to be doing everything right.


Brig still isn't walking independently yet. His Dad is a little impatient, perhaps thinking "how can he be a world-class athlete if he's not even walking by 1?!" But impatience aside, he just doesn't seem interested in getting around that way as he's adept at crawling and walking around with assistance of toys, furniture, or helping hands.

I'm headed up to Berkeley tomorrow for BYU Rugby's Sweet 16 playoff matchup with Wyoming. Barring a total shocker, I'll also head up on Saturday for their anticipated Elite 8 fixture against most likely Cal Poly SLO. It'll be good to see the boys again, and with a couple wins this weekend I'll be privileged to have them come into my back yard in a few weeks for the Final 4 at Stanford.

We recently had a problem with our home phone (unbeknownst to us until we couldn't call out), which meant two things: 1) we didn't hear incoming calls, and 2) we didn't check the messages because we didn't know anyone had called. So sorry if we missed any of your calls, but we're back in business no.

We also had an interesting experience in the middle of the night a couple nights ago. The house we're renting has an alarm, but we haven't activated or ever used it. We were awakened at 1am by the alarm going off in a very loud and frightening manner. Due to our not having used the system before, we didn't know how to turn it off, so we had to wait until it reset after about 10-15 minutes. It also happened again 1/2 hour later. We fixed the problem yesterday by yanking out the wires...problem solved.

A little rainy and cold today - anxious for 75 and sunny to move back in for the summer!

Here we go again...

I signed up for the St. George Marathon again yesterday. It's not guaranteed that I'll get in, but even if I don't get selected we may have figured out how to get in after the fact last year. Anyway, it will be my 8th marathon, and I'm happy to be doing it again. I'm sure as it gets closer, and then of course while I'm doing it, there will be moments when I'm not so happy, but nonetheless, it's good.

We had a weird thing happen last night. The house we're renting has an alarm, but we've never activated it because we're not too worried, and we don't want to pay the high monthly fee. Last night at around 12:30am it started going off. We had no idea how to turn it off because we've never used it - so it went on for around 10-15 minutes. Then just as we were finally all back to sleep and not worrying anymore, it went off again 1/2 hour later. Then it took a while to get back to sleep...

Micah was sick yesterday and had to miss school. Brig's been unsettled the last few nights and we're not sure what's bothering him - probably a tooth or two coming in. Kennan presented at the school board meeting the other night with some other students to illustrate a program their teacher is running. She said it was fun. Micah and I finished reading Eragon recently and are about 1/2 way through the next book in the series, Eldest. This one's not as action-packed, and we're both hoping to get into some more substantial parts of the book. We really look forward to it as a nightly thing we do.

John's exercise today:
Played tennis with Mark again at 6 this morning and I lost as usual, but my game was a frustrating mix of really good shots and totally stupid errors. Good exercise though, and I'm playing basketball tonight so I really should get my quota for calories burned today.

Angela's exercise today:
Ran with Michelle at 5am (yes, I said 5!). Then she did jumprope for a while.

John's free lunch today: Asian BBQ Pork Ribs, brown rice, balsamic brocholini, green onion flat bread, small chicken ranch pizza, lemonade.

Great weekend

We had a great weekend! The weather was a little cool, including some rain on Saturday, but the kids and I took two long bike rides that were awesome. On one of them we rode up a big hill with Micah leading the way, Morgan and I on our double bike, and Kennan doing great with her single-gear bike behind us. I was really proud of them!

I got in a good tennis match with my friend Mark, although you can't really call it a match as he always beats me...but we're at least competitive and we both have fun. It's about a once-a-week thing for us - usually at 6am at his club. I also found a new weekly basketball game with a bunch of guys from work who rented out a local gym late Wednesday evenings. Pretty good ball.

Angela and I are just trying to formulate our spring/summer running plans and considering what races to sign up for. I think my Los Altos friends and I will sign up for St. George again, and Angela is probably considering some 1/2 marathon distances for this year. It's fun to get back on the fitness kick, although we've had a relatively decent winter of cross training and activity.

My company announced a huge acquisition late on Friday that's going to change my work life a little bit. I will likely be working on some aspect of the acquisition, which is exciting for me. More later as it unfolds...

First Post ...

To all our friends and family, we wanted to find a way to better communicate what's going on in our lives on a more consistent basis. This will hopefully provide that mechanism for us. I can't promise that we'll update daily, or even weekly, but you never know - we just might. I think this will be easier than our family website, and we will also be able to collect your comments and thoughts.

Please feel free to ask questions of us, or make requests for certain information. Or just tell us the pictures are dumb, or we're dumb, or whatever you're thinking. Usually I'll post (John), and sometimes I may be able to convince Ang or the girls to share some thoughts. This idea was inspired by Caroline, who daily updates their blog and it's been fun to follow their lives pretty closely.

Love,
jamkmb