What?

Let's just say I'm completely and utterly dumfounded. It is amazing when something happens in your life that is so unexpected and so out of the blue that you can't even begin to fathom what is going on. Give me two weeks and I will post on it....by then I will hopefully have my head wrapped around the whole thing.

Back to School

I hate it when the girls have to go back to school. I miss having them around and the noise and complete chaos and mess that they bring. I miss hearing them laugh. I also love it when school starts because they get new clothes, new teachers, all the new school supplies and the feeling that is in the air the first week of school.
It is a big year this year because Olivia starts sixth grade which is Middle School. Watch out Sequoya here she comes! Ava is starting Pre-K for a full whopping 2 1/2 hrs a day. But she seems to be more excited than anyone else. She goes in the afternoon, but insists on wearing her backpack all day.

Soon enough all the homework and projects will hit and it won't be as exciting--so I will enjoy the great feeling that comes from the first two weeks. Check out pictures of the first day of school.

Back in the Saddle w/Kenny Loggins!!

Okay--so this summer has come and gone, between Colorado, moving, living in a friends basement, dissertation work, and the occasional pool trip I lost the summer of '08. Where did it go and what was I doing? I don't remember, but let's just say I will never move again. This wasn't the most "fun" summer I remember, just a summer of let's get things done and make it through the day.

So I am back in the saddle again. I am back keeping my journal (blog) and I am recommitting to myself that I will update it at least twice a week. We will see how it goes.

So I found myself working in Little Rock Arkansas yesterday. I was staying overnight and decided to go eat some dinner. It was sprinkling outside so I couldn't ride my bike. (The dilemma was to fly to Little Rock or not, and if I flew I couldn't take my bike to ride and since I never get a free night with nothing to do I decided to drive which is about 5 1/2 hours so when it was raining I was mad that I had hauled my bike drove 5 1/2 hours and then couldn't ride, because I never get a free evening to go for a 2 hour bike ride and Little Rock has the greatest bike path along a river that goes for at least 40-50 miles. ADD statement of the day). So I was walking to dinner and as I am walking I notice that Kenny Loggins is walking towards me. Yes, footloose Kenny Loggins so I say "hi" and he says "hi" back. Since Kenny is in town I realize that there must be a concert so I find out that he is preforming an outdoor concert at the local ampitheater. I get some "free" tickets and proceed to party with Kenny. What a great concert. He may be old as dirt, but the guy can still sing. Now three things hit me as I'm at the concert.

1. Everyone there is over 35 and old. I then realize I am old too.

2. About 10:00 I start yawning and hope that he sings "footloose" so I can go to bed. I then realize #1 again....I am old.

3. I learn that once you pass the age of 35 don't dance at concerts.

I wished Gale could have been with me. We would have rocked out!

How great it is to love something!

I love my job at UCO. I love to get up the morning that I have class. I love that I have learned that preparing lectures, powerpoints and discussion questions is useless for me. Instead, the class always seems to take on a life of its own and we get discussing and talking about the subject matter and the time flies by. I guess I'm lucky because most of my students are adults, graduate students or at least seniors so they are a bit more mature. I love that the students love my class. There is something great about other people liking something that I do. Sometimes we all end up staying after class and discussing what we discussed in class. This week we had case studies that were researched over the last week and we discussed them. It was fascinating. Here were our topics:

Martha Stewart (stocks, leadership style, phoenix who always rises)
Elliot Spitzer
The spaceshuttle columbia disaster (where did it go wrong? Did you know that they knew there was a problem days before they started reentry...)
Darfur
Immigration and the notorious fence

Boy did we ever raise the roof as emotions and viewpoints came out. Yet everyone stayed so respectful of everyone's opinions.

I love that I love my job. (P.S. I love that I am done for the summer and can spend it with my kids at Pelican Bay. I love it when I'm the only dad there during the day and I run to my kids and whisper, "do you see any other dads? nope, neither do I, see how much I love you" Priceless! I am going to have to remind them of this when they are older and bring up some of my not so great parenting moments.)

Tonight in class one of the students asked me why I was so happy and said she needed to call me up everday so she could be happy too. We started talking about things that make us happy and I couldn't stop so here is some of my list.

I love that I can be out in the sun and warm my cold bones from the winter. I love that I get to spend more time with Gale. More things that I love ; running when it is really hot and listening to a great church talk, italian ice, eating ice cream or anything sweet around 10 pm at night, waking up to a nice sunny day, laughing, watching my kids, giving my kids too much love, reading books (I love books and could spend my days sitting in Barnes and Noble drinking a starbucks venti double chocolate chip shake). I love convertibles, I love laughing with Gale, my walks with Gale, that first moment when you climb into bed and lay down and your body relaxes and you don't want to fall asleep you are so happy, I love cold drinks, I love to see my girls get along and share, I love a clean car, I love to have a light burden and forgive people who bug the living crud out of me, I love to watch people, I love to laugh when my kids do funny things, I love boba tea, I love really funny people, I love it when hardships pass, I love to see some people come into my life and others to go, I love naps, I love it when we have treats third hour of church, I love it when we have snacks during sacrament meeting, I love to watch people change and be better than they were yesterday, I love to get a massage, I love to get together with my brother and laugh my head off, I love that I finally feel like I fit in my skin, I love Pelican Bay, I love the beach, I love to surf (as bad at it as I am) I love to try new things, I love to smell Gale and my girls, I love to think of the future and all the great things that are going to happen. I love to be around good friends who you can be yourself with, I love ping pong, I love chocolate covered almonds, I love to have cash in my wallet, I love how quiet the house is at night, I love to play tennis, I love to dream big about great things, I love to talk with my kids about their big dreams, I love it when my kids don't drive me crazy. I love girls camp and the peace it brings for a couple of days until I miss them. I love surprising people, I love to bike, I love to get slurpees (orange-pineapple is my current favorite) Okay, that's enough could keep going forever.

Can I work out with you?

Life can be so great. When you are at the right place at just the right moment and you see something happen or experience something, and you say to yourself. I am so glad that I'm alive and can experience a moment like this.

Gale and I had one of those the other day on our walk. As we were walking we could hear someone screaming in front of us, not a scared scream, but one that you get when you realize that your child just spilled paint on the carpet, or left the light in the car on and now the battery is dead and you have to be some where in 2 minutes--that type of scream.

We were so excited to see what was going on we picked up our pace and stopped talking so we could hear what was occuring. (Gale can be a bit nosey) As we got closer we could see a man screaming at two women to pick up the pace and quit being lazy and to move faster. Now the women were quite large and I could tell their bodies wanted to move faster, but just wouldn't let them. The excitement of the moment and the intensity of this guy screaming at them to move increased as we got closer. We didn't want to pass them as it would be a bit awkward for us to pass the screaming man and the can't breathe and still trying to move women. We kept on closing in on them and as we were just coming upon them the man screamed out, "Get moving...you haven't seen skinny since 1991!!!" I couldn't help it, but I burst out laughing. Not the kind of laugh that you can hide, but the kind of laugh that I bend over because I can't move and I'm waking the neighbors and their dead relatives kind of laugh. I couldn't help it, so to try and cover it up and I smiled real big and said...You look like you are having so much fun and listening to you is so motivating....can I work out with you? As soon as I said that Gale looked at me with the "What are you saying" type of look and the women looked at me with a "Are you crazy...because this guy is crazy!! Run for your life...." and at that we got out of there.

To watch our escape was in itself quite funny. You can't really walk away to fast unless you move your arms really big like those walking ladies who wear a visor or a braided sweat band around their head and a fanny pack with necessary walking supplies. Including the hand weights that are necessary for a great workout/walk. Yea--that would be us.

In Awe of my children

In the past two weeks I have been in true awe of my children. It is one thing to admire your children and see them enjoy their life successes and expand their talents, and it is something different all together to watch your children and be in awe of who they are as a person and who they are becoming. (And it having nothing to do with my parenting!)

Olivia was the lead in the school 5th grade play "Oklahoma" (of course, it is our centennial year here in the great tornado state). I watched mesmorized by her talent and sheer radiance. She literally "glowed" (for lack of a better word) on stage. I couldn't keep from watching her, and as I thought about it later it had nothing to do with her being my daughter. Just the fact that she was so good. I left amazed. Chloe's final choir concert was this week. The music teacher had asked her to write a song for the school choir and she did in about a day and a half complete with three verses and harmonies. It was called "Believe". I have heard it around the house the past couple of weeks as Chloe practiced on the piano, but it wasn't until the teacher announced the song and that it was written by one of the 7th graders and Chloe walked to the piano, set up her microphone and she proceeded to start playing the song. When the choir sang and harmonized I was once again blown away, to the point that tears came to my eyes. Here was my child writing music for the 7th grade choir and accompanying them and then singing the last verse as a solo and acting as calm as could be during the entire thing. If I could have only seen when I was engaged and dating Gale the amazing children we would have I don't think I would have believed it.

I have watched Elle closely the last two weeks. On our school lunch date we sat alone and talked and laughed for the entire 1/2 hour. Elle has to have one of the happiest souls there is. She is laughing and cracking jokes the entire day. As she starts to grow I can't wait to watch her other talents and abilities develop. I can't imagine our home without Elle, I feel like I am watching a flower as it gets ready to bloom and I have no idea of the great things that will come from her.

And then there was Ava. Last, but definately not the least. I am amazed at Ava everyday. Little could I realize how big a little 4 year old could be. You don't understand that until you meet Ava. She runs our house, is the mother to her 3 older sisters (actually more of a boss) and has no problem telling everyone what she thinks and plans. This girl is going to take the world by storm. I like to be in awe of my children. I see them in a whole new light when I am.

Name Changing

I refuse to give up on my journal. It seems like life gets so busy, and other things begin to take precedence over something I really enjoy doing. So I have recommitted to writing down the great and memorable events of my life.

In the last week everyone wants to change their name. Elle would like to be called Isabelle, Olivia would love to be called Benning (her middle name) and the originator of all this (Ava) would like to be called Sparkly Girl. I can barely connect the right girl with the right name, so I have decided I'm in trouble. Hopefully the season of name changing won't last long. And just in case your wondering what my name change is; Ava decided that I could use her name since she wasn't going to need any longer. So I go by Ava now.