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.

Mothers Day

Instead of writing about Gale's perfectly picked out presents, a wonderful dinner and being treated like a queen all day. (Which is no different than any other day!) I wanted to write down the really important things about Gale. The real reasons that you can't help but love her and most of them need no explanation. Just a prayer of thanks to the good Lord for making her that way.

1. She has blinders on when it comes to the weaknesses of her family (referring to myself and the girls). She doesn't seem them and never comments on them.

2. She sees the best attributes of her family and comments on them often.

3. She really sees us. She is always touching us, loving us, hugging us and making sure we feel we are seen.

4. She listens. (At times for hours as the girls spill their hearts out--and loves it). I think my record is now up to 15 minutes of listening. Even when I'm on a kick and going off about something she listens.

5. She is kind and her heart is kind. No malice in that heart of hers for anyone. (Even if I try to put it there)

6. She doesn't judge. Her mantra really has become "that person is doing the best they can at the moment." She may notice, but she won't judge.

7. She is just good to the soul.

8. She has become more beatiful as the years have passed by. Why? I have often wondered, not just her physical beauty, but the traits that she has developed over the years make her an irresistable woman. (Okay--she is also still hot on the outside)

9. She does everything she can to make her family happy.

10. She is smart and getting smarter everyday. She studies, reads good uplifting books and wants to go back to school for her advanced degree.

11. She has the most phenomenal out of this world goals and she will accomplish them.

12. Not the last, but the most important of them all. She makes me an incredible person when I am around her. I would not be anywhere near the person that I am or accomplished what I have without her.

I think she deserves to be kept around for another year! I love you sweetie and have a gratitude for you that can't be measured.

Chris

Garage Sale

The Preparation
I have always hated garage sales. Well, I like them when they are over and we have a few hundred extra dollars to blow, but the preparations are the worst. This year I talked Gale into doing it right. We went through the house and got all of the junk out and just piled it into the garage. The night before the sale we took two hours to organize our junk and got it ready to set out. We were ready to go. The Sale
I had so much fun at the sale I think we are going to have another one next month. My favorite part is all the stuff that I know for sure is going to bring in big bucks. I watch the buyers peruse and touch all the top end good merchandise just figuring out the max price they will pay for my wares------and then they walk away, go grab the junk and buy it. I was dying laughing by the end. All of the good stuff that had value was left and everything that I considered junk was sold and gone. So what does that tell me about what I value? Maybe it was all junk in the first place!

The Aftermath
Everybody wants a deal and wants to check out what you have lying in your driveway. After the sale was over we piled everything next to the garage and called the Salvation Army to come and pick it all up. They couldn't come for two days so our stuff had to sit in the driveway (neatly piled) for two days. The best part of the whole situation was our neighbors. They had to check out what was left over and one by one they made their way over to get some of the remaining stuff. (Free of course!) No one called the homeowners committee to tell on us for leaving junk in our driveway for two days, wonder if it had anythign to do with the free stuff all of the neighbors came and took. By the time Salvation Army marched on over there was barely anything left!

What did we spend the money on?
Gale and I decided that we would treat ourselves to a nice sushi dinner so we spent $30 on the meal (we never spend that much on date night dinner). As for the rest.....hhhmmm I don't know, Gale probably spent it on groceries etc. I did notice a new phone system in the house so maybe that's where it went. Chloe and Olivia got some new shorts. I did sneak $5 and went to Starbucks for a Venti double chocolate chip cream based shake....only $4.85 what a deal. I think we all came out happy.

The house is going up for sale next Thursday. (If the stars align with the carpet and paint people) and we are going to do another clean out and garage sale before we move. Getting rid of stuff is actually really fun.

Tennis Day and Elle goes on a big Date!

Chloe had a tennis tournament today in Shawnee. She plays doubles and they placed 5th in the state tournament! This was great due to the fact that she just changed doubles partners. We did not go due to conference, and it was the first real big tournament that we missed. The team actually got to go in an official team bus with the coach so she was excited to ride with the team.

Today was a great day for Elle. At the school auction a few weeks ago Elle won a date with her teacher. (Who she really, really, really likes!) Elle spent her morning watching conference and making a necklace for Ms. Rath. When they met up to head to the mall for a movie Elle had her gift all wrapped and Ms. Rath had a gift for Elle. Elle was the happiest person in the world. They went to the mall, saw a movie, had some popcorn and then went out for some food. Elle couldn't believe she got time with the teacher all to herself.

Olivia had a friend sleep over and stay until 6 the next evening and Ava had a friend over the whole day as well. Let's just say my kids all had a great time today.