Picture Perfect

Easter was perfect this year. We had the usual egg hunt in the morning and the kids were definately on a sugar high by the time we made it to church. Kira had been asked to speak. She gave a great talk, I know this not because I got to hear any of it but because she let me read it before church. I spent the time out with Savannah who could not calm down. I think it was my pay back for every Sunday for two years sticking Kira with the kids while I lead the music. :)

So without anything further here is Easter.

Hunter is growing up into such a neat boy. He is a great big brother and is so thoughtful and helpful. He is always laughing and jumping and playing, some may call it hyper, I call it full of life.

Savannah is definately a two year old, and my wife will completely agree she is an absolute daddy's girl. She can go from throwing a fit to absolute sweetheart in 2.2 seconds. She is such a joy to our family and brings little ray of sunshine everyday.

Colton is now completely crawling, he loves his walker and biter biscuits, and after about a week of constant encouragement he is now saying "da da" everytime he sees me. What a beautiful boy.

A few pictures

Things have been pretty busy and I haven't posted for a while. I have some great easter pics and some really cute pictures of the kids. But for now I wanted to post some pictures I took the other day. My work phone has a 1.3 mega pixle camera on it. Not the best quality but we went on a family outing the other Saturday and just spent the day doing some fun things. Here are the pictures.

So the theme this time around in the Bellagio was butterflies. They change it out every three or four months or so and we like to go at least three or four times a year to see what they think up next. They even had a butterfly habitat. Way cool, the kids loved it.This next shot is from the top floor of the parking garage at the Bellagio. The cranes and the lights on top of the tall buildings were pretty impressive. I have no idea waht they are building but it is huge.

Whenever we go to Cesar's Palace to see the fish we always stop and let the kids play a little at FAO Schwarts. Here is the big piano, sorry about the quality. This was the best shot I had.

And the fish aquarium. We have been taking hunter here since before he was 1. Colton could not stop staring, he loved it.

Horse shoes

So if you walk across the parking lot at my work there is a big city park. Kira will bring the kids and meet there for lunch all the time and it also brings opportunities for friendly competitions amongst employees. The latest one is the horse shoe competition. There is a really nice horse shoe area in the park. So when they sent out the e-mail I signed up right away. My first match was against the Senior Vice President/Chief Operations Officer. He won 15 to 13 and since it is single elimination I am out. However the highlight of the entire event was my chearleading section. Who could not walk away from a match feeling good after something like that. Even if I did lose.

Where did she learn that?

As Kira likes to ask me sometimes when she calls me up at work "So you want to hear the funny story for the day?" to which I will always reply "Yes". Well I have the funny story for today and for many days to come probably. Savannah woke up this morning like usu all and came into our room. Crawling up onto the bed she gave me a good morning hug and the snuggled in next to me. Then out of nowhere she let one rip. It was quite the expression of flatulence and I was kinda shocked. Not wanting to encourage such behavior I tell her "Meena you need to say excuse me" putting her hand sweetly up to my face she says "scuze you dad." (giggle) "Meena you need to say excuse ME." I emphasized the ME part. (giggle) "scuze you dad" "Meena, I didn't make a stinky noise, you made the stinky noise, you need to say excuse me" She looked right at me, didn't blink an eye and said "You made the stinky noise daddy" It slowly dawned on me what she was doing. I didn't have a case of needing to correct my child's wording. She knew exactly what she was saying "scuze you dad" My own sweet little daughter was framing me. I was shocked, I couldn't believe it "Silly Meena, you made the stinky noise" "No dad, you made stinky noise" (giggle) She was having to much fun at this point and try as I might I could not get her to fess up.

So I went with it, we had a few laughs and I ended up trying to tickle a confession out of her which didn't work either. Oh well, I am only left to wonder where she learned something like that from. hmmmmmm

Neighbors and Goodnight Rituals

So we had our first little neighbor drama since we've moved into our house today. So our kids being kids have occasionally thrown things over the wall into the neighbors back yard. They have a little dog that our kids like to talk to and play with. Hunter has tried several times to get the dog to play fetch with him like grandma and grandpa's dog jesse does. Anyway I can understand how that would probably be a little frustrating to the neighbors so we try to catch the kids when we can and make sure they stop. Well I guess it was more then frustrating because our neighbors teenage daughter was throwing rocks over the wall while the kids were playing and hit Savannah in the head. She has a nice little bruise. Kira called me at work absolutely livid. It was definitely not an accident but what do we do about it? Who wants this kind of drama seriously and what kind of people retaliate like that against a two year old. So keeping my cool as best I could I came home after work. I took the kids into the back yard and explained to them in no uncertain terms do they ever throw anything over the wall. Then we walked over and I had them apologize. I sent them home and explained to my neighbor that I'm sure it is frustrating, to please tell me if it continues to happen, that it shouldn't happen anymore. The neighbor proceeded to vent a little bit so I politely informed her about the assault on my daughter. Her tone changed slightly and she called her daughter out who then apologized. Overall I think it was the better solution then going over and yelling like I wanted to do. But who needs the drama anyway.

So I ask in all seriousness, who in their right mind could do anything other then just adore these beautiful kids. So the evening did have a happy ending. Not much after my friendly chat with the neighbors Juliana called and invited us over to dinner. So we went and ate hamburgers and had family home evening with them. They are such a neat family and such good friends.

After returning home we went through our goodnight rituals. For Hunter it is the Snug as a Bug in the Rug. We have been doing this since he was about two. It entails picking up his blanket and while saying the words Snug as a Bug in a Rug you set the blanket down and pick it back up on the words Snug, Bug and Rug. Then on Rug you place the blanket over him tucking him in tight. He loves it and he can't go to bed without it. So tonight I snug a bugged him. Then thinking about the FHE lesson on the Plan of Salvation I looked at him and said "I'm glad you picked us to be your family Hunter, thank you for letting me be your daddy." "Your welcome dad" he replied as he was yawning and closing his eyes.

Then for Savannah it is her goodnight song. This started about 4 or 5 months ago. She will not go to bed unless I sing to her first. I always give her a choice and she always says "My sunshine song" so I will sing to her You are My Sunshine. A couple of months ago I started asking her to sing me a song after my song. So she will then sing me the Barney song and when the great big hug part comes she is hugging me, and she gives me a "kiss from me to you" "won't you say you love me too" I love you too sweetie, goodnight.

Here we go again

So you know the feeling, when you've finally finished something you've been working on for forever. I mean like a project or something that has taken huge amounts of your time, you've been working on it for years and years. Striving and looking forward to the end result and finally one day it is done! You've completed it, you look at the end result and it was so worth it. You finally allow yourself to enjoy a sense of completion, to enjoy the feeling of accomplishment that comes. And you say to yourself. I am done, it is complete, there is nothing left to do for my project........... but wait. It's not. No sadly after a little time goes by you realize there is just something missing. It is not quite complete. Maybe you built a table and then you realize it's not long enough and you need to put a leaf in the middle. Maybe your building a house and realize you should have put that mother-in-law suite on the back or added the RV parking. Maybe (my wife will appreciate this one) your making a quilt and you realize you needed a King size instead of a Queen size.

So do you get my point..... not really. OK I'll explain better. Last year in June after going to school with very few breaks from the time I was five years old. At the ripe young age of 29 I finished my MBA. I know what your saying, wow a master degree, that's pretty cool. Well I know I thought so too! A Masters degree, whodda thunk it! I was feeling pretty darn good about myself. But could I let that just sit, let myself bask in the being doneness of it all, no I had to start thinking again. For those of you out there who are done with school I would recommend not thinking anymore. That's what the educational process is for. You've paid you dues, you've done your time, let the cranium rest a little for Pete's sakes. I however for some reason could not allow myself to do that.
It started small, I had the chance during my Masters program to take an additional five classes and receive an emphasis in something like say accounting. An MBA with an Accounting emphasis. It would have said it on my degree, nice and pretty. I however opted not to at the time. I was ready to be done and five more classes would have been like creating my own cement shoes and throwing myself into the river and besides I was on the fast track moving up through management and I wouldn't really be dealing with accounting other then interpreting balance sheets and income statements right? It's not like I was in the accounting department or back office or something. Once I had my MBA though my wonderful employer recognizing the accomplishment was more then willing to put me over the Operations Department when the opportunity presented itself. Head of the department! I was feeling pretty good.

Then I started thinking, it technically wasn't in the "Accounting" department but my department handles many back office aspects that completely involve a sound understanding of accounting. And after talking to one of the senior managers I begin to understand that an accounting emphasis really helps out that resume. hmmmmmm

So I call up my school and explain my situation and I ask, so can I take those five classes now? Sure! they tell me! So how does that work I ask? Will they reprint my degree and show the accounting emphasis? Oh no was the immediate reply it doesn't work that way, you've already graduated. So will I get a certificate or something. Oh no was the reply again. You can just take the five classes. In my mind I see my shiny resume not as shiny anymore. Well that won't help like I thought I reply. Well you can always go for a second Masters degree in accounting. A second masters degree, I mulled it for a few seconds, intriguing but no. Undaunted the counselor gives it one last ditch effort. Or you can try a PHD. (light bulb goes off) My mind starts working, I am more then intrigued. But wait a minute a PHD, are you crazy! Four more years of school! More student loans! Sleep deprivation! Dr. Gundersen! wait, what was that last one? Dr. Gundersen, hmmm that sounds nice. Let's see what else. Resume is looking much brighter. Chances of being CEO someday looking up a bit. Hmmmmmmm

So I thought about it, (see what I mean about that thinking thing... just don't do it) and I thought some more. I prayed about it. I started looking into schools and degrees. Then I found The One. PHD in Management and Organizational Leadership. Doesn't it just say, look at me, I'm the next CEO! So to make a long story short (that was a joke, I think this is my longest posting ever and if you've actually read this far I'd like to say thank you and umm you may need to look into a hobby or something) I completed my admissions application Thursday night.

So in a nutshell.... here we go again. :)