Vocabulary Building at the Grocery Store

Miles and I went grocery shopping today. As we walk the aisles, I point out various food items to Miles. Our conversation yesterday went something like this...

Me: Look Miles, there's the milk. Can you say "milk?"
Miles is silent.
Me: Oh, Miles, there are the bananas. Can you say "banana?"
Miles is silent.
Me: Mmmmm. Look, yogurt!
Miles is silent.
Me: Let's go get a bagel. Can you said "bagel?"
Miles is silent.
Me: Doritos! Do you see the Doritos? Can you say "Doritos?"
Miles is silent.
Me: Look at this, Miles. This is beer. Can you say "beer?"
Miles: BEER! BEER! BEER!!!

New Kitchen Decor

Nolan is required to wear a cup while playing lacrosse. He's fine with it and maybe even takes pride in wearing one. He constantly leaves it out to be admired- in the living room, in the pocket in the car door, in my bathroom, on the kitchen counter, etc. Evidently he wants his cup to be admired by all. I got tired of constantly telling him to "get his cup out of here," so I decided to incorporate his cup into the kitchen decor. I found a place of honor for the cup- it hangs on the wall in the kitchen for everyone to admire.

RIP, you POJ

POJ = Piece of Junk

The dishwasher died. I celebrate its death. It's been a sub-adequate appliance from the day we got it. This was the third dishwasher to leave us since we bought this house a little less than 2 years ago. The dishwasher that came with the house smelled like a swamp. We never ran it. It just smelled too "funky". We replaced it was a bargain purchase off of KSL.com. That dishwasher lasted about a month before it refused to drain, so we got rid of it. We decided to purchase a new dishwasher, however, since we were making double house payments at the time, our funds were limited so we bought what we could afford. That dishwasher was one of those dishwashers that required the user to basically pre-wash the dishes if the dishes were to emerge from the wash cycle "clean". It couldn't clean melted chocolate chips off a plate even if the hi-temp cycle was selected. It sounded like a Boeing 757 when it was running. It smelled like electrical fire when the "heat dry" was selected. It was a lame "dishwasher". Its death has been anticipated (and even looked forward to for a few months). Finally, it kept stopping mid-wash cycle. It would not advance to the "dry" cycle. The dishes inside were burning hot so I can only assume that the dishwasher temperature gauge was malfunctioning.

I went out one Saturday and visited several stores and wrote down the model numbers of dishwashers that I thought had potential. I came home and check the reviews on the various models. Only two were acceptable. One was a GE and one was a Bosch. The Bosch was at the RC Willey Scratch and Dent Center. We went there. We'd decided that we were going to buy the machine, but hadn't been approached by a sales-vulture yet. Eventually one came up and and we evidently looked very non-committed. It was Mr. Salesman's (his name was Fonz, for real) last day of work. He asked us if we would be able to haul the dishwasher out of there immediately; we said that we had a truck in the parking lot. He took an additional $100 off the price. We left happy.

We replaced this pathetic POJ with this Bad Boy! I can't believe how quiet it is! I love the way it gets the dishes clean. I'm a happy dishwasher owner again!

Changes Abound in Our House

I've decided that it's time for me to make/allow Miles to grow up a little. These changes have been long planned out, but I didn't want to put them in motion until we got back from our Spring Break trip. Change number one has proven to be easy. On Monday I gathered up all of Miles' bottles and threw them away. He hasn't asked for one yet. The next change involves getting Miles to sleep in his own bed and in his own room. Miles has slept with us since he was one day old. It's time for him to move on. This transition is a work in progress. First, we had to get him a bed. He inherited Nolan's bedroom furniture and Nolan got new furniture. Saturday night, Miles fell asleep on the floor in our room. We moved him to the toddler bed. He stayed there until sometime in the night. I woke up Sunday morning and he was in our bed. Sunday night he slept in his bed until 2 a.m. before waking up and climbing in our bed. Monday and Tuesday I didn't even try the "in your own bed" game. Yesterday we did the furniture shuffle and I took Miles to go pick out his very own sheets. He chose Lightening McQueen. He was excited to put his sheets on the "big boy bed" in his room. Dan snuggled Miles and fell asleep. Miles got up and came and found me. He slept with me until 2:30 a.m. this morning when he got up, left the room, and slept in his big bed in his own room. Currently he is napping in his own bed! Hopefully we are on the right track. The last task is potty training. Miles loves carrying his potty around with him and today he spontaneously decided to sit on it (fully dressed, of course). Another good thing may be in the near future!

Spring Concerts, Part 1

Spring is synonymous with "end of the year school concerts". Nolan completed his tenure with the Rocky Mountain Elementary orchestra. Miles was being a stinker during the concert so I was only able to get one quick and shaky video clip of the orchestra.


Jonathan's Jazz Concert immediately followed Nolan's concert. Jonathan was a featured soloist in 2 of the 3 pieces they played. Here's a clip of the THS Jazz Combo playing John Coltrane's Impressions.

Nolan the Deacon

Nolan received the Aaronic Priesthood and was ordained to the office of Deacon on Easter Sunday. We were fortunate to have family around for the ordination. Dan ordained Nolan while Grandpa Belnap, Grandpa Madsen, Pieter, Sean, and Bishop Jones stood in the circle. Here's everyone (minus me and Miles) who we able to make it to Nolan's ordination.

A Laundry Quandry

No the rhyming was not intentional, but I thought it was funny when I realized what I'd done.

Forget the missing sock mystery... How is it that after washing, drying, and folding 7 loads of laundry, Nolan has 21 shirts and NO jeans in his pile?