FROM THE MOUTHS of BABES!

Monday, December 14, 2009 When I picked the kids up after school, Bailey showed up first doing a half dance/half run and giggling. She broke away from the friend she was with, got in the car and announced in a tone of voice that suggested I shouldn’t tell Jayden "I'm telling you this"..."Jayden dreamed he and Issie were kissing.” A moment later Jayden and Issie came walking up side by side, said their goodbyes and Jayden got in the car. Issie gave me her usual big wave and ear to ear grin. When he got in the car Jayden said “OK, I dreamed that Issie and I were kissing and Nate (his friend) woke me up.” He also really woke up at this point. “When I woke up I yelled so loud that the devil and Father in Heaven could hear me!” (I’m not sure if I’m telling it word for word.) He didn’t say why he was yelling, if it were because Nate spoiled his dream or what. Ages ten and eleven!

JUST BABBLING

Thursday, December 10, 2009 Last night Jim, Corey and his family and Judy and I went to the new Rodizio Grill in American Fork. I am not a huge Rodizio fan but I enjoyed it more than usual this time. Maybe it was because I focused more on the salad bar than I usually do. Bailey mostly ate salad and related items. Jayden ate mostly black bean and rice. Corey mentioned that Stacey would like an electric (heated) throw (small blanket) to put over her when she is sitting on the sofa. Corey always has the heat turned down too low for the rest of the family; (and me when I’m there). Before going to dinner, he and I bought one for her at Wal-Mart in Saratoga Springs. We also got a pink gift bag and pink tissue paper and put it all together before leaving the store. We gave it to her at dinner. She seemed pleased.

WHEN HELL FREEZES OVER

Wednesday, December 09, 2009 9:08 a.m. Corey called. I guess he is in his car driving to work. He just had to “share with you how crazy cold it is.” He said that it was thirty-one degrees in his garage when he got into his car and by the time he got to the stop sign behind Eagle Valley Elementary School, where Jayden and Bailey go to school, it was “negative” thirteen. He said that by the time he got to the Smith’s store in Saratoga Springs, approximately three mile from our house, it was one degree above zero. I left the house a little before nine and as I drove to the Smith's area the temperature on the gage in my car fluxuatied between positive seven and positive five. Several hours later it was only plus eleven in Provo.

DOING DOUBLE DUTY/FROM THE MOUTH OF A THREE YEAR-OLD

Tuesday, December 08, 2009 For a while today I had my hands full. Not only did I pick Jayden and Bailey up after school but I had to go right from there to Greg’s parents’ house and get Alexa and Gavin and take them all to Greg and Niki’s and watch them until Corey got off work. After he took his two, I took Alexa and Gavin to where Niki, Greg and Judy were all getting their hair done. It was at some lady’s house. She is a neighbor of Michael and Shannon’s. I have noted elsewhere that three and a half year-old Alexa is madly in love with Troy from Disney’s High School Musical and everyone knows it. Today ten year-old Jayden jokingly said to her, “Troy doesn’t shower!” Alexa immediately responded with, “Gabriella doesn’t poop.” And “Gabriella drives a dirty car!” It amazes me what the mind of someone that young can come up with. If you don’t know, Gabriella is Troy’s heartthrob in the movies and Alexa is adamantly jealous of her and even cried when they kissed. She sobbed, “Troy is supposed to kiss me!”

BAILEY and DEVIN

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 01, 2009 Yesterday after I picked Bailey and Jayden up after school and took them home, Bailey asked if she could play with (I forgot her name) . I said sure and I drove her to a house across from their elementary school. The girl wasn’t home but there were three boys about her age playing in the driveway next door. She started talking to them. She asked if she could play with them and again I said yes and left her there. A while later Corey called to check up on them and I told her where Bailey was. He voiced some concern. He said he didn’t mind her being there and playing with them but she has a tendency to take off without letting them know where she is going and they have to search the whole area trying to find her. He asked me to go get her and bring her home. When I got there she asked if Devin could go home with her and play. I said yes and she ran through their garage, into their house and a minute later a cute little boy her height came in tow. He is a very nice polite young man. They were in the same room in school last year if I remember correctly. He told me he had to be home at six and at ten ‘til he climbed into my car and I took him home. As it turns out, the girl Bailey originally wanted to play with goes to her grandpa’s house after school every day.

2 dreams; A double murder – Chris’ death

Sunday, November 22, 2009 – Oh boy. Here we go again. I woke up this morning from two bad dreams. I guess they were in the nightmare category. The first one involved a stabbing and a drowning in which I was nearly the next victim. One day, after I escaped, thanks to some people walking into the area scaring off the perpetrator, I accidently walked into the wrong apartment. As I was profusely apologizing to the three or four people who were there, I noticed a magazine which was open to an article telling about the bizarre happenings I had been involved in. I knew of the article's existence. I asked them if they would mind making me a copy of the article. They said no, they would just give me the magazine, which they did and I was on my way. There wasn’t a lot of detail in the next dream but it involved my son Chris’ death (again). It was represented by a large egg being thrown and splattering in the general shape and size of a person which quickly dried.

RAMBLING

Friday, November 20, 2009 Again it was my day to pick up Jayden and Bailey after school. I waited and waited but no kids. Finally I started to drive home to see if I missed them somehow. Jayden came running up to my car with Issie. He hopped in and announced that Bailey never showed up at his room to meet him. That is the daily plan. Jayden panicked and called his dad on my cell phone. Corey said he was coming home “right now.” After checking the house to see if she might have gotten past us and had gone home some how, we drove back to the school. There she was standing next to the sign that says the name of the school. Jayden yelled at Bailey for not being where she was supposed to be then he called Corey and told him we had found her. He asked to talk to Bailey and gave her a big long talking to. It seems no one would listen to her explanation (except me) Her class had been playing on the playground instead of being in the classroom. They quit early and Bailey went to the sign to wait for us. We just didn’t see each other. She felt bad that everyone was getting on her case. After a while Jayden realized how bad she felt and he apologized. That helped and soon they were being silly goofs. Teasing Jayden, I asked him if he had ever kissed a girl. He said no, “I’m not going to kiss a girl until I am fourteen.” Bailey piped in with, “Mathew kissed me under the table but it wasn’t my idea.” Jayden got silly and made up a poem and they repeated it over and over and over again. After a while they did it while doing what looked to me like an Irish jig. It goes: There once was a Grandpa from Kentucky, Who peed his pants in the movie When he went home his bed was wet. End of story – the end (I’m not sure if line three is exactly word for word.) I pretended to be mad and chassed Jayden around the house while Bailey and Buddy got between us and protected him. Bailey wielded a plastic sword. Following is a “poem” Jayden wrote in school. His penmanship is very good. I kept his spelling and punctuation. I’m thankful for two things. One thing I’m thankful for is my dog. Our dog’s name is Buddy. We throw his favorite ball. He catches his ball in the air. Another thing I am grateful for is my Mom and Dad. My dad went to college twice. My mom works for Fedex. My dad fixes credit card machines. My parents are smart. As you can see, I am the luckiest person to have these things.