The Last Little While...

So much has happened lately but I just have not posted anything about it so here is my massive update.

The Candy-gram

The Young Women in the ward put together a wonderful candy-gram for us a few months ago. It was a pleasant surprise when we walked into the bishop's office and found this giant poster on the bishop's desk with an assortment of chocolate and sugary treats glued to it! I admit this is not the first time the young women in the ward have done something random and kind for me. A month or so before that, there were colorful papers taped to my front door with kind notes of gratitude. Attending class with the young women in our ward is one of the best parts of my calling! Especially fast Sundays when they share their testimonies the last part of class. It's so much fun to hear them. I've even taken a few minutes to share with them my own personal testimony of the gospel. I really look up to them. They are some of the greatest role models I know of. I hope to continue to work with them for a very long time.

My New iPad — SWEET!!!





A few weeks ago, Apple released the 3G version of the iPad. I'd been waiting for this for a while and persuaded my sweet wife to let me get one. It was one of the most awesome moments of my life (at least during 2010) when she gave me the green light to go ahead and get one! WAHOO!! (Yes, I know—I'm totally an Apple fanboy.) And so when April 30, rolled around, I got off work early and feverishly but safely drove the family to the nearest Apple Store for this purchase. I have pictures of where I started at the end of the line, a picture of my boys who waited in line with me (thanks Isaac and Johnny for waiting!), and also a picture of what it looked like with only mere seconds between me and my new iPad as I waited at the front of the line to get into the store. I'm still working on the actual iPad blog post so I will refrain from much more detail. But let me leave you with this...HOLYCRAPIT'SFRIGGIN'AWESOME!

Birthdays


We celebrated some birthdays in the month of April with Bethany's family by going to the Mandarin restaurant in Centerville. The food is absolutely good and It's so much fun to go. We also went back in December with some friends for my birthday and it was a blast too. I usually try something new but the last few times I've had a mediterranean veal dish that's pretty interesting. This time however, I went for the honey walnut shrimp. But even better than the food was the company. I've got a few photos of Aunt Megan and Uncle Bridger with Seth. In one of the pics, Megan is teaching Seth how to use chopsticks. He never caught on to the idea that you use two sticks simultaneously. He preferred to hold one and wave it around. He's a good baby (except for around 2:50 AM) and loves to smile for people so that they will smile back. It's really cute. And he's super ticklish under his chin and arms. I'll have to record his laugh sometime so you can hear it. It's contagious.

More Family Time



On the Saturday before Mothers Day, we decided to take mom out for a fun time with the Barker crew. We went to lunch and had pizza and bowled and played video games at Fat Cats Bethany wasn't really up for video games and arcade games so she held on to the kids' tickets (her usual role) while they racked 'em up. It was a fun afternoon. Then we took her to her favorite restaurant for dinner. She loves Texas Roadhouse, specifically their roles and the sirloin tips in gravy with mashed potatoes. The kids were pretty jazzed about eating there. They liked eating the peanuts and throwing the peanut shells on the floor. If you're not familiar with that, it is considered acceptable to toss your peanut shells on the floor and the kids love it because they can make a mess and don't have to clean this one up. Ha ha! Anyway, they had fun. We played a round of miniature golf as you can see from the picture above. They've got a lot of personality, especially the one with her tongue sticking out. She's a hoot! We finished up the day's activities at the dollar theater watching The Tooth Fairy with Dwayne The Rock Johnson. Bethany has wanted to take the kids to it for a while and it was quite funny. There is nothing like seeing a former WWF wrestler in baby blue tights and a tutu flitting about the big screen. It's definitely worth watching at the cheapest price possible. :)

The Finer Things In Life

You're not going to want a picture for this post. Trust me.

Tonight, I noticed my appreciation for the finer things of life. I'm not talking about elegant food, fancy cars or posh homes. I'm talking about other things, things that buffer life's blows. For example, I appreciate that my daughter made it to the bathroom tonight before she threw up. I also appreciate the non-fabric surfaces that are easy to clean on the toilet seat and the surrounding floor. Another one of life's finer things is Costco's Kirkland brand surface wipes! There's so much fragrance in them that at less than an arm's distance away, they overpower the overwhelming odor of partially digested corn mixed with something pink and ... something else.

What a nice day!

Here's a brief attempt at something that will break my dry spell on this blog. I haven't done this in a while so here goes. Brace yourself.

Have you ever become so caught up with everything happening in life that one day you just happen to notice how nice a day really is? Yesterday was that day for me. It was such a wonderful day. In the morning when I got out of my car to walk into the office, I realized how nice the sun felt. A very slight breeze kept the air cool enough that it seemed refreshing. I suppose I don't usually notice the weather because there are other things that crowd out leisurely thoughts of raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens. However yesterday, it just seemed impossible for me to miss. In the afternoon, the temperature reached the high 60's and the occasional smallish fluffy cloud lazily floated across a vast blue backdrop. Also, I noticed that many trees still had blossoms. If you're willing to let your imagination go a little ways, they start to resemble the trees from the primary song, Popcorn Popping.

There were some other things that made yesterday nice too. At work, I received a $10 gift card to Zupas for some unknown reason. Also, I showed off my new iPad to some friends at work. They asked me to bring it in if I got one over the weekend. I'll have an upcoming blog entry dedicated to this. You won't want to miss it!

Just as I pulled into the garage from work, Sabrina flew open the door, bounding down a few stairs with her two blonde pony tails bouncing around. She's got such a bright, contagious smile that easily competes with the sun. She gave me a little hug around the neck before I could even get out of the car.

Anyway, Spring is here!