In an effort to improve communication and ensure that each of the kids get some alone time with Dad, we’ve decided to institute “Date Night”. Each week (when possible) I get to take one of the kids out on a date (or an adventure in Jack’s case) to a place of their choosing. This will hopefully give us a chance to chat and will allow me to “check in” with each of the kids on a monthly basis. So far I’ve had a chance to go out with Hailey, Mallory and this last week I got to take Annie out and although I didn’t think to take pictures until this past week, I also thought this would be an excellent chance to get a month by month picture log of each of the kids as well.

As you can see below, Annie and I went to Yogurtland down in Jordan Landing. I had the tart fruit mix with strawberries, raspberries and blueberries on top and Annie had the strawberry yogurt with mini gummy bears on top (disgusted shiver). We spent some time making faces and talking about dance class and primary but mostly Annie was distracted by activity going on around her. She commented on what everyone was getting and the strawberries in the water cooler and the colored spoons and everyone’s reflections in the glass and the fire pit outside Iggy’s. Basically I had a tough time retaining her attention, but we still had fun and she thoroughly enjoyed her gummy bear filled strawberry yogurt.

This past week Jack and I were wrestling in the front room as we do from time to time, and during one particularly complex rope dive, Jack messed my hand up pretty good. As he came soaring through the air at my head, I reached up to grab him before he landed on my nose and the pinky finger on my left hand somehow became entwined in his clothes and felt as though it was almost ripped off. The direction it bent was definitely not normal and the sharp “snap” sound I heard let me know that something wasn’t right (as if the pain wasn’t enough to let me know). After gently setting him on the floor, I then proceeded to clasp my hand and whimper for the next five minutes. The following day it turned a nice shade of yurple (that’s yellow and purple mixed) and was rather swollen for the next few days. Now that it’s been almost 2 weeks since the incident, the swelling has almost gone down, but I’m still experiencing sharp pain when my finger gets bumped. I’ve decided there’s not much point in going to the doctor because they’d just tell me to be careful with it, but I just hope there’s no seriously permanent damage. Cause that would suck.

As a kid there were many cartoons I considered to be part of a well balanced animation diet. These included shows like Transformers, G.I. Joe, Scooby Doo, G-Force (aka Battle of the Planets or Gatchaman), Voltron, Thunder Cats, Dungeons & Dragons, Spiderman & His Amazing Friends, Robotech, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Superfriends (aka Justice League) as well as many other short lived shows that came on during the afternoon cartoon hours after school. However, over the years, there was one show that became my favorite. This was the show that I watched the very most. This was the show for which I owned the most action figures. This was the show that I considered to be the best bit of cartooning of all time (at the time). And this week I made an awesome discovery! It was completely by accident but it very well may change my evening tv habits for good…

Since the switch to digital signal this past year, there is a new “kids” channel called Qubo. This channel is designed specifically for kids and tends to show the cheaper range of cartoons and kids programming. Most of the shows they broadcast are the rejects from Sunday morning pbs, but recently I found that they have started a “Night Owl” session akin to Cartoon Networks “Adult Swim”. The Qubo version is much less adult, but they are catering towards a more adult crowd with their selection of programming. And this brings me back to the greatest cartoon of all time. It seems that Qubo has obtained the rights to the Filmation library and along with Brave Star and The Ghostbusters (not to be confused with The Real Ghostbusters), they have begun showing He-man and the Masters of the Universe. It’s truly an awesome thing!

It’s always interesting to go back and watch shows again that you enjoyed as a kid to see if you can try to figure out why you liked them so much, but with He-Man the answer is obvious. He’s a friggin’ barbarian with a magic sword that kicks the crap out of bad guys during every episode. Not to mention the fact that all the women on the show are of the “Amazonian” type that share the ability of bad guy butt kicking and all while wearing rather skimpy armor. There’s no question that the show is a bit cheesy, but unlike other cartoons from my childhood, I find myself enjoying the nostalgia of it. And the funny thing is, my kids love it too. I must admit that it’s kinda fun to share one of my favorite childhood shows with my kids and watch them get just as much enjoyment from it as I did when I was their age. I guess a good thing never goes out of style. So if you’ve got a hankerin’ for some good old fashioned Eternian barbarian butt kickin’, tune into Qubo around 10:30pm and enjoy.

I HAVE THE POWER!!!

So last weekend I played in my first golf tournament. It was a best ball tourney so my lack of skill didn’t matter too much, but it was fun to get out and play 18 holes with some friends on a nice expensive course (Thanksgiving Point). And to answer the question that’s burning a hole in your brain… we didn’t win.

During a moment of what might be referred to as “incredible stupidity”, I agreed to take part in the annual Wasatch Front leg of the Ragnar Relay, otherwise known as the Wasatch Back. Upon first glance this may seem like an excellent way to get in shape for the summer, but after further inspection you’ll find that it’s most likely a death sentence for a lazy slug like myself. Considering the fact that the last real endurance training I’ve done was about 15 years ago, I’ve definitely got my work cut out for me. And as if that wasn’t enough, I had to go and drag my wife into this mess as well. I suppose this way we can at least die together though.

For those who are unfamiliar (don’t worry, I had no idea what this thing was when I agreed to it), it’s basically a race that makes you pray there will be someone waiting at the finish line with a gun for you to shoot yourself with. The race begins in Logan and then winds 190 miles up the backside of the Wasatch to end somewhere round about Park City (Course Map). The race takes the better part of 2 days and we’ll be running straight through the night. Each of the 12 team members gets 3 legs of the race for a total of around 15-20 miles and spends all of their non-running time packed into a couple minivans which follow whomever the current runner happens to be. Basically it’ll be 2 days of tired, cramped, smelly hell. Fun, huh?

This is a happy pre-death picture

Anyway, the main point of this post is to solicit support from our dear beloved readers. Emily and I have joined up with several friends from my new job to be on one of two “Cancer Teams” that will be running the race. The main difference between a regular team and a “Cancer Team” is that all of our entry fees will be going to the American Cancer Society. The only downside to this is that the entry fees/donations for the Cancer Teams are much steeper than are those of the regular teams and this is where you, my dear readers, come into the picture. Emily and I are humbly asking for your monetary support in the way of donations to the American Cancer Society as we train for this brutal ordeal. Please feel free to donate as much or as little as you can and be assured that all donations will go to the ACS in the form of one lump sum donation that will be put together by the members of our team. Emily and I will need to come up with $700 for our part of the donation so every little bit helps. The only thing we can offer in thanks is the hard work we’ll put into trying to survive this thing as well as a promise to have someone post pictures of our limp and lifeless bodies located wherever we happen to collapse between Logan and Park City. Thanks in advance for your support and prayers for our survival. We’ll need em.

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Bus to Beelzebub Team Donation

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