Paradox: Episode Six?

The next heist begins!  Woo-hoo!  How exciting! :)

Doctor's Orders!

Zach got his cast off yesterday!  Woo-hoo!  We are so excited that he can go back to life with out restrictions.  The doctor told him that for his physical therapy, he would need to do three things:  make his bed every morning, pick up all his toys, and vacuum everyday.  That just made me laugh.  I am still laughing.  Zach was none too pleased.  Maybe that is why it is so funny to me.  His chores are to vacuum on Saturday any way, but he doesn't want to do it every day.  Hee hee hee!  I will make him now.  Doctors orders! ;)

Here he is getting his cast off.  I snapped the picture with my phone while the PA wasn't looking. :)  

Remember how I said they couldn't see the break on the x-ray?  Well, they could see where it was on this x-ray because they could see the new bone growth.  He broke the bone at the very tip of his elbow.  Not fun, but it is all healed and life can go on.

Everybody Put Your Best Suit or Dress On

Last night was so amazing!  Kurtis and I went on a date.  It was really, really fun.  My brother Rodney came over and babysat our kids for us, and after I made dinner for them, we headed out.  Kurtis and I went to the In-'N-Out Burger.  We'd never been there before.  I don't really like hamburgers that much, so I never really cared that I had never been there, either.  I knew someday I would eventually get there.  But everybody is always raving about this place, so Kurtis finally decided he wanted to try it.  I thought the cheese burger I ordered (without onions because they are gross) was rather good.  I think they have a really good sauce that they put on it or something.  But the fries were not good.  They reminded me of cheesy poofs.  You know, those Styrofoam, cheese flavored balls that come in the giant tubs at Target or Costco?  Yeah.  Not awesome.  Kurtis said he liked Five Guys better because they put tons of toppings on their burgers like mushrooms and peppers.  Personally, I would probably choose In'-N-Out for the burger and the price (it was really affordable), but not for the fries.
After our dinner, we drove to the Maverick Center (formerly the E Center) for the Death Cab for Cutie concert!  Woo-hoo!  I loved the opening band!  I had never heard of them.  They were called Frightened Rabbit.  They came all the way from Scotland.  I thought that was pretty cool.  Especially because Death Cab is from Seattle.  How did they hook up?  That's really cool. :)

 The show was awesome!  I took some pictures, but they suck because Kurtis told me I should leave my good camera in the car.  I should not have listened to him!  We were so close I could have zoomed right up on the lead singer's face!  I may need to rethink my concert companions as well.  When I was buying the tickets, I asked Kurtis if he wanted to come with me, and he said that he thought it would be fun.  But we have different ideas about what fun is.  Because I like to jump around and dance and wanted the GA seats on the floor (well, there weren't seats, but that's not really the point), but Kurtis said, no, we have to have seats.  Bleh.  I complied and the people who sat next to us sat down the whole time and were really boring, too.  Next time, I will call my bestest friend Nicole, or my brother Rodney (because Death Cab is one of his favorite bands).  I said this last time we went to a concert together, too.  Man, do I love my husband, but I think going to movies or bowling or miniature golfing are more his thing.  Concerts can be my thing.
Here are some of the crappy pictures I took on my camera phone.  I won't torture you with any of the video I took.  The sound is even worse, but  I had so much fun!  I'm not trying to make it sound like I didn't.  I loved it, and will definitely (hopefully) go to the next one!  :D

Frightened Rabbit!

Here is one of the songs they sang.

 Death Cab for Cutie!

 They played for 2 and a half hours.  Including I Will Possess Your Heart, Summer Skin, You Are a Tourist, New Year, and so many others!

 The did not play What Sarah Said.

 Which is probably good because it's pretty sad, and they were keeping the energy up all night!

They played four songs for their encore.  So flipping awesome!

A taste of what you missed.  It was amazing.

Paradox

Here's another web blog from Dez!

Didn't You Know Love Could Shine This Bright?

My husband is a computer programmer.  He really enjoys it.  He thinks it's fun.  I think it would be really, really, really, really tedious and boring to be a programmer, but hey, it brings home the bacon, so I don't complain.
The other day, we asked Riley what he wants to be when he grows up.  Usually, he tells us he wants to be a dad.  Then we tell him he needs a job to pay for the cost of taking care of his babies.  He's decided he wants to work where Kurtis works.  So Kurtis said that he would have to teach him some programming stuff.  They didn't seem too enthusiastic about it, but then Kurtis proceeded to tell them that you can make the computer say whatever you want.  Things like pee and poop and fart.  Immediately, they brighten up and think this is hilarious.  I thought nothing of it really because he's never going to really teach them to program.  He's too busy playing computer games and they will all just forget this conversation ever happened.
Apparently, I was wrong.  This morning, (Kurtis got to work from home today) Kurtis tells me that while I was at one of my rehearsals this week, he taught them how to make the computer say "poop" and "fart".  I asked him how they responded to this lesson in programming.  "Lots of giggles and lots of suggestions of other things."  He taught them to make the computer ask them to what their favorite word was.  If they responded with a word that started with the letter p, the computer would respond, "That's awesome.  My favorite word is poop!"  If they put in a word that started with the letter f, it would respond, "That's awesome.  My favorite word is fart!"  Oh, but we are not done.  If they used a word that started with any other letter,  the computer would respond, "That's awesome.  My favorite word is bum-bum!"  Well, at least he is spending quality time with his children, and he found a way to make his job interesting to them.

Paradox: Episode Five

This episode is the final one of this "arc" as Spencer calls them.  He made it up.  There will be about 20 to 25 episodes in Season one, but a few stories (or arc) in each season.  Each story has some sort of paradox occur during it, and solving each of the paradoxes completes an arc.  So here is the first final arc.  Super exciting, I know!

I hope you are enjoying this series thus far!

The Kung Fu Panda Tragedy

About a week or two ago, I blogged about Kung Fu Panda and it's awesomeness.  I also mentioned that Riley wasn't allowed to come.  I think I am emotionally ready to blog about why he couldn't come.  Don't get me wrong.  He's awesome and I like him a lot.  He just needs to figure out how to control his temper.  Geesh.  That poor kid.  He was just like me when I was little...
So he and Zachary were arguing about who would get to pick what Netflix show they would watch.  Zach had come to me and asked if he could watch Netflix.  I told him that he could.  Riley wanted to watch too, but he wanted to take turns choosing.  That sounds reasonable, right?  Zach picks the first show, and then Riley picks the next show?  I think it's a great idea and that's what they should have done.  But nooooooo!  Zachary has to tell him that he won't do that and that he gets to pick all the shows they watch.  The irony is that Zach wanted to watch Phineas and Pherb.  Guess what I am 98 percent sure Riley would have wanted to keep watching.  Exactly.  So Riley, gets all mad and runs into the bathroom and slams the door shut.  The next thing I hear is the awesome sound of glass shattering.  Crash!  What the heck?  My first thought is that he has broken my glass block with the sea shells and sand in it, and I am preparing myself for a bathroom with sand everywhere.  Then, I realize that a door slamming would not have caused that.  I run into the bathroom, and Riley is standing in the corner of the tiny room, afraid to move because he is barefoot and looking like a cornered cat.  I grab him, pick him up off the floor, and pull him out of the water closet by his shoulders.  I think he thought I was going to kill him.  I know I yelled at him, but I was really trying very hard to keep my cool, so I'm not really sure how much.  He had slammed the bathroom door so hard, he made my shelf above the toilet vibrate and the picture of the lighthouse that was sitting on the shelf slid to the ground.  The glass in the frame shattered.  Also on that shelf was my fake giant sea shell.  It was bruised, but mostly okay.  Then, too my horror, I also find the resin statue of Split Rock Lighthouse that I had purchased at the gift shop of the red lighthouse we visited this summer had also been damaged.  The trees surrounding the lighthouse were gone.  I cried.  Kurtis said he thinks I can fix it, but I don't want to fix it.  It was perfect and fixing it will put glue marks on it.  Maybe he should fix it.  The glass in the picture frame also put scratches in the picture when it broke.  It was a very, very sad day, and I really needed to get out of the house.  So I am grateful that Kurtis had me go to the movie with Zach instead of my original plan which was to have Kurtis take him.

For All My Pals Who Live In the Oceans and the Seas...

Well, it is about time I got around to blogging.  Tuesday, Zach had a dentist appointment, so we decided that my bestest friend Nicole and I would got to the Living Planet Aquarium and take our kids.  It was supposed to be me and her, and our kids following each other around and saying things like, "Oooh!  Look at that!" and "Wow!  That's totally freaking awesome!"  That's pretty much what happened, but my kids wouldn't stay with Nicole's kids.  So Nicole and I texted each other where we were at different times in the exhibits.  Lovely.  Well, we are just going to have to go do something fun with out our children.  The kids really did have a blast, though.  They loved petting the sting rays and sharks, and feeling the anemones.  Then, we got to see the penguins and the sea horses!  There is an electric eel display and you can see how much electricity the eel is emitting at a certain time.  Zach wanted to see that twice.  You can also feel what it would feel like if the eel shocked you.  It was weird.  My favorite part was the jelly fish.  The octopus was really cool, too.  I can't wait to go back.  I think I may have to make this a summertime tradition.  After the aquarium, we went to lunch with Kurtis, and then on to the dentist.  Zach still has to keep his spacers on.  He really wants them off.  Then, we got to visit my cousin for about half an hour when I dropped off some clothes Kaleb has grown out of.  Then home, eat dinner, and off to rehearsal.  Nothing like a busy day!  I love it!

 

 The sting rays were really friendly.

They would swim right up to you and come out of the water.  This one is a baby.

This was their favorite place.

My boys!  Such hams! :)

Octopus.

This eel was really cool.  I just loved watching it swim around.

Penguins!  They wouldn't slow down for a good picture, the punks!

I love this frog!  He's just chillin'!

Shocking!

The large fish of the Amazon.

Piranha!

Kaleb thought the Lion Fish was really, really cool.

I had a particular fondness for the jellyfish.

Woo-hoo!

I would like to go for a ride, please! ;)

Shark!

These guys made me really excited for some reason.  I'm not really sure, but I think Charles Darwin might have something to do with it. :D  This is just one of the coolest things I have ever seen.

How Come I Am So Much Buffer Than You?

I didn't have rehearsal this morning, so I said to Kurtis, "Wanna go hiking since I don't have rehearsal Saturday?"  "Okay.  That sounds like fun."  He replied.  So we got up, got ready, and headed out the door at 9:30 this morning.  That's actually pretty early for us Joneses.  We like sleeping.  At least, Kurtis and I do.  The kids haven't figured out the joys of sleeping til 10, yet. 
We decided that we should attempt to finish the hike up Adam's Canyon again.  We did it last year, but Kurtis only made it like half way.  Maybe less.  Hiking with our family is always an adventure.  Kaleb is terribly afraid of heights so whenever we got to a spot where there was a drop off, or it was steep, he would freak out and not want to go, or want to sit on his behind and slide down.  Neither of those options were going to fly with his parents today.  We were determined.  I'm not very good at knowing how to calm him down enough to get him to go down the hill on his own, so I just pulled him along.  I would say, "It's okay.  I've got you." or "Let's hold hands.  We'll go down together."  I have never had this over-powering fear of heights.  I was always the one who ran to the edge of the cliff and looked over the edge.  I was the one freaking out my cousin because he thought I wasn't going to stop, and that I was going to go over the edge.  It never even occurred to me that I would go over the edge.  But Kaleb is cautious, and slow.  I going slow, but I do mind when he is paralyzed with fear.  Kurtis, on the other hand, is much more patient.  Always saying things like, "Here's my hand.  It's like a tree.  Hold on to the tree." or "I will catch you if you fall.  I'm right here.  I can catch you."  After a little while, Kaleb stopped being so afraid and wanted to do it by himself. 
The website I looked at (actually both websites I looked at) said this hike is a 3.5 mile hike that should take two hours both ways.  It took us four.  And this time, we didn't make it to the top, either.  Kurtis is very much out of shape and wimped out on us about 3/4 of the way to the top.  He took Kaleb back down to a camping area and said he would wait for us there.  Zach, Riley, and I got almost to the top, and I determined that with his broken elbow, it was too steep to keep climbing.  We are going to have to come back and do it again when Zach isn't in a cast any more.
On the way down, I finally got tired of Kaleb's super extreme slowness and crying about going down steep areas, so I had him put on my back pack, and I piggy backed him down the rest of the mountain.  I did it for probably 45 minutes, and I went so much faster than I would have if I hadn't done that.  When we were almost back to the beginning of the trail, I turned to Kurtis and said, "How come I'm so much buffer than you?"  He laughed, and said, "Come on.  Hit me right here."  Our own little joke, but for those of you who don't get it, and want to click here.
After we were done hiking (at around 2:00 p.m.), we decided to go eat somewhere yummy.  We chose Jason's Deli.  I went to the restroom as soon as we got there, and looked at myself in the mirror.  My face was so red!  I thought, "No wonder people were looking at me like I was some sort of freak!"  Kurtis told me I looked like I ran there with a bunch of rabid pit bulls chasing me.  All through lunch, I kept asking if my face was still red.  After about half an hour, Kurtis told me the red was going away, and that now I looked like I ran in from the car with a couple of chihuahuas chasing you instead of pit bulls.

 Here is one of Kaleb's freaking out moments.

 Kurtis led us in the wrong direction, and we found this!  It was beautiful, but we turned around and I led us the right way.

 The hike takes us along a river.  It's a lot cooler by the river.

 This is a moment when Kaleb decided he wanted to do it by himself. :D

 There are lots of little waterfalls all along the way up.  It's so beautiful.

 After we left Dad and Kaleb in the dust.

This is where we decided to stop.  To keep going, you cross the creek behind them.

 That is why we decided it wasn't safe for Zach to keep going.

 The rest of the way up was pretty dang steep.  I personally, wouldn't call this hike "Moderate".

 Riley kept telling me not to move, and I couldn't figure out why.  He didn't want me to scare this bug away!

 This beetle was on Zach's backpack.  

Here we are, heading home! :D

The Ultimatum

So for like the last week, I have been trying to get Kaleb to clean his room.  Kung Fu Panda 2 came out in our dollar theater a week ago.  Kurtis and I thought it would be fun to go see it Wednesday.  I used that as incentive for him to clean his room.  He did not speed up.  Then, Tuesday was Jackson (my nephew)'s birthday.  We went toy shopping and found a great toy for him.  I also found a great deal on a remote control truck for Kaleb.  He has been wanting one for a long, long time, and repeatedly asks me to buy him one.  So I thought, another great bribe!  I told Kaleb that if he cleaned his room by 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, he could have the remote control truck, and go see Kung Fu Panda 2!  Win-win!  But alas.  He did not clean his room.  Instead, he played with his Legos.  He did not get to go see Kung Fu Panda 2.  Neither did Riley, but that is another story that traumatized me, so I am not quite ready to blog about it.  Maybe tomorrow.  Zach and I went to see Kung Fu Panda 2 alone.  It was a nice little date with mom.
Today, Kaleb comes to me, and tells me this:  "You have two choices, Mom.  You can either buy me a sword, or you can give me that remote control truck that is up there on the fridge!"  Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!
That is so funny that he would think he could hand me an ultimatum like that.  I am still laughing!

Paradox: Episode Four

Woo-hoo!  A new episode!