out of the mouth of a babe

Today Rebekah was standing on a chair inspecting a poster of Jesus holding a lamb that we took out of last year's Friend magazine and put on her wall for decoration.

After a while, she said, "Jesus is holding a little lambie."

So I asked her, "Does Jesus love you?"

"Yes," she said.

Then I asked, "Do you love Jesus?"

She considered for a moment, and then she said, "Jesus is a nice boy."

That's very true, I thought to myself.

Then she continued, "Just like Santa Claus and Daddy."

I thought it was so funny that I had to call Seth at work and share the anecdote with him. And with the lady I visit taught this morning. And now with ... the world! (Because that many people actually read our blog. Right.)

sin terroristas

I found this picture from a few years ago and had to post it. If I weren't in the Elders quorum presidency, I'd probably still be rocking the terrorist beard.

(not actually a terrorist)

electromyography and me

So for the last little while or so (okay, seven or eight years, not counting my mission), I've experienced some discomfort in my wrists related to computer use. As some of you may know, I do occasionally dabble in that sort of thing, being a software developer and all. Well, I'm pretty good at keeping it under control by wearing wrist braces when I'm at work or on the computer at home. I've tried some other things, too: vitamins, stretches, gypsy tears, you name it.

Well, over the last few months it's been getting a little bit worse. In my mind, I picture my carpal tunnel tightening and tightening, further restricting my already damaged nerves. Symptoms include numbness, tingling, burning, tightness, and total-body paralysis (okay, fine, not so much that last one). So, I decided to bite the bullet and get an electromyogram, and, depending on the results, look into surgery.

So I went in for my appointment the other day, and after 45 minutes or so of waiting room excitement, the doctor saw me. The test is of two parts: one part electrical shock, and one part needle. First he zapped me up and down my arms with a little medical-looking "thingie" (it may have just been a cord ripped out of a lamp, Jack Bauer style), measuring the conductivity with electrodes. Then, he tests nerve conductivity by inserting a needle into my the muscles of my arms and hands, wiggling them around and having me flex against the needle. It was pretty awesome. I've got a pretty cool bruise on my bicep, which is sort of rare for me (since I don't bruise easily, and I don't really have "biceps," per se).



Finally, the test was over. "Give me the news, doc," I said. "Lay it on me. Surgery? Amputation? How long have I got?"

Turns out I don't have anything. Well, not carpal tunnel syndrome, anyway. He says my nerves are completely healthy, which means my carpals are as tunneled as ever.

So, I'm not really sure where we go from here. I guess I'll keep wearing the braces. Maybe I'll try the vitamins again, or some glucosamine. And where's a gypsy when you need one...

now you see it, now you see a lot less of it

For years I have been growing my hair out. It's taken me years because I have hair that grows at the rate of cold molasses going uphill. You get the idea.

However, I haven't been growing my hair out for my own satisfaction. In fact, it's been driving me crazy. I have, perhaps, the most tender head in the world. I used to cry when my mom combed my hair. So with long hair, I've been waking up in extreme pain in the middle of the night when I try to roll over but Seth's has set up camp on my long locks.

And long hair takes a TON of time to do in the morning! How do you long-haired people handle it?!? With two young children who have to be clothed, fed and groomed in the morning, lately I've resorted to washing my hair, letting it air-dry over the course of two hours, then pulling it up in a not-so-glamorous pony-tail. On occasion I would take the time needed to do my hair during the girls' afternoon naps, but only if Seth and I were going out that evening.
























Anyway, back to the "I haven't been growing my hair out for my own satisfaction" part. I decided a couple of years ago that I would grow my hair out in order to donate it to Locks of Love. They make wigs for underprivileged children suffering from hair loss due to medical problems.

Friday night I decided I could take it no longer, and my hair must surely meet the minimum of 10 inches, so I took the plunge.

You know, I always laughed at the girls on America's Next Top Model who bawled when they had their hair chopped off. I laughed mercilessly. But now I can commiserate with them.

No, I did not bawl. I didn't even tear up. But I must admit that--even though I had been planning this for years, even though I thought I had come to grips with the sudden loss of hair, even though I had spent weeks picking out the new short haircut I wanted--I got butterflies in my stomach when the hairdresser made those first snips. And then she placed my 13 inches of hair on the desk in front of me as she continued to cut and style my hair.















So here's the finished product. This is definitely the shortest I've ever had my hair ... especially in the back. It's a little chilly, but at least I can do my hair in less than 10 minutes--blowdrying time included.

one kid's play is another kid's torture

Rebekah has been doing an incredible job with her potty training. (What does the above picture have to do with that? Well, keep reading, gentle friend.) As incentive, we have been using sticker charts, and she would earn a sticker every time she went successfully. With each chart completed, she got a bigger prize: a Jonah "Go Fish" game, an ice cream cone, a horsey flashlight. Once she got the hang of it, she was filling up those charts pretty quickly.

So we changed the rules. With her fourth chart, she earned a sticker for every day she had no accidents. Because it took her much longer to achieve the end goal, Seth and I decided to make it a doozy of the prize. When Rebekah filled her chart, we packed up both girls and headed to McDonalds for dinner and playing.

Now, we had never been to this McDonalds before. And we probably wouldn't have chosen McDonalds if it weren't for the Play Place. But the toys at Arctic Circle are in a room that doesn't appear to have any heating ducts, therefore making it ... well, arctic.

Rebekah enjoyed her "cheese hamburger," apples and chocolate milk while Seth and I ate our Value Meals (and took several years off our lives, as Seth said). Then we moved into the room with the Play Place so Bekah could go nuts.

Neither of us having gone to this particular McDonalds before, Seth and I weren't aware that the toys were actually one very long, winding tube that leads unsuspecting children higher and higher where it suddenly drops off into a very dark, long slide that transports the child back down to Earth.

As Bekah started up the tubes, I think she had a false sense of security; there were many other children in there having fun. Why shouldn't she enjoy it as well? Seth and I lost track of where she was, but it was apparent she had reached the top of the drop-off when her amplified voice called out, "Mommy! Daddy!" frantically, followed by an older girl saying, "It's okay. Your mommy and daddy are down there. Here, ride in my lap." I waited at the end of the slide for the two to show up, and the look on Bekah's face rapidly changed from panicked to relieved as she saw me waiting on the nice, safe ground.

I thanked the girl and had Bekah do the same, and Bekah decided she was much safer "playing" on the toys by climbing up one step, then turning around and jumping off.

Later, when the other kids had either left with their parents or settled down to eat their food, I asked Bekah if she wanted to give the tubes and slide another shot. As I squanched myself down to the height of a nine-year-old and started climbing up the tubes (much to the dismay of my knees), Rebekah decided it was safe and followed me. We were almost to the top when I heard the pitter-patter of little feet below us, and I doubled my speed so we could get up there before other kids caught up to us. We slid down without incident, so Seth and I thought Bekah could now handle the tubes without any problems.

We tested our theory by sending Bekah up by herself again. I followed her around the Play Place, knocking on the windows in the tubes and waving to her. Then I lost sight of her as she climbed too high for me to reach. I thought, "She'll be fine this time," only to have those thoughts interrupted by Bekah's wailing: "Mommy! Daddy!" I quickly handed Analee off to Seth and dashed back up the tubes. I called out, "It's okay! Mommy's coming!" but Bekah didn't settle down until she saw me come around a bend.

So she and I climbed to the top of the slide together, and this time I told her that she could go down by herself and I would follow her. I could tell she wasn't too keen on the idea as she used her hands to stop her downward progression, but Seth's reassuring words from the bottom of the slide coaxed her to finally let go.

She made it, of course, unharmed, but I think it will be many more months (years?) before we try that one again. I guess we'll just have to wait until spring when we can go to Arctic Circle without getting hypothermia.

Our Trip to the Great White North

Every six months or so our little family packs up the things necessary for our survival (I can't believe it takes an entire pickup-bed load of stuff to take two little girls 75 miles away for two days) and stay a weekend at Grandpa and Grandma Hendricks' cabin in Island Park.

I took off from work a little early Friday night and came home to find Andrea with the pickup all packed and ready to go (she always does all the hard work). Despite some backed up traffic between here and Ucon due to a wreck, the slowest gas pump in the world at Horkley's in Rexburg, and semi-treacherous roads between here and Saint Anthony, our trip up was pretty uneventful. Ana and Bekah got to share a bedroom while Andrea and I watched "Casino Royale" and the slept on the hide-a-bed in the front room. By the way, if anybody lost a black hole, it's probably in that hide-a-bed, because whenever we sleep there we always somehow tend to get sucked in to the middle. Not the most comfortable. Oh well...

Saturday was full of playing, playing, Disney Movies, and more playing. Bekah was fascinated with the Hot Wheels cars and track we pulled out of the back room for her. She named them: Dewey, Izzy, Blackie, Carlos, and "the Silver Surfer." Okay, I helped her a little. Bekah's idea of playing with cars is handing one to Mommy or Daddy with the explanation "You be this one, and I'll be this one," then crashing them into each other or driving them off of things. Fun, fun.



After we got breakfast eaten and Ana in bed for a nap a little later on in the Morning, we went out to play in the snow. The only problem was the top of the snow was about 8 feet off the actual ground, so it was pretty much impossible for us, let alone our midget child, to walk around in. So, we pulled her around the plowed roads for a few minutes on the sled. When we got back to the cabin it was time "to make me some hot chocolate, so I don't get cold very much."

Later we went back out and built a snow cave. Not really much of a snow cave, granted, but I just wanted to make one big enough for Bekah to be able to stand up in.



We did tinfoil dinner that night and baths to get ready for church the next day. Ana was a pretty good trooper the whole time, only crying when she tipped over. She's at that stage where she wants to climb up on everything and pull herself up, but doesn't quite have the whole balance and support thing figured out yet.

Andrea and I put the girls to bed and watched "I Am Legend" (best... movie... ever) before going to sleep ourselves.

This morning we would have gotten up and gone to church there in Island Park, but they were having the temple dedication instead, so we just went back to the cabin, got packed up, and headed home.

Pictures are available for all to see in the gallery.

the five-finger discount

So Saturday night we decided to treat the family to a little Chinese buffet. Following dinner, we stopped by Fred Myers to buy Rice Krispies so we could make these incredible caramel Rice Krispie treats for the Scott family Super Bowl party. We deposited the girls in a shopping cart: Bekah sitting in the basket and Ana (in her carseat) in the upper seat area.

Inside the store, Seth and I scoured the shelves only to discover that the generic Rice Krispies were all gone. Being too cheap to shell out over $4 for the real thing, we left without buying anything so we could go to Winco instead. (Their bulk bins never let us down.)

We pushed the cart out to our car, and then Seth and I discovered that our oldest child is practicing to be a thief. In her hands was this:



Yup. A honkin' huge box of Froot Loops. Apparently the security at Fred Myers is somewhat lacking. And apparently our little two-year-old has sticky fingers.

Just so nobody thinks less of us or tries reporting us to the authorities, Seth ran back inside with the box and deposited it on the appropriate shelf while I packed the girls back into the car.

Needless to say, I watched Bekah's hands very closely as we went to Wal-Mart today.

making the cut

For months I agonized over Rebekah's hair. Yup ... her hair. Should I spare her the impossible-to-navigate-a-comb-through snarls and inevitable spaghetti sauce spatters in her luscious locks by cutting it a few inches? It may seem like an inconsequential thing to some, but I couldn't help thinking that shearing off the ends would traumatize our two-and-a-half-year-old. Or maybe it was selfish thinking; I love the comments I get from other parents at the mall play place about our precious towhead.

In the end, sanity won. Bekah can grow her hair down to her waist when she's shampooing/conditioning/brushing/styling it herself.

We started with the prep: laying down the Big Bird mat to catch the hair, turning on VeggieTales for distracting purposes, pulling out the necessary combs, clips and cape. I caught the final moments of the long hair on digital memory:


It was my first time cutting hair (minus Seth's bi-monthly buzz cut), so I felt some trepidation. Again, I didn't want my little girl traumatized for life because of a bad haircut given by her mother. Seth wanted it cut about three inches shorter than the final product, but I insisted on not taking off a huge chunk just in case I had to make repairs. Much to my relief (and amazement), I think it turned out all right.


Gratefully, Analee was born with a lot less hair than Rebekah, which means that we ought to be able to put off the whole scary-first-haircut thing until our little brunette beauty has hit puberty.

VoIP me, baby!

For the tech-interested among you, yesterday I discovered how to make/receive calls between your computer and any phone number in the US/Canada, for free, using Gizmo and GrandCentral. Did I mention free? Pretty awesome. I wrote a little how-to here.

happy holidays

We had a fun and eventful Christmas and New Years with family. Christmas Eve we went to Rexburg to visit Grandma and Grandpa Hendricks, and we were grateful we had thought to drive the truck. Four times on the way Seth had to kick in the four-wheel drive to make it through the thick snow--once while we were at the end of our own driveway. That night we had Seth's parents and siblings over to exchange our presents.

Christmas Day we opened presents at our house before heading out. Rebekah was surprised by a dollhouse and a Little Einsteins rocket. Analee enjoyed her new aquarium crib mobile. Seth played with his new Nokia n800. Andrea wore her new black pearl and diamond necklace. After ripping apart wrapping paper and boxes, we went to Scotts to visit Grandma and Grandpa, Tyson, Jessica, Jon, Annie and Shelby. Cousin Shelby was kind enough to share her presents with Rebekah. Later that day at our own house, Grandma and Grandpa Grover came over to visit us.

The day after Christmas we spent a lot of time with the Scotts; we had lunch together and then took advantage of all the snow by going to Freeman Park to sled down the hill. Analee slept in the car while Rebekah and Shelby got the royal treatment by sledding down the hill and being carried back up every time. Bekah decided that, after a while, she could go down "all by myself."

New Years Eve we participated in the traditional self-torture of staying up way past our bedtimes ... we being Seth, Dennis, Susan and I. We weren't about to have the girls suffer. So while they slumbered peacefully, we played Apples to Apples downstairs and ate various holiday snacks.

Unfortunately, all of us have had our share of feeling under the weather during the holidays. We felt it necessary to take Analee in to the pediatrician Sunday after her cough had turned into a bark. Apparently she had a touch of croup. And Rebekah surprised us last night by having a fever that kept her (and her parents) up from midnight to 2:30. Surprisingly, she shows no signs of sickness this morning. I hope this means I can take a nap this afternoon.

We'll have to put pictures and/or video in a later post. I'm too brain-dead to deal with anything besides typing right now. Here's to the holidays!

all your prize are belong to us

When Bekah was born, we entered her photo in the Post Register "Baby Parade" with hopes of winning some sort of awesome prizes. I mean, our baby could bring the cuteness... how could we lose? Well, we pretty much got shafted, despite her being the most beautiful baby in the history of menkind. What the heck.

Anyway, this year, with Analee, we're taking the gloves off. Fake pearls, a huge flower, just a diaper. All the big guns. We'll keep you posted when we get awarded whatever awesome prize our cuter-than-thine daughter wins us. You can check out the best shots from the photo shoots here.

our crazy saturday

We had a super-busy day Saturday that included three members of the family being stars in their own right. Seth's brother Kent arranged for a group of them to play jazz and Christmas music at Barnes and Noble at the Grand Teton Mall. Seth packed up his guitar and amp so he could play, and I packed up the girls so we could watch and listen.



Then we ran home and quickly re-packed the diaper bag so we could go to our ward Christmas party. The organizers had announced in church Sunday that the children were welcome to dress up for a live nativity they would be putting on, so I hot-glued a simple donkey costume for Bekah because I thought she has a firmer grasp on what a donkey is versus, say, a shepherd or wise man. It turns out that Bekah was the ONLY donkey there that night, and so she got to come in with Mary and Joseph while most of the other children had to wait until the appropriate time for angels and shepherds to appear. Apparently Bekah showed too much interest in baby Jesus for a donkey, because Joseph felt it his duty to reprimand her.

Seth again got the chance to rock out on his guitar by singing "O, Holy Night" as a part of the program. Actually, it was supposed to be my mother-in-law and I singing "There within a Stable," but we dodged the bullet because Susan was too swamped with grading to practice a song we had never heard of before. Thank heavens Seth filled in for us.


Analee was a star simply because she's so dad-gum cute. She gets really giggly right before bedtime, so Grandpa Grover was having a blast playing with her at the church.

To see more pictures of our crazy Saturday, go here.

photo ops

I guess I got a little snap-happy the other night; Analee's incredibly messy face set it off, followed by Bekah's bathtime and the girls playing together in Analee's crib. To view the entire album, click here.

It's amazing to me how quickly these girls are growing. Rebekah is saying more and more. A few of our favorite things she utters right now are, "You know!" and "Knock, knock. Anybody come in?" And she's such a good big sister. Rebekah loves tickling Analee and retrieving her "baba" (pacifier) and toys for her to play with.

Looking at these girls side-by-side, you'd never guess that they're sisters. Rebekah was so scrawny as a baby, and her fair skin, blue eyes and blonde hair are quite unlike Analee's robustness, darker complexion and brown peach fuzz and eyes. But they do have one thing in common -- the pediatrician says that their head sizes are off the charts for their age groups. I guess they just need extra room for their genius-brains!

We are incredibly lucky parents to have such beautiful daughters!

thanksgivingness

(Rebekah, Seth and Analee with the turkeys we made for Family Home Evening. Bekah helped to cut out the paper and choose the colors for the tail.)

For Thanksgiving we played musical families and visited with both sides of the family. First we started out the day with going to Grandma and Grandpa Scott's. We (Jessica, Tyson, Grandpa Wirkus, Grandma and Grandpa Scott, plus our family) ate a tremendous amount of food, thanks to Grandma. Bekah loved the ham. We took it easy for a while, and then we packed it up and drove to Great-Grandma Grover's house. There we ate more food and visited with Rachel, Justin, Kent, Grandma and Grandpa Grover and Old Nana (as Bekah calls Great-Grandma Grover).

The day after Thanksgiving was at least as eventful as the Big Turkey Day itself. We loaded up the truck with fifty layers of warm clothes apiece and met up with the Scotts to hunt for the elusive Perfect Christmas tree. It was actually warmer at Fall Creek than here in Idaho Falls, so I went easy on the layers so we wouldn't be sweating. Bekah tromped through the traces of snow on the ground, held hands with Daddy or Aunt Jessica or rode on shoulders. Analee was strapped on my stomach inside my coat. The Scotts and Grovers both found handsome trees, and then we ate lunch before packing back up and heading home.

After unloading the truck, taking a shower and changing clothes, our family set off to Rexburg to celebrate Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa's 50th wedding anniversary at a family party at their church. All of Grandma and Grandpa's children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren were there (minus one grandkid who is serving a mission), and there was much merriment in eating, talking, looking at photo albums and successfully taking a monstrous group picture.

Today the girls and I are taking it easy at home (and trying to clean all of our messes up) while Seth tries one last time to get an elk this season. Hopefully we'll be eating elk steaks soon!

polish up the spanglish, we've got mission photos

For a while now I've wanted to scan all of the photos from my mission to the Rio Grande valley in South Texas, but many things stopped me from doing it. Okay, mostly it was one thing: being lazy. Aaron Burr told me to keep putting it off, so I did. But no more, Mr. Vice-President!

Over the last few days I've done a marathon of sorting, scanning, resizing, cropping, renaming, removing duplicates, and converting, and have come up with 431 photos which span the two years of my mission. Once they were digital, I thought, "Why not let Big Brother have a look?", so off to the inter-tubes they went.

I've arranged the photos into 5 albums:

• MTC


• Roma


• McAllen (part 1)


• McAllen (part 2)


• Laredo

I haven't got any captions on the photos (yet), but the filenames contain the date (for some I was only sure of the month, not the day) and the photos are in chronological order in their respective albums.

Anyway, I hope someone out there on the Endless Wire enjoys this glimpse into the happiest/saddest easiest/hardest years of my life. If you do, leave a comment or drop me a line.

-Ciao,

Seth