Our family photo

The girls in their christmas dresses

The Coolest Christmas Party

This last weekend was pretty wild for us. We were pretty jam packed with activities. The girls both performed at festival of trees. Kensie actually performed twice. She sang with the Dworshak Kindergarten classes on Friday afternoon. I think that I need to get my head examined because when I worked in Burley and everything was within a few miles drive, I drove the junky white car that got 30 miles to the gallon. Now that I work in Rupert, which is a 9 mile drive from home, I drive a gas guzzling pickup that gets 16 miles to the gallon. So, a drive to Burley Friday afternoon to watch Kensie perform cost me $3.07, when in the white car it would have cost me around $1.53 to make the same trip. The price you pay to ride in style. I don't even think about what it costs me to watch my little girls perform, because it is very much worth the trip. I think that the moment I make work or money more important that seeing my girls grow up first hand is the day that I have lost touch with what is important in life.

The good thing is that the girls had 2 dance performances over in Rupert, so I was really close to go and watch those. I actually like working in Rupert because alot of bank customers have no idea who I am or who my parents are. When I was in Burley, it seemed like most people knew me from when I was young or knew my parents. Not that them knowing my parents is a negative thing, because it was not at all. I just like the fact that I am not the "little boy" they use to know. In Rupert, I can kind of be my own Man, (insert Tim Allen impersonation here). I am learning more about my job responsibilities each and every day. Sometimes when I sit and think about what I am responsible for at the bank, I feel like I am too young to have so much responsibility on my shoulders. Good thing I am not much of a thinker, because I might implode.

Andrea threw a bridal shower Saturday for a girl in the ward. Andrea works with her mom, Lisa, at Dr. Pickup's office. This girl does not have any sisters, so Andrea was her sister for the day and threw her a bridal shower. I took the girls and went out to Mom and Dad's to help hang Christmas lights. I am not sure what Dad was doing Thanksgiving weekend, because the weather was warm and windless. This last Saturday it was probably in the low 20's with the windchill, and there I am up on the roof, stepping over snow drifts, thinking to myself that at least I have some life insurance to help Andrea out until she finds a replacement husband. I am serious, I was sitting at the peak of the roof leaning over to slide the light hanger under the shingles and I thought to myself which would snap first if I fell; my neck or my back? I looked down and there is dad, feet firmly on the ground, nonchalantly wrapping lights around the vinyl fence. I even think I could here him whistling. My life was in the balance up on the roof and dad was worried if he had enough lights to make it to the end of the fence. Yeah, I had sucker written across my forehead, actually it was wind burnt onto my forehead.

Denton and Virgene Darrington had a family Christmas party at their house Monday night. We were invited to attend and went to visit, eat, and get presents. Yeah, we were told presents, but it turned out they were not the presents I was thinking. Denton goes to different conventions as a senator and collects stuff, to put it nicely. It is the kind of stuff you get when walking through the commercial building during fair time. Various items with the business logo on them. Picture in your minds eye the following scenario. Crowded into the bonus room above Denton and Virgene's garage are 40 Darringtons of different ages. Denton is standing at the end of this room hovering over a table filled with bottles, bags, pins, pencils, rulers, stuffed animals, T-shirts, etc, etc. There are probably close to 200 items on this table. He picks up each item, tells you exactly what it is down to the wording written across it. After each description, 20 different hands go up and you here 20 different, "Me!Me!Me!" yelled at him. Denton scans the faces of the hands and through the power of deduction and reasoning.... okay, he just gestures the item toward a couple of different hands in mock throwing motions, and then finally throws it to whomever he feels like throwing it to. It is easily on of the funnies things that I have witnessed in a long time.

If he can't think of the proper term for the item, he describes to you what it is used for and how it can benefit you. "I have here a sticky thing that you put on the dashboard of your car to hold cell phones, sun glasses, or whatever you need to hold on the dash of your car, I have one of these and they are great!" he exclaims with the tenacity of a used car salesman sealing the deal. Denton truly enjoyed giving away all of this stuff he had collected. After about 1/2 hour, each kid in the room had at least 3 items, and their excitement had worn off. I don't know if it is the fact that these kids have been given the same kind of stuff year after year and they don't want any more of it, or if they just got bored after so long. Not my girls. Every item that Denton held up, they would jump up and down and yell, "Me!Me!Me!Me!" I think Kensie got at least 10 different items and Ellie probably got 8 things. It was really quite humorous. It was a fun party. I think about all of the Darringtons that live in Declo, and I really can't think of any of them that are weird or strange. They are just some really good people.

This coming weekend Andrea is going to Utah with Mom and Kristen to shop and see the lights at Temple Square. I am staying home with the kids. I will let you know how that goes next time. until then. Later.

Watch out Simon!

We had the opportunity today to put on a sacrament meeting at two different long-term care facilities. Each ward in the stake takes a turn for one month. Our elders quorum was in charge for November. We decided as an EQP to split up the Sundays and to each take a turn. It is basically a condensed version of sacrament meeting. I though about having Kensie and Ellie sing a song for a musical number. Andrea played for them and we had been practicing for a couple weeks.

Today was their big performance and they did so good. There was probably about 15 people at the first care center and the girls stood up in front of them and did really good. They sang one verse of "I am a child of God," even though it was mostly Kensie singing. Andrea had them dressed in their Christmas dresses and they looked really cute. I am of course very biased. It was a very proud moment for me as a father to see my girls doing something that is very grown up. Afterwards I took the girls around and we shook the hands of all those in attendance. Ellie seemed a little nervous about the whole thing and wanted to sit on my lap for some of the meeting, but she still stood up and sang with her big sister and then shook hands afterwards.
Older people can be a bit scary for kids, but hopefully these will be some positive experiences that will help curb those fears for my kids.

Grandma Darrington has been staying with Dad and Mom for the past few days. I was a little worried that Kensie and Ellie would be afraid of her because she has a walker and they haven't been around her much. They both did great and Kensie even showed grandma to the bathroom and made sure she made it safely.

Today we went to the Declo 2nd Ward to support dad in his final day as bishop. It was a neat meeting. You could tell that Dad had some really great experiences as bishop and that he will miss parts of his calling. Val pointed out that his father, Roy, and Grandpa Darrington had both served in the bishopric when the old Declo church was built and that he and Dad had served together for the building of the new church. I don't think that it was a coincidence that Dad was the bishop for the building of the new church.

Thanksgiving was fun. Dad, Blair, Dennis, Jared, and I went and shot clay pigeons before lunch. It was cold and windy and we were shooting into the wind. The pigeons acted like Frisbees in the wind and would just float up in the air forever. After 180 pigeons and 300 shotgun shells, we were spent. We ate a big dinner and then I took the traditional thanksgiving day football nap. That is the nap you take while "watching" the game.

I had to work on Friday and Andrea wanted to go shopping with her mom in twin, so we got a babysitter for the girls. Usually we have family watch them, but this time it was one of the girls from the ward. They did fine with her and Andrea was home by 2pm. I was scolded by Kensie the moment I walked through the door because I didn't call to check up on them. She sounded like my mother after I got home late from a date or something. I guess next time I had better call home to check up on them. Sophie is walking alot more and is starting to throw tantrums like a big girl. I guess we are starting the terrible two's a year early. She is healthy and happy and so much fun to be around. Until next time. Later.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Branch Manager

I think this had to be one of the best weekends in a long time for me. I had no church responsibilities on Sunday thanks to conference and was off work on Monday. We didn't do anything real exciting this weekend which was nice. We did take advantage of the local case lot sales and finally filled up the shelves dad help me build last fall with food storage. It looks like a mini-supermarket now. I hope we never have to use it for a real emergency, so for now we will try and rotate it so that it does not go bad.

I went to the priesthood session of conference Saturday night and made the mistake of sitting in the middle of a long bench. I ended up completely surrounded on both sides. The guy on my right I recognized from church basketball as one of the jerk players. I must admit that I will, on rare occasions, turn into one of these kind of players. (I think Andrea told me after last season that she won't come and watch me anymore because of how I act) I think they are known as the Jekyll and Hyde player. "He was a mild mannered banker, but when he put on his Reebok's, he turns into the Charles Barkley character in Space Jam." I like to think that I am just being competitive, but I can't help it if someone is being a jerk on the court and I feel the need to treat them how they are treating everyone else. I just get so mad when someone else is treating a stupid game of church basketball like it is the NBA Finals. Part of the problem is that the referees are usually two guys that you played the week before and I might have had a couple of hard fouls on them that didn't get called, so they feel the need to take revenge against me by calling any little hand check or bump a foul. (Wow, where did that come from?) Back to the priesthood session.

I was being a good boy and taking notes in my little notebook. Well, this guy for one, could not sit still. I think that he forgot to take his Ritalin or something. When I would write something down, I could see him looking down at what I was writing! I felt like he was judging me by every word that I wrote down. I kept thinking about what a jerk he was when we played basketball against each other. I could not even concentrate and it was really bugging me because all of the talks were really good. It usually seems like the priesthood session becomes the "Aaronic priesthood" session and I tune out most of the talks. This session was geared towards the adults and it was great.

I must admit that I felt a little down seeing all of the fathers with their sons and coming to the realization that I will never have a son to attend the priesthood session with. I had the thought come to my mind that I can still use that session to benefit my daughters. I must continue to be a good husband to their mother and father to them so that they will marry good young men.

Monday was another adventure. Andrea had a couple of cancellations so she had me and the girls come in for dental appointments. The last dental appointment of Kensie's turned up two small cavities. This time she had 7 cavities. No, that is not a typo, you read correctly, 7. For the daughter of a hygeinist, this is a little embarrassing. I guess it is a good thing that we get free dental care, or we would be broke right now. I think that if we didn't have the benefit of free dental care I would say forget fillings because they are her baby teeth and are going to fall out anyways.

We went to the pumpkin patch over in Paul for FHE. This has turned into a great annual family activity. The weather was in the 70's, so we decided that waiting untill later in the month was taking a chance on crappy weather. Last year was cold and wet, so the warm weather made for a nice outing.

There is a Cadillac commercial on TV that has a song on it that brought back memories. Thanks to the internet I was able to look up the Cadillac commercial on their website and it showed who the group was and the name of the song. The name of the song is "Stars" and the band is called "Hum." I then went to itunes and it listed the album with all of the songs on it. I had bought a compilation CD through some CD club when I was 15 or 16 that had "Stars" on it and onther song by "Hum" called "I hate it too" that I use to listen to all the time. I only had a few CD's and on long basketball trips on the bus, I would listen to all of them more than once. Hearing these forgotten songs, reminded me of basketball games in high school. I don't know what happened to that CD, but I had to download the songs off of itunes. It is funny how you hear, see, or smell something that brings out a forgotten memory. This was one of those moments.

Rest in Peace Crocodile Hunter

I write today to talk about famous people. Why do we have such a fascination with the everyday lives of people that are actors, athletes, politicians, and the like? OJ Simpson was recently arrested and charged with armed robbery. They have him on a tape recording doing the robbery. I imagine that he will probably be going to jail because of this. It seems ironic that he would go to jail for a lesser crime than the murder he committed all those years ago. I remember watching his slow speed chase on TV back in 1994 and I remember being shocked that an athlete of his caliber was being accused of such a horrendous crime. I also remember being a freshman at Idaho State and watching the verdict read. The "boos" from the white kids was drowned out by the cheers from the black kids. It was my first time witnessing the line between black and white. Later, as a missionary, I would find myself in the Southside of Chicago, where I was the minority and would learn firsthand that racism isn't only a white issue.

Back to OJ. I remember almost buying OJ's rookie card at the local card shop. I am sure that Brady remembers the card shop. I think every hard earned dollar was spent in that place during that one summer. I still have all of my football cards in my basement, because my mom threatened to throw them out unless I came and got them out of her house. I guess that I think about all of the money that I spent on them would be wasted by throwing them away . Never mind the fact that I have, in a sense, already thrown away my money. Deep down I am hoping that one day I will be able to sell some of them to pay for my kids college..... anyway, back to my OJ point. He is now the latest media circus freak and because of his sordid past, people can't get enough of it.

I was told by Andrea today that Kensie was watching animal planet and Steve Irwin the crocodile hunter's show was on. He was wrangling snakes (I think that is the correct term) and Andrea made a comment about him getting bit by the snakes. Kensie said to her in a matter-of-fact tone that he is the crocodile hunter and would never get hurt by an animal. She didn't say anything, because it would make for a complicated explanation. She wasn't trying to avoid the "death talk," but did not want to explain how he is dead when he is very much alive on the TV. If you have a 5 year old, you understand.

We have been very open with our children about death because we have a picture of Makenna that they have asked numerous questions about. Andrea and I have explained to them why Makenna died and they have been very receptive to hearing about their older sister. Kensie will sometimes out of the blue say something about Makenna and reassure us that Makenna is safe and in a better place. It is really quite cute.

I learned about death, and life, from living on the farm. Watching your dad shoot a suffering sow in the head with a .22 is seeing that death can sometimes equal a positive. I would have to say that watching a boar and a sow getting their groove thing on, is a disgusting way to learn about life and procreation. I am certain that any kid witnessing two pigs getting their freak on, would want to avoid the opposite sex at all cost.

The media is both a good and bad force in our universe. The positive is that we have the ability to learn about anything as soon as it happens. The negative side to this is that we learn about anything as soon as it happens. I remember watching the second plane hit the world trade tower on live TV and it was horrifying. I hope to never have to witness anything like it in my lifetime. Our soldiers that are fighting the war on terror should be thanked. I personally want to thank my sister Sarah and her husband Stephen for serving our country in Iraq. It is because of their service that we get the opportunity to watch celebrities being idiots. Then these same idiot celebrities are allowed the center stage of the media circus to say their idiotic rhetoric about our leaders and the soldiers that serve our country. They need to realize that it is these same soldiers that provide them this freedom of speech to say the idiotic things that they think are so important.

Rest in peace Crocodile Hunter, I guess Kensie was right, you can't be harmed by animals anymore.

The Newbie

Well, I have decided to jump into the world of blogging. I have been inspired from reading brady, scott, and rob's blogs over the past couple of weeks. I have decided that this might be a good way to keep a journal of sorts. I also have the opportunity to be awake late because sophie (10 months) and ellie (3 yrs) are both sick and cry out every 10 minutes or so. I jump up and run into the babies room to give sophie the pacifier. Every time I give her the pacifier, I feel like Pavlov's dog! It is a vicious cycle.

I just started a new job a few weeks ago. I was working at US Bank as a personal banker in burley and then was offered a supposed high paying commission job as a mortgage lender. I should have seen the warning signs, especially when the words high paying, commission, and mortgage lender are used in the same sentence. I did this for about 5 months and then my branch was closed down by the company. If you follow the news at all, you probably could see that coming with all of the sub prime fallout. It was ok, because then I was able to actually start bringing in some money for my family in the form of unemployment checks. If you have ever had to file for unemployment, I am sure that it ranks up there with childbirth, kidney stones, and seeing Hillary Clinton elected president. I was unemployed for 3 short weeks and then was hired as the branch manager of the Rupert branch of US Bank. I know that if I would have stayed as a banker, they would have never considered me for this position. I am sure that the faith and prayers of my family helped considerably. Long story short, I am getting a regular paycheck for the first time in 2 1/2 months.

I have a 15 minute commute to work now and I am not sure how to handle this. My last trip to work took me 5 minutes and that is if I got unlucky and had to stop at the 4 stoplights that I passed through. It is ok, I found some good podcasts and listen to them on the way to rupert every morning. It beats listening to talk radio shows. There are only 2 local talk radio programs that you can pick up in burley, one is broadcast from burley and the other out of twin falls. The funny thing about these shows is the people that call into them. They are always the same people with the same points and complaints. The talk show hosts calls them by their first name and thinks it is great hearing the same lame points from the same lame people every day. Only in Burley.

Well, I am sure that if you read this, that you will probably not be coming back for more. I will try and have some funny stuff like the other bloggers that I have read. I guess that I needed to get a few things out in the open to begin with and will try and be more entertaining in the future. Later