A conversation I just had with my son, The Talker, as he returned to find my fiddling with a couple of building blocks he wasn’t yet using to build his house:
Him, agitatedly: “Hey, hey, hey! Don’t play with those!”
Me, teasing: “Hey, hey, hey: ‘you’re not the boss of me.’”
Him, matter-of-factly: “Yeah, I know; Mom is.”
Me: laughing out loud
Wife, also matter-of-fact: “That’s right.”
Doomed am I. 
Our daughter, as one of her school assignments, had to write a “persuasive” letter to her parents, asking for something and making her argument as to why her boon should be granted. We each read the letter and thought you might enjoy it as well.
I present, therefore, A Persuasive Letter, as written (speeling, grimmer, and plunkulation [sic] are hers):
Dear Mom and Dad,
Can you imagine girl with no pet and really wants one. She wants a cat but, her parents wont let her get one. I know that you don’t think I can do it but, I’ll want to spend a lot of time to be with it. We could give it a color and you wouldn’t have to pay for all of it. Didn’t you have a cat when you were little?
If I got a cat I would keep interest in it. I would play with my cat with cat toys and other things. It would just be so much fun to play with my cat. Have you seen what I do at Grandma’s and Grandpa’s? Every time we go to Grandma’s and Grandpa’s, I look for their cats to play with. I feel sad that Peca died because I liked to play with her. Sense we don’t go to their house very often, I play with the neighbor hood cats instead. I think you’ve seen me with the calico and Siamese
If the cat does roam the neighbor hood we could give it a collar. The collar would have our phone number and address on it. If you don’t want to buy the collar, it could stay inside. You could get use to it if it were an inside cat. If we got one of thoughs metal fences it will most likely stay in the yard. The cat could hunt the golfers if you let it.
It doesn’t have to be expensive. It could be from the shelter. You’ve tolled me that the pound sales are cheep. I could save up my money to pay for it. I am saving up my allowance. Or [my sister] and I could combined our money and buy the cat. You know that [she] wants a cat so she could help. You could pay only for a little of it. It doesn’t have to be a store bought cat it could be one of the calico’s kittens. It could be from Animal Ark if they have some cats.
In my opinion, I would be much happier if I had a best friend at home. I wouldn’t be board with trying to get [my sister] to play with me. We could just keep it inside and [she] can help with the money. I want someone to play with at home. Don’t you want to see me happier in my lifetime. Lets go to the [neighbor's] today. Can we, please?
Love,
Your Pet less Daughter
[signed]
Will she be getting her desire? Only The Shadow knows. And where did she learn to speak Engrish?! (At least she properly wrote “a lot” as two words, unlike many adults I know.)
From a chance encounter at the Pleasant Grove Promenade (think “farmer’s market”) a couple of months ago, Soap Queen and her little soapy business got written up in the Herald Extra, a local paper. She got lots of good comments from the newspaper article and friends, and even got a little extra business out of it. (Score! 
) )
Then about two weeks ago, another local paper, the Deseret News, called to ask if they too could interview her and do a write up on her and her business. They came and did the interview and took photos while I was off in England for work, so I’d kinda forgotten about it. Apparently the article came out this morning because the phone has been ringing off the hook! (There was also a teaser article (with my favorite of the photos included below), which takes you to MormonTimes.com for the longer article (virtually identical to the Deseret News one above.)
Congrats, my Love!
Concentration
[Well, we'll see how well this goes, posting via iPod … hrm, "not so well", finishing edit with a real browser, many days later.]
The special time of year, when we eat too much, spend money on things we don’t necessarily need (because “it was on sale”), and say silly things about those we’re sharing a gorge-fest with … yes, the halcion days around Thanksgiving!
OK, time to stop being silly. It’s a defenese mechanism. We have difficulty expressing our feelings — our true feelings, anyway. So even though I want to say how much I love my family, how grateful I am for all that I have — for my sexy wife (rrrrrowwlll), for my children and their goodness, for my extended family and what they have done for us, for my Savior … so while I’d like to say all those things, I’m much more likely to say something unexpected about the Spanish Inquisition, because noone expects the Spanish Inquisition!
And large, fluffy pillows. Possibly decorative ones.
But mostly for my things like my Dad. And my Mom. And my
Sweetie. And yes, my kids. (All of ‘em.) And my other Mom and Dad.
I am thankful to the God who gave me life, who made it possible for this country to exist, for us to have the incredible freedoms that we enjoy.
That is all.
[Oh, and for those of you who don't "get" the title, you need to read The Chronicles of George sometime.]
Each year, SoapQueen requests that we spend the day at Temple Square and there abouts for her birthday. We walk the grounds a Temple Square, visit the Visitor Centers, go see whatever movie is playing at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building and generally just make a day of it.
A Beautiful Day on Temple Square
While walking the grounds, the kids always look for acorns and chestnuts. This time they found eleven-hundred and three ‘nuts — and collected them all. Well, that’s how many they collected; they claimed there were even more, and that they left “lots” (maybe three) for others.
A Small Sample
As usual, we all wore tie-dye shirts — it’s much easier to keep track of a small army if they stand out from the crowd. And as usual, we got lots of comments and questions about the shirts. In the north Visitors Center we had a nice long chat with a couple of the Sister missionaries.
Tie-dye at the Reflecting Pool
There’s just something cool about all that water, glassy smooth, that just makes you want to walk the border.
"A Dingo's Lunch"
We zipped over to the Lion House for a spot of late lunch. Nothing exotic, but certainly fine eats. salmon for me, House Chicken for SoapQueen, glazed ham for the older, more ravenous kids, and chicken finger thingys for the rest of the Wild Bunch.
We went over to the Beehive House for a quick tour while waiting for the next movie to start at the JSMB. It’s always amazing what the pioneers managed to make and do with such simple supplies and just pine. They even recycled their wagons to make use of the hardwood, since there was none native here.
The Joseph Smith Story was just as good the third (fourth?) time as it was the first. It’s amazing what they had to go through, standing by their convictions, living their religion. I’m so thankful that they were willing to stand for truth, to the benefit of all of us.
To round the day out, we all wandered over to the Gateway. The kids were under the impression that we were trying to recreate the trek of the pioneers, I think. Really though, is it that far to walk? 
Oh wait, how can I forget the stop at JCS’s for shakes and fries on the way home? No day out is complete without ice cream and fried food!
Now I just gotta figure out what to do with twenty-leven thousand horse chestnuts.
The boys competed in their first chess tournament this weekend. The city puts on various recreation programs, and the two older boys wanted to do chess.
Terribly excited to be competing
They both have improved a lot. SoapQueen can’t beat The Gamer any more, and The Etymologist gives her a good run for her money.
Waiting for the official results
Second Place!
The Entomologist took second place in his (smaller) group; The Gamer didn’t do quite well enough to win a trophy, but the competition was much thicker there, too. They’re already excited to start the next session in the Fall.
The Summer 2009 Chess Class
We had a loverly dinner Sunday evening. My mother invited us over “just because” … which is maybe the best reason of all to invite someone over. Especially if you’re going to feed them large quantities of very tasty food.
Alas, I forgot the camera, and Smell-o-Vision™ is still in the pre-testing phase, so you’ll have to use your imagination to … erm, imagine what square ribs-an’-sauce over bow-tie noodles, fresh baked rolls, dilly beans (YUM!) and various other tasty morsels look (and smell) like. Oh and did I mention fresh strawberry shortcake for desert. She only made two quarts of whipped cream. No really, at least two quarts. I think she had more Schlagsahne than strawberries. We’re none of us sure why, but there it is. I think she was thinking there would be more takers on desert, but dinner was so tasty that I think the kids stuffed themselves nigh between and weren’t terribly interested—even in fresh strawberries and home-made shortcake.
After dinner it was time for the sit around the table, nibbling at what didn’t get eaten and saying “why am I still eating?!” chat. Quality time, that. What a blessing, to live in a country where we have not just enough to eat, but can have a really pleasant dinner with little more effort than it takes to prepare.
Thank you, Heavenly Father, for providing this bounteous world, and families to fill it with joy.
Thank you, Mom, for hosting and preparing the fine feast.
Thank you, Dad, for providing and helping prepare. (We know you do.)