Bowl Week 1 Results

Yea! I finally won a week! Yippie! It was exactly what I asked Santa for Christmas.
Tough week for BYU fans! But there's always next year! Unless of course the economy tanks and all sports are cancelled. Talk about riots! Am I right people!
Here are the results:

http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=pGlbc_um5DZHLQwVDRJK4OA

The games for this week are the BCS games .. some pretty good matchups!
The Utes are in the Sugar bowl on Jan 2nd vs. Alabama
The Rose bowl on Jan 1st is USC vs Penn State. Go Joe Pa!
--And choose between some good basketball matchups
BYU hosting #6 Wake Forest on Jan 3rd
Utah hosting Gonzaga #7 Gonzaga on Dec 31st
or the Jazz at the Lakers on Jan 2nd

Christmas craziness

Maybe I am getting too old, but right now I am so ready for all the snow to end. We live next to a park and get the added benefit of having the wind blow all the snow from the park into our driveway. We also have the city when they plow, most of the time, turn the corner and leave it all right in front of our driveway. I feel like I am getting big blisters. I think that before the season is out, I am going to need to get a very nice massage.

This year I shopped more on line than I have ever before. There was a lot of killer deals out there and why shop all over the place if I can have them shipped to me for free? I am now just hoping that I receive them today, I'm worried that all the snow will prevent them from leaving me my packages. In the past, I have received nasty notes in my mail box saying that I need to clear the snow or not recieve my mail. Oh well, hopefully it will end soon. I guess if I don't receive the packages, we will just have to go with what we have and the kids should be happy with that.
We hope that everyone out there has a very Merry Christmas! Stay safe this week!

Week 15 Results

Its not over yet. Some good games this week. Unfortunately they didn't turn out so well in my opinion. Snow College lost their national championship. Weber State got knocked out of their quest for a title. And Utah State lost to BYU. Bummer! Then I go and take 2nd place to my co-worker (Ryan). Its sucks!
Anyways, here are the results:

http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=pGlbc_um5DZFjV9RJr-iRKQ

So still on the season, Tammy is 1st. Keep a look out for games in the bowl season. We're not done yet!

So how do you cope?

Raising kids and dealing with the problems that affect everyone else is oftentimes very difficult to deal with. Case in point: How do you react when you have a certain 5th grader that is already running behind because there is no sense of time? When its time to leave for school and he has to rush back into the house to get his jacket; but then gets distracted by whats on TV, all the while his dad is waits in the truck for 5 minutes to take him to school. In certain cases and for certain ages, timeouts seem to be somewhat effective. But when they're older and when there is no time for a timeout, what then? Yelling doesn't seem to get thru, it just causes friction and gets misinterpreted as a lack of love for the child.
I guess you might have heard that Elder Wirthlin passed away last night. I really admired that man. Do you remember his last conference talk? It was titled "Come what may, and love it" For reference, here it is: http://lds.org/conference/talk/display/0,5232,23-1-947-9,00.html
He mentions that when adversity strikes, we need to learn to laugh. Good advice. But difficult to put into practice; as I guess most good advice seems to be. Just yesterday, this same child on his way to school -- as he often does; stopped by his friends house to venture out to school together. But this friend was still off-track (even though he had already been off-track for 3 weeks). Long story short, the 2 of them spent the next half-hour watching TV at his house until his mom came downstairs and saw the two of them there. One of them (mine) should have been to school 30 minutes earlier. A moment like that, funny. That is, if you weren't there and after having some time to reflect on it. But in the moment, very frustrating.
So to all of you, especially those with older children and more complicated frustrating situations, how do you cope?

Week 14 Results

So, you think this thing is over, don't you? We'll were not done yet! Bowl season is fast approaching on us. So even though BYU is essentially done after loosing to Utah last week, football still goes on. I hear they'll probably be invited back (once again) to the Vegas bowl. But not against UCLA this time.
The big winner this week was the Utah State Aggies! How about those Aggies, 47 to 2! Do you think they can just rehire Brent Guy? You know he did get gatoraded (if thats a word).
But what you are really after is the winners of the predictions this week. So here you go -- we have a tie for 1st! Jeffrey and Newell (Tammy's dad) are the winners! Congratulations!
Tammy is still in 1st overall.
Here are the results:

http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=pGlbc_um5DZHa63xDziniZQ

So we are still going again next week, some interesting games on tap
How about those Weber State Wildcats in the quarterfinals for the (national championship?) at Montana next week?
For the next game, an interesting one with #1 Alabama vs #2 Florida at a neutral field for the SEC championship. Winner likely plays for the national championship.
And for the last game, its the Big 12 championship, #3 Oklahoma vs Missouri. If Oklahoma wins, they'll be in the national championship.

Calebs first hair cut

Last week we (I mean Scott), decided that it was time to give Caleb his first hair cut. I got to hold him (he did pretty well) and Scott cut his hair using the clippers. I still want to cry, because he no longer looks like a baby. He now runs around the house and looks so grown up. Where did the time go?

Week 13 Results

Another week, another victory for Nick. Lets not hope for a threepeat. Nice job to the Utes. Wonder how it would be different for the cougs if all their tough games were at home this year like the Utes. Anyways, here are the results.
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=pGlbc_um5DZHam7WYm5U_Dw

Tammy is still in 1st, but Nick is creeping up moved into 2nd. I'll have to chck into next weeks games, we'll see.

Week 12 Results

Someone besides mom was able to win this week, although she came in 2nd place! Great job to Nick for 1st place. He only got the winner right on 1 of the 3 games but was so close to the scores on the games that noone could catch him. There was a log jam for 2nd place with mom (Darla), and Adelia and Newell (Tammys parents) all in 2nd place! Here are the results:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=pGlbc_um5DZEAe_E9tiSfCQ
On the season, Tammy is still running away with it (I might need to carry competition all the way thru basketball season to give me a shot at catching up). And Tammys mom has moved into 2nd on the season, who'd have thunk it?

For next weeks games, it the big one!
(10-1) BYU @ (11-0) Utah. Seriously, has it ever been any bigger?
#2 Texas Tech @ #5 Oklahoma
Utah State has a bye (and did I just hear bye-bye to coach Guy?), so ....
The high school state championship is Friday Bingham vs Alta (again), so you can pick that one.
Or, by popular demand, a pro game. Defending champs (9-1) NY Giants @ (7-3) Arizona. Don't look now but remember Kurt Warner? That 'Greatest show on turf' MVP guy from the Rams a few years back? Well, don't look now, but that old dude is actually looking like a MVP again with the Arizona Cardinals. And I don't think they've had a winning season since, .... well never.

Caleb's pictures

We took Caleb in to get his one year pictures done a couple of weeks ago. He really didn't want to cooperate, all he wanted to do was walk all around the room and not pay attention. We did get some really cute one's of him though, including him spiking a football. We are going in today to get our family pictures done, so if any one wants one, let me know in the next couple of days so that we can get the correct number of pictures ordered.

Week 11 Football Results

We have our first multiple week winner!! Way to go Mom! 2 Weeks in a row! Good thing I put this in a spreadsheet, I added wrong at first, sorry Debbie :(
Here are the results
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=pGlbc_um5DZHmBNFKNnntFQ
In the season standings, Tammy is running away with it. Some has to really step up in the last couple of weeks, and hope that she has some really bad guesses.

This next week, all our local teams are on the road.
A tough test for BYU on the road at Air Force.
Should be a cake walk for Utah facing San Diego State on the road. Do I hear 'Trap game'?
Utah State is at Lousiana Tech.

Week 10 results

A little late, but here they are:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=pGlbc_um5DZENfhfci9dBLw
Congratulations to Mom! She had faith in all our teams, and it paid off for her big time! Tammy was in 2nd, and has moved into 1st overall for the season! Time to step it up Jim! I've basically just written off the entire season.

For this next week we have a big game coming up very quickly, TCU @ Utah on Thursday!
We also have what should be an easy game when San Diego State comes to BYU on Saturday. Finally, a very tough road test for the Aggies at Boise State.
I think I can speak for Utah and BYU fans when I say, Go Aggies!

Going to the dentist

Going to the dentist has to be one of my all time least favorite things to do. We went last month as a family for our six month check ups, the next day one of my teeth had a small chip. So I went to the dentist and he said the the filling that was in the tooth was too big and that is why it chipped. The solution: make the filling even bigger. So I gave them the go ahead and then the fun began. (Nothing beats the numb feeling of your cheek for hours after they are done, and the feeling that you are drooling in front of everyone). So the dentist started to drill, as he was drilling, he noticed that there was some decay under the filling. This is the second tooth in 5 years that I have had this problem. I know that it was the dentist that we used when we first moved back to Utah. I won't name names, but I feel that he should pay up at least $500 for all that we are out for his incompetent work. (Scott has to get a cap on a tooth that this dentist did a bad filling on. So unless you only want a nice dentist, and don't care about accuracy, then feel free to use our old dentist. (By the way, we haven't used this dentist for the past 2 1/2 years).

Hailey speaks with a southern accent

Hailey is speaking with a southern accent lately. Scott and I are trying to figure out where she picked it up, I don't think that any of the PBS cartoon's have an accent. Who ever taught her to speak this way needs to stop the madness!! Nothing is worse than hearing her say "thaaat".

We took Caleb in to get pictures done today, so we will let everyone know what they look like.

Week 9 Football Results

Congratulations to Tammy! Kicking everyones butt this week! And she moves into a tie for 1st place on the season with Jim. Here are the results:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=pGlbc_um5DZFXimm_qc3aVQ

Next weeks games -
BYU @ Colorado State
Utah @ New Mexico
Hawaii @ Utah State

Jazz Game

We went to the Jazz game tonight. Scott had received 8 free tickets when he dropped off a couple of bags of food. Caleb actually did pretty well, even though we were all way up on the top row. The kids started to get bored and wanted Jason and Scott to make paper airplanes out of the ads that had been left on our seats. A couple of security guys came up to our section and were chewing out some teenagers near us. (Our planes didn't go very far, but their's went into the bottom section). The Jazz ended up winning and Caleb couldn't decide if he wanted Scott, Jason, or me to hold him, so he just kept going from person to person.

anyway, go Jazz!

Week 8 Football Results

I finally won this week! Hooray! No, its not rigged. Sorry to all the BYU fans, tough loss. So here are the results:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=pGlbc_um5DZEnP34nOwZmDA

On the year, Jim is still in 1st place, but Rick has moved in to a very close 2nd!

For next weeks games, we get to see how well BYU bounces back vs UNLV at home. Also, Utah State has its homecoming vs Fresno State. The third game, since Utah has a bye week. Bingham is at Copper Hills (on Thursday). Wasatch is at Union (on Thursday), or choose the NFL game of the week NY Giants at Pittsburgh Steelers.

Caleb loves Martial arts

Caleb is only 14 months old now, but he loves to do Jeffrey's martial arts. He will hold onto the side of the couch and kick his leg out to the side and say "utt". This is very amusing to all of us, he looks so cute doing it. I guess I need to take pictures the next time that he does this. I can't believe how fast he is growing up. Where did the time go? It still seems like I only brought him home from the hospital a few month's ago. Oh well, I am enjoying this phase of his life as well.

So how good is Chic-Fil-A?

Just in case you were wondering, Chic-Fil-A is a great business for our community. If you need another reason, just go there tomorrow (Monday).
So there is this family in our neighborhood, (used to be in our ward). Their son, Trent has been battling Luekemia for a year and a half and has now been sent home to be with his family for the time he has left. He has made a great impression and has a strong testimony. He is only 8 years old and has been so strong and brave. So what does this have to do with Chik-Fil-A you ask? Well, they are donating 20% of their revenues tomorrow to his family to help pay the medical expenses. They are also taking cash donations for him and having a silent auction (at the District location in S. Jordan). The silent auction is for items donated by people and local businesses. They are also giving out coupons for free sandwiches if you donate more than $10.
Check out his blog on our favorites list (Trent Duval).
In case you were wondering, I put the football related predictions blog off to the right side of the page. I've decided to use the main part of the page for non-football related things.

A non-football blog

So who says you can't pass a Taekwondo belt test with your bloodsugars off the charts? Thats what Jeffrey did on Monday. So he was keeping his bloodsugar numbers to himself on Monday, not telling us just how high they were. When we found out at that he had been high (over 600) since Noon, we were already at the belt test. So I got to run home during the testing and get everything he needed to change his site for his insulin pump to bring his number down. Fun stuff! He still managed to pass his test, even though his energy level was down a bit, probably because his bloodsugar was so high!

Anyways, he did good - even with all the caos with all the people there!

Caleb, I think should have passed all the belts tests too. He can do the yells, kicks and moves better than all of them.

And he's walking around now.

In other news, we finally joined the minivan brigade. I know, I know, we've talked about it to everyone long before we pulled the trigger. I don't know if there is anyone else out there that does as much research and weighing the options as we do. And I know everyone was probably saying 'why doesn't Scott and Tammy just go buy the dang thing?' Well we did it! And I think we made a good choice.

Life is sure busy.

Week 6 Football Results

Well the results are in and Utah State actually scored some points versus BYU! Yea, were #1 baby! Look out world, here come the Aggies!
On the week, Newell (my father-in-law) takes the top prize. Jim still leads on the season, but whoooah, look out, here comes Tammy! 2nd place on the week, and on the season (jumping up from 8th last week).
Here are the results.

http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=pGlbc_um5DZEMGIUEQs_wWQ

For next week here are the games:
Utah @ Wyoming
New Mexico @ BYU
Utah State @ San Jose St

week 5 results

With BYU and USU both on bye weeks, other less familiar teams took their toll on certain people in the standings (myself included). Dex came out of nowhere to take the top spot this week. He was eerily dead on in all three contests. Here are the lastest results:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=pGlbc_um5DZHM6Go_WMg7Ew&hl=en
Jim has moved into 1st place on the season, with Jason a close second. I'm down on the list quite a ways.

For next weeks games, Both BYU and USU are back again (playing each other on Friday).
Utah is hosting Oregon State (on Thursday). Yes, its that Oregon State who last week beat #1 USC.
The 3rd game is a choose your high school game. Kearns is at Bingham, or choose Union at Uintah.
Since the games this week are coming up fast (on Thursday), get your picks in quickly.

I think I'm going with BYU over USU by a slight margin 52 to 10.
Utah over Oregon State 34 to 20.
And Bingham over Kearns 34 to 23.

Week 4 Football Results

Another good week for our local teams, everyone won! How 'bout those Aggies eh! Take it to Idaho! Weren't they ranked or something?
Anyways, this week was a good week for Jeffrey! Only18 points! Way to go, 1st place! On the season Jason pulls into 1st place. Too bad for Tunka, since he didn't participate, that hurt. Bumped him down a bit in the season standings.
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?hl=en&key=pGlbc_um5DZEKZ4xN0Qc6fw#
Next week we have a bye week for BYU. They'll need the rest too, I'm sure, what with all the competitive games they played the last couple weeks. They could use the extra time to prepare for the Aggies (who also have an extra week to try to find a way to score against BYU)
So next weeks games are:
The big one: Utah hosting Weber State - Coach Mac returns to face off against his protege.
TCU is at Oklahoma
and the 3rd game choose from UNLV hosting Nevada (don't look now, but UNLV is 3-1)
West Jordan @ Bingham (Thursday) or Union hosting Park City.

Hailey must be a true Wardle

Lately I have been hearing someone talking in the middle of the night. I finally figured it out, that Hailey talks in her sleep. I have been told by two of my sister in laws, Erika and Leslie, that their husbands talk in their sleep. So I guess Hailey takes after the Wardle's in this aspect of life. Oh well, I guess there could be a lot worse traits to have.

Week 3 Football Results

Congratulations this week to Dad for winning the predictions this week! Here are the results.
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=pGlbc_um5DZEvwlxdNj5UVw&hl=en
In a week where BYU and Utah looked absolutely dominant, especially BYU, the person with the biggest predicted blowout for BYU wins the whole shebang! Dad predicted a 41 to 17 win over UCLA. That was enough to clinch the victory! On a side note, I'm no longer going to ask the young'uns if they are sure that they think BYU will score 90 points. I don't think that is out of the realm of possibility anymore.
Also, on the year so far, Nick has moved into 1st place with an average finish just under 5th place.
For next weeks games it looks like BYU is hosting Wyoming
Utah is at Air Force
and Utah State has a winnable game vs Idaho

Websites I can't live without

It just amazes me how much technology really changes the way we live. The internet is really an amazing thing, it replaces so many of the sources we all used to go for things. So I'm dedicating this blog to the websites that I can't live without. Please add more of your favorite sites that I have left out.

For starters, I have to mention Pandora.com. All of the music I like is right there. If I feel like some 'soft' music to listen to at work, or to relax with at home, its there. All I had to do was get it started with a song or artist I like and build from there, giving songs I love a thumbs up or ones I hate a thumbs down. Same thing for a good Rock 'n Roll mix (when I just need to blow off some steam), and if I need some good modern alternative, or flashback to the 80's, I've got it all! My stations are getting to know me pretty well. If you want to share a station with a friend, have something prebuilt for that person to modify as he/she like, you can do that! Now how cool is that?

Then I've got to mention Snopes.com. Have you read the quotes attributed to or seen the list of books banned by Sarah Palin while in office in Alaska? Have you seen the amazing 'supposed' photo of that tornado? Have you heard the claims that this product or the other causes cancer and the FDA is doing nothing about it because they are in this companies back pocket? How about the one about needing to register your cellphone number with the 'Do not call' list because next week all the cellphone numbers are going to be released to the telemarking companies?

Well Snopes.com is there for all of us to check out and verify all these claims that are constantly being circulated around the internet. So if you get one of those emails thats been forwarded ... and forwarded ... and forwarded, that you can't seem to believe, just check it out on Snopes.com. Its probably there.

Have to mention Wikipedia. I'm sure if you are old enough, you'll remember doing book reports on an assigned subject and have to go to the library and get out those encyclopedias to look up and copy the info for your report. Or if you were lucky enough to have encyclopedias at home, you could skip the library and do it at home. Assuming, that is that you can find that dang 'J' volume in your bookcase, after it didn't get returned when your brother was using it to look up something stupid. Its probably still stashed away in a drawer somewhere yet to be found. Of course those encyclopedias were at least 25 years old back then (they are about 50 years old now). I actually had a teacher whose favorite book was the J volume of the encyclopedia (Mr. Deneris, perhaps some of you remember him) Ahh .... another blog for another day. Anyways, Wikipedia, very nice. Has taken over the encyclopedia need very well, I can find out info on just about anything there. And if its not there, Google is there with plenty of info.

How about imdb.com? Have you ever needed to know what that actors name is, or what else has he done? Or what movies is he working on now? Well, imdb.com is there to the rescue, 'nuff said.

O.K. not technically a website, but google earth is something not to be taken lightly. Want to zoom in on Kim Jong Il's pad in North Korea? Go for it! How about seeing what it looks like from the top of the Sears Tower? Want to see what it looks like around where you are going to go on vacation? How about some nearby restaurants? Ever seen the cool stuff they're building in Dubai? You can even load other databases to it to see thing on the map you want to see. Like all the geocaches in the world. Google earth is just amazing. Scary really.

Speaking of geocaches, if you don't know about those, go to geocaching.com and check that out. It can really be a fun family activity or scout activity if you have access to a portable GPS unit and maybe some cheap McDonalds toys. They say its a sport or hobby whereby they use multimillion dollar government satellites to find tupperware in the woods. Lots of good funs things to do with it, like travel bugs. Ask me where my travel bugs have been and where they are now. I've got pics. I'll have to put them on here.

Here's one for all those that like to cook, or just want to get something on the table quickly for dinner while using up some of those thing in your fridge that will go bad soon if you don't use them up quickly. Ever tried out myrecipes.com? I'm sure you've seen the magazines at the supermarket with all those good recipes, Cooking Light, A Taste of Home, Sunset, etc. Well myrecipes.com has put all those thing out there online for you to search. So do you have that red pepper and chicken in your fridge that you need to use up? How about Red pepper Lemon chicken? Do you want to do organize your recipe box? Put that great recipe from your aunt Bonnie in your own recipe section for easy reference on the website. Do you want to add the recipe to you box in your kitchen? Print out the one you found on a 3x5 card. It even lists all the nutrition information. Very useful site!

O.K. this one costs a little for the subscription, but very useful information. I'm talking about consumerreports.org. If you are shopping for a car, a dishwasher or just want to know the best peanut butter to buy, its all there! With more information than you can shake a stick at!

What other sites do you refer to all the time?

Scott's birthday

Today is Scott's 36th birthday. Wow! It just seems like yesterday that I was meeting the cute returned missionary who was visiting Tucker 21. It's amazing to think that he is now all grown up with a real job and 3 kids. Scott is a great husand, a great father and pretty sexy too. He rides his bike about once a week to stay in shape. So if you see him today, be sure to tell him Happy Birthday.

Week 2 Football Results

Here are the results from this week
http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pGlbc_um5DZEvwlxdNj5UVw
Congratulations to Jason! Tunka is leading the season average at this early part in the season with an average finish of 3.5 place!
Quite the games this week, especially BYU - I think they lucked out on that one. Can you believe USU's offense? Putting up 24 points against a very good Oregon team has to count for something, doesn't it?

Put in your week 3 picks now
UCLA @ BYU
UTAH @ USU
and for the 3rd game -- you get to choose between
#5 Ohio St @. #1 USC
Dixie @ Weber St
Jordan HS @ Bingham HS
Union HS @ Salem Hills HS

Good luck!

My predictions -- i'll put myself out there first
UCLA 34 BYU 28
Utah 41 USU 20
Jordan 26 Bingham 34

Hailey's first day of pre-school

So today was Hailey's first day of school. When I asked her to get dressed, she quickly did so, but she was having a hard time putting on her backpack. When I tried to help her, I noticed that it was extremely heavy. She had about 4 juice boxes, 8 small bags of chips, and 2 packages of fruit snacks. I knew that she had put a couple of these in her backpack, because she sees Jeffrey put these items in his backpack in case he has a low blood sugar, but this was quite a bit more then I thought possible. I had wondered where all the chips had gone, but just figured that the kids had eaten them all as snacks. When I showed Scott, he couldn't even hold all the stash. So now we just have to try to convince her that she doesn't need to bring all that to school with her.

Week 1 Football Predictions

The first week is in the books, and it was one to be remembered! The Utes taking it to Michigan is one the shouldn't soon forget!
Here are the results from this weeks predictions: Congratulations to Jim! Some great picks there! I believe a Kit Kat is coming your way!
http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pGlbc_um5DZHKtf91oq-WLA
You'll notice this week that I've included a bonus of 5 points for picking the right winner.

Week 2 Games include:
BYU @ Washington
Utah vs UNLV
USU @ Oregon

Get your picks in soon

Wardle Competitiveness

After reading my sister-in-law's latest blog, (Erika), I am beginning to fear for the future of my children. What if this is some wierd genetic defect that takes place in Wardle's? My 10 year old son, Jeffrey is very freaked out that another boy in his webelos troop, (who happens to be 3 month's older than Jeffrey), will be getting the final 2 pins that he needs to receive all 20. Jeffrey only has about 4 left, but he wants to be the first one done in his group. Any suggestions on how to overcome this genetic disorder?

Football Season is upon us

Many of you know of my infactuation with statistics and sports (especially college football). You also might know that I try to get everyone to predict the scores of games each week. Seriously, I've been doing this for as long as I can remember. Long before I knew better, I followed BYU football religiously. I used to pass around my prediction sheets for BYU football games in my classes when I was in middle school, and on up through high school and beyond. Yes, I'm weird, and yes, I'm a geek.
I just had the idea now to use my blog to get more predictions from everyone that wants to participate. Maybe this year I'll even give out a prize to the weekly winner (if and when I see you afterwards). It'll probably be a candybar or something, tell me what you like.
So with that said, the games this week are:
Northern Iowa @ BYU (Sat 4PM),
USU @ UNLV (Sat 8PM),
and Utah @ Michigan (Sat 1:30 PM).
So if you want to participate, give me your score predictions (how many points each team will score). Tell your husband, wife and/or kids to post their predictions also. And what candybar you like if you win. The person with the fewest combined points off in all games wins the loot. I'll post the overall winner each week. I imagine most of the predictions will probably still come offline (at least at first).
Go Aggies!

Jeffrey's now in 5th grade

Jeffrey is now in 5th grade, and although he has only completed the first 4 weeks, I am feeling overwelmed as his mother. I mean does anyone out there really know who the father of the United States navy is? This is only one of the 100 questions every American should know. I did a lot of book reports over the years in school, but his teacher wants them to be creative. Each month, a different type of book is required, like this month a fantasy book must be read, and the book report is an art and craft activity. So every month we will have to go thru this.
In addition to this, he has spelling words that have nothing to do with his spelling work book, so for once, he has to study these at home. There is also 20 vocabulary definations a week. He also had to know all 43 presidents. I'm sorry, sometimes I feel like I am overwhelmed with all that he has to do and it is not even my homework. So if anyone out there wants to learn about American History, I will make you a copy of his 100 questions. I only hope that I survive the year.

Caleb's First Birthday

So Caleb had his first birthday recently. We had a small get together with our family. We did the usual Wardle tradition of the baby having their own cake. (I had never heard of doing this until Scott insisted on it for Jeffrey). He made such a mess with the frosting and such. Everyone seemed to have a good time, and now that we have our back yard close to what we have always wanted, patio and fence installed, it ended up being a very nice evening.

Hailey insisted on helping to blow out the candle and open the presents. Caleb loved the attention. We baked the cake for Caleb and the kids and bought a cake from "Nothing Bundt Cake" for the adults. It was so good!!! If you haven't been in that store, I highly recommend it, and this is coming from someone who really doesn't like cake. Anyway, I digress, the party was a lot of fun, even though Hailey was disappointed that I didn't buy ballons and decorate.

Cache County Fair

So we just got back from the Cache County Fair, and I have to say, it was rather interesting. Jeffrey was pretty stoked that he got $300 for that lamb he sold. If you think that was a lot of money, just go to the Duchesne County Fair. Jeffrey's cousins got $600 and $900 for their lambs, and I'm sure they probably didn't weigh 156 pounds like Jeffreys did. What can I say, Duchesne must just have a few more rednecks with money! Not sure what they will be doing with those lambs, I don't think the meat is worth that much ... never mind, scarry thought!
Just so you know, if you have a farm animal you are raising for sale, don't under any circumstances name the thing! Jeffrey was pretty distraught on the way home when it hit him that he wouldn't be seeing "Spotty" again. He wanted me to find out where that guy lives so he can go see his lamb. Don't really want to get into a discussion with him about the fate of his lamb. Give him a few years. Can anyone say "how are you enjoying your Curly burger, Kristin?"
Hailey had a good time up there also, she got to walk and show off the lamb a bit also, so she enjoyed that. Everyone got a blue ribbon and a couple bucks for their efforts.
Pictures to follow ... when I can find the dang camera!

What would you do for 52 free meals?

So Jason talked me into camping out with him (in the rain and cold) Thursday night in the parking lot in fronr of the new Chick-Fil-A at the District. I went hesitantly, but ended up having fun.
Apart from making us line up for 'role call' several times that night, and at 5:45 in the morning, when the could have just waited till 6:15 when they finally let us get our meal vouchers, it was worth it. They gave us free nuggets and ice cream and drinks that night, so I was disappointed that that morning, when they had about 30 employees in the store banging pots and pans as we finally walked in, none of them were making us breakfast.
I have to say though, that I was plenty warm all night, what with my -40 or so rated sleeping bag. There were others there with no sleeping bag or tent (they probably stayed inside the store that they kept open for those that had to use the bathroom). I just hope there was no hanky panky going on. And I'm sure I looked just great in the morning as I climbed out of my tent (right in front of the television cameras from KSL).
I ended up playing 4-square with other strangers that were there. I haven't played that since grade school. Of course regular 4-square wouldn't do, we had to change it up a bit and have to use different parts of the body to hit the ball with (knees, head, shoulder, etc).
But all in all, it really was a great experience getting free meals for a year from a restaurant I feel good about supporting. The chicken is great, its fun for the kids, they cater to the customers well, give out plenty of free food, and are not open Sundays. We used to go there all the time to when we lived in Georgia (where it first started).
I should have brought my camera, so sorry no pictures - but you can probably find some on KSL.com or something.

Funny Dilbert numbers joke

Swimming Lessons

Jeffrey and Hailey took swimming lessons last summer. Hopefully we will remember to get them signed up again this year. Hailey always ran away and did not want to get her hair wet.