Matt & Jackie

Good tidings we bring!

2011-12-27T11:17:00.000-08:00

We had another great Christmas this year with some exciting things happening. The family got a piano (used) as well as some other news. The Loveridge family is up-sizing! Jackie is pregnant, and from what the doctors tell us from the ultrasound, she's having twins. This news has brought mixed reviews. Everything from cheers and slaps on the back to awkward silence, but either way we are pretty excited. It's still early and considering our past attempts at getting pregnant we are still a little cautious that everything will turn out good, but we've done a lot of praying and fasting over the past 2 years and definitely feel like this is an answer to our prayers.

We've received some good reactions and feedback from the kids, they are all super excited. We told them on Christmas morning, which got some "happy" tears from Lindsay, and a little bit of confusion from Kalli. I tried to load the video but it's not letting me, so just text me if you want to see the video.

Kalli is a bit more of a realist. Me and her ran to the store yesterday, and as we were walking down the aisle she said "Do you think you and mom can handle 5 kids?" I had to hold back a laugh, but I asked her what she meant. She said " Well Kade pees in his bed a lot, and baby's don't sleep very good, so you and mom won't get a lot of sleep." Just when I start to underestimate one of the kids they show me just how observant they are. Yeah we're a little nervous. I guess we're hoping for some divine intervention.

Kade has been nothing but giggles and one liners since we told him. He is convinced that they will be a boy and a girl, and he wants to name them Hopo, and Chopo. I'm not sure which of those is the boys name, but we'll cross that river when we get there. He also said that the boy can share his room, but not the girl. And that his new roommate won't cry at night because he'll tell him not to. I can't wait to see that work so we can use his own technique on him.

He also told me that he know what we need to do when the babies need to go poop. We can hold them over the toilet while they poop, because their bums won't fit on the circle part (seat) of the toilet. That's a pretty good idea. It should really help us save on diapers. (I'm realizing just now that a lot of Kade's stories involve poop, I hope that changes)

Well regardless of whether we're crazy or not, we are excited and are hoping for the best. All prayers for Jackie and the babies health are welcome.

Tiff's Married!

2011-12-23T13:17:00.000-08:00

Well the last of the Shoell girls got hitched. Tiff and Sean got married on December 20th 2011! I thought the whole day went great. Tiff looked beautiful, Sean didn't faint, and the reception was a big hit. The man who sealed them did a great job, and had some very inspiring things to say about taking care of each other, and giving your whole effort into the relationship. Like he said " This is where me turns into we."

Here are some pictures of the reception. Caroline had a great plan for the look of the whole thing, and between Mom's, and sisters, and aunts, and cousins the whole thing looked great.

Tiff lookin' beautiful!

Here are some of the decorations
(I think this picture kind of looks like a CD cover)

Back drop made of sticks. Made by a local struggling artisan.

The Smores bar.
It was a big hit, and nobody started a fire.

The centerpiece.

The happy couple!

Kades still pretty funny

2011-12-13T13:43:00.000-08:00

I feel like Kade gets a lot of face time on this blog, but he's just at that age where he's trying to figure things out, and he's pretty goofy on top of that, so he has a lot of "moments".

When he's not whining for a treat he's usually giggling, which is really cute for the most part, unless you're trying to be serious. (Now I know how Jackie feels when she's trying to get me to have a grown-up conversation).

1. Kade has learned the symbols for men's room, and women's room. The other day we were going into a family restroom, that has both symbols. He impressed me by telling me that boys, and girls can both go pee in this bathroom. I confirmed that they could. Then he said "but dogs and cats can't pee in here, they just pee on the grass".

2. I had my hands full and asked kade to open the garage door for me. I said thank you, and told him what a good helper he was. He asked me "Am I the best"?
So I said "yeah, your the best".
Then he said "but I'm not always the best, like at night when I cry. Then I'm kind of a baby". Yeah it's good when your four year old has figured out that they have room for improvement.

3. Kade went to Crew's birthday party, where he got a bow tie. He wouldn't take the bow tie off for the rest of the day. When we were getting ready for bed he walked out of his room to tell me good night, and this was his outfit.

4. We've put a video of Kade's sweet moves on here before, but here's a new one. We were shopping for a dress which is always exciting. So to pass the time me, Kade and Lindsay spent the whole shopping trip in front of the fun house mirror playing around.

Rites of Passage

2011-11-15T09:35:00.000-08:00

In history different cultures have had different ceremonies for boys to pass from childhood to manhood. In many Native American tribes boys would go on what is called a Vision Quest, where they would go by themselves into the wilderness and fast until they received enlightenment. The Massai tribe in Africa takes young warriors on a lion hunt with nothing but a spear and shield to prove their bravery. In Pleasant Grove Utah young men go through the "Trial of the Iron Head" to receive both enlightenment and to show their bravery.

I was going to make a comment on the type of sign they were pounding their heads on, but that seemed like kicking someone while they're down. No doubt Kade and Crew would have joined in the fun if they could have reached the sign, maybe next year.

Lindsay turns 11 (on 11/11/11)!

2011-11-15T09:18:00.000-08:00

From the day she was born and our parenthood started

Lindsay's been kind and so tender-hearted.

She's never been shy when a camera's about.

She's as cute on the inside as she is on the out.

She always helps out her sister and brother.

Not as tall as her dad, but eye level with mother.

From a girl to young lady she continues to move,

no matter how much her dad disapproves.

Her mom thinks it's great cause now she can choose

from Lindsay's assortment of new boots and shoes.

You could search every city or town in the world,

but I doubt you could find a more beautiful girl.

Always serious (never sarcastic)

The relaxer

The adventurer

the sweetheart

Kalli turns 8

2011-11-08T10:13:00.000-08:00

Kalli is a tender soul, with passion like no other,

made up of the bits and parts of those that truly love her.

From her dad, she gets those gangley legs (2/3 of her height)

and the palest of complexions, the albino-ist of white.

From her mom she gets a smile that can outshine the sun,

and a sense of compassion she shares with everyone.

God gave her the temperament of the lamb and the lion,

and a steady stream of giggles, that flows without her tryin'.

She's as graceful as a fairy, always fluttering around,

or sometimes like a newborn colt, stumbling 'cross the ground.

She's a sister, and a pack rat, a treat thief, and daughter,

a back-bending goofball, and we're so glad we've got her!

Adventurer

Dare devil

Contortionist

Goofball

All Hallows Eve

2011-11-02T09:25:00.000-07:00

Well, Halloween came and went like a bowl of candy left by the front door with the note "please take one." Unfortunately Halloween has become so commercialized that many forget the true meaning of Halloween, which is; To dress up in humiliating outfits, Remind yourself that your thankful you don't have to wear a wig everyday, and check your kids candy for poison and razor blades.

We had a great Halloween. All the homemade costumes lasted long enough to get our candy. The only illnesses were a couple of sugar induced coma's (Kalli & Kade). And Jackie doesn't need to worry about me trying to dress her in any ridiculous costume until February 14th. Here are a few pictures and awards from our Halloween.

Awards:
Kade- "least likely to bend his legs all night award" for his cumbersome robot
Kalli - "Holiday confusion award" for reminding us of the 4th of July on Oct. 31st
Lindsay - "Out of Character award" for being the most talkative mime ever
Jackie- "You'll poke you're eye out award" for her Blonde Ambition Tour Madonna
Matt - "Who are you award" for his half of the once popular Milli Vanilli

Kade and Kalli
Homemade doesn't always mean less expensive.

Lindsay made her own mime costume. I couldn't be prouder.

At grandma Loveridges Party

The Loveridge Gang

Jackie - Yowza (caution kids wear your eye protection)

Edward Cullen, eat your heart out.

Secondary costume - Mimes for the Halloween Half Marathon

The rest of the 80's singer themed Shoell Party
Back Row: Slash, Vanilli, MC Hammer, Milli, Girl from Revenge of the Nerds
Front Row: Blondie, Blonde Ambition Madonna, Gloria Gaynor, Cyndi Lauper, Boy from Revenge of the Nerds

The simple things in life

2011-10-20T10:20:00.000-07:00

Sometimes less is more. Case in point, Kade brought home the show-and-tell bucket the other day from pre-school. As he was getting ready to go to school I decided to look in the bucket and see what he was taking for show and tell. This is what I found.

Contents: a pine cone, 3 Nerf darts, and 2 marbles.

We encouraged him to keep the pine cone and to maybe think of something a little more exciting than the darts and marbles. Looking back I kind of regret that decision. Maybe I shouldn't discourage him from thinking these simple things are show-and-tell worthy. Maybe that's the kind of attitude that will help him be content in life instead of having to "keep up with the Joneses". Anyway now that we know he's so easily impressed we'll probably give him a toilet paper roll for Christmas.

Happy Anniversary "Lucky 13"

2011-10-20T09:51:00.000-07:00

I feel bad that the only thing I've said about our anniversary was a negative. We also had a lot of fun that weekend. Rather than bore everyone to death with a "play by play" I'm just going to post the pictures that Jackie told me were appropriate to post.

Baja Cantina - Try the Flautas

Our horse ride fell threw, so we opted for the mountain coaster

I only have a picture of the ride up.

Jackie made me put my phone away before we went down.

(she's smarter than me)

From the chairlift

On our way to the Alpine slide. I promise Jackie was having fun.

For the record I wasted her. Mass x Gravity = Speed

One of the 67 dressing rooms we visited. She didn't buy these.

Our room. I fit better in the tub than I did in the bed.

FYI, more pillows doesn't mean more comfortable.

House of the Lord (Draper)

Large and Spacious Building

Back home

Kids these days

2011-10-06T10:05:00.000-07:00

* The following is one man's judgmental opinion and should be treated as such *

One nice thing about having a blog that is read by only 3 people, is that I can go on a rant and not offend too many people with my overly opinionated views.

My rant is this, "when did kids begin to rule the world?" I feel justified in my question, based on the facts that I was once a kid, and now as a parent have a few kids.

This all really stemmed from mine and Jackie's anniversary weekend. Everything went wonderful, with a few exceptions. One of those exceptions was our failed late night swim. We went down to the hotel pool at 10:30 to hit the hot tub before bed. When we walked in, we found there was a "shrieking girl convention" taking place in the pool. We saw a mass of girls leaving the hot tub and decided we would be safe there. Unfortunately they weren't getting out to go to bed, they were just getting out to have a quick cupcake break and scream at each other before getting back in the hot tub. After all 83 were back in the hot tub, they started talking REALLY loud and splashing each other (along with us). As riveting as their conversations were, they weren't exciting enough for us to endure the splashing princesses. I tried to make my very best "annoyed adult face" but it didn't help. I wouldn't have been so bothered by the whole thing if it wasn't for the parents reactions to how their girls were acting. The three most popular responses were:

      ·         doing whatever their little angel demanded of them.
       ·         smiling at how adorable their daughters canon ball into the hot tub was.
       ·         ignoring their child, to gossip with another attentive parent.

At some point it seemed to me that if my kids were acting like that I would have pulled them out of the pool and had a talk with them. Or maybe I would have thought "hmmm it's 10:30. I think I'll get my kids in bed". It didn't take long to see who was running the show in that relationship.

Since I'm already on my soap box I might as well continue. I remember when I was a kid, and we had a social gathering like Christmas, birthday parties, baby blessings, that I was required to wait. Grandparents went first, then parents, and then kids. I've watched plenty of nature shows in my day. In all those shows I have never seen one where a family of lions sits down to a delicious Sunday zebra, and sit and watch the cubs eat all the best parts, leaving the scraps for the parents. In those nature shows the parents make sure the kids know their place. Now days I don't think people care if their kid is squeezing in front of grandma to get the biggest piece of chicken, only to go eat two bites and throw it away. Maybe we should be more like the lions and occasionally eat one of the impatient kids to remind them who's the boss.

Don't get me wrong . I love my kids. I think kids are funny, and amazing and interesting, and all that other good stuff. I'm just worried that if we act like everything in this world revolves around them, then when they're a teenager they're going to think "everything in this world revolves around me!"

I'm glad that I'm not one of those awful parents that does everything wrong.

(Next week's rant: Annoying people who tell you how to raise your kids.)

Lady's Man

2011-09-27T16:10:00.000-07:00

I came home from work the other day and gave Kade a hug and noticed that he wreaked of cologne. He honestly smelled like a car full of teenage boys on their way to prom. When I asked Jackie about the nasal assault she told me it was because of a party he went to earlier in the day. I guess he came out to go to the party and had used up one of my bottles. If I've learned anything from watching nature shows, I'm pretty sure that it means he has a crush on the birthday girl (Milli). The other evidence at his 4 year old attempt to impress this unsuspecting girl, was the fact that he wore a collared shirt (the last time he willingly did that hell froze over). And the fact that he asked Jackie to spike his hair up (again he never does that) he usually prefers the popular comb forward look. Thankfully he's only 4 so the only kisses he's interested in come wrapped in tinfoil. When he starts showing interest in real kisses we'll probably just lock him in the basement until his mission. That should solve the problem.

Running on Empty

2011-08-30T11:31:00.000-07:00

I recently finished my first 1/2 marathon! I know what you're thinking " Matt's built to run long distance about as well as one legged penguin", never the less I promise I did it. I even have the medal to prove it. I ran with Amy (my sister), Caroline (my like-a-sister) and Ashley (new running friend). It was good to have friends to train and run with. I don't know if I would have done it on my own.

When thinking about the run it's hard to use words like "fun" or "enjoyable", but I am glad that I did it. It feels good to set a goal and then work towards completing them. Although I imagine it's a lot like childbirth in the sense that the thought of running another one immediately after I'd finished made me a little nauseous and angry, but now that I've had time for my body to re-coop and forget some of the pain, I would totally do it again.

I went ahead and made a " family friendly" version of some of the thoughts that went through my head as I was running, so that everyone can get a feel for what it was like.

Pre-run

Boy, this is going to be fun!
I'm actually excited to do this.
I hope I have enough glow sticks on.
I wonder how fast I can run this in?

Mile 1
This isn't too bad.
This is fun running at night.
I'm glad Amy's running this with me,
Maybe we'll be able to motivate each other.

Mile 2
I think I'm slowing Amy down.
At least we haven't been passed yet.
I just need to get to mile 3 and it's all downhill.
I can't believe we haven't reached mile 3 yet.

Mile 3

I should be able to keep up with Amy on this downhill.
I wonder how far ahead of Caroline and Ashley we are?
These glow sticks are kind of annoying.

Mile 4
Hey there's Caroline and Ashley .
I wonder how long we can stay ahead of them.
There goes Caroline and Ashley.
I wonder if I'll get in trouble if I drop my glow sticks in the road.

Mile 5
Oh good, Amy needs to use the bathroom.
Maybe I can get far enough ahead that we can keep running together for a while.
There's a family watching the run. I'll just drop my glow sticks here. I'm sure the kids will pick them up.
Why do my shorts keep twisting?

Mile 6
Wow! Amy caught up to me fast.
Oh good, finally some hills to run down.
I wonder how many people will see me if I trip running down this hill?
I don't think I like running down the hills.

Mile 7
There goes Amy, I hope she gets a good time.
Is that a blister on my foot?
Why do my shorts keep twisting?
I wonder if I'm half way yet?

Mile 8
I think I'll play some music.
I wonder if my music is bothering anyone?
Why is this girl talking to me?
Can't she see that I can barely speak?
That blister feels huge!

Mile 9
Hey look I can see the moon.
There's nobody around me.
This is kind of nice.
I wonder if I'm still on the course?

Mile 10
That's nice of these people to come out and direct us where to go.
Why am I running towards the mountains?
I feel kind of hungry.
My knee hurts.
I swear I've passed that guy 3 times.

Mile 11
Did that sign say mile 11 or mile 12 . . . crap.
I don't even want to look at this blister when I get done.
These people are really starting to bother me.
I wonder if the girls are done running yet?

Mile 12
Boy there's a lot of people walking.
Who's calling me?
They probably think I'm dead.
That must mean the girls are done.
Why do my shorts keep twisting?
My knee hurts!

Mile 13
Last mile I can do it!
Look, I'm passing people.
Are they calling me again?
Look there's Cam, I must be close, look how easily he runs.
I'm going to sprint across the finish, . . . . or maybe I should just finish.

Post-run
I can't believe I did it!
I feel dizzy.
Did they say there was pizza somewhere?
I hope I don't regret eating this pizza.

(I did regret eating the pizza)

Amy, Me (Bret Michaels impersonation), Caroline, Ashley

Strawberry Days - 2011

2011-07-07T10:00:00.001-07:00

Every year we have a great time during the week of Strawberry days, and this year was no exception. Since most people in PG are related in one way or another it's really less of a city celebration and more of a really big family reunion.

The Carnival- Most people aren't aware of the dress code at the carnival. for those of you who are unaware I've made a simple math formula to help out. You take the amount of clothing you would wear to be modest and subtract your body fat percentage to get the square inches of clothing you can wear (example: 60 in sq. - 45% bf = 15 in sq. carnival outfit) So the fatter you are the less you have to wear. The Carnival is always a big highlight for the kids . Luckily our kids aren't too interested in trying the games that they scam you, they are just interested in riding rides. Kalli went on some scarier rides than Lindsay, but Lindsay's face looked like she enjoyed them a little more, but they both had fun. Kade was grinning the whole time, he didn't care if he was riding the park bench. At the end of the night Lindsay convinced me to let her buy a funnel cake. Everyone helped her eat it before it was paid for. After I had a couple bites of the funnel cake I used the previously mentioned clothing allowance formula with my new body fat percentage and figured out I could rip the sleeves off my shirt, I fit right in.

Kalli, kade, Crew, Random Girl

Kade, Crew, Dax, Briggs (Scary glimpse of the future)

The Rodeo -The rodeo was also a lot of fun too. In case you're wondering the dress code at the rodeo is the same as the carnival except you also get to wear boots and a hat. It's okay if they're not authentic, because apparently you can wear moon boots and a Crocodile Dundee hat and you'll look just like a real cowboy. In fact anyone can look like a real cowboy as long as they have boots and a hat. I've added some photographic proof.

Any way the kids loved it. Kade kept letting me know that the horses were "freaking out". And at one point he told me , "That clown isn't very funny". Kalli had fun, but she did get a little concerned when one of the cows got a bloody nose during the wild cow milking. In fact she brought it up about every 15 minutes. Lindsay was just happy because there were cousins to talk to. She could have fun at the DMV as long as there was someone to talk to.

The Mammoth Parade - Jackie hasn't made me go to the parade for about five years now. I'm not sure if it's because she loves me so much, or if she's just tired of listening to my smart @$$ comments the whole time. Don't get me wrong I love to see every Jr. High cheer squad in the valley, followed by every karate school in the city, but that seems like a lot to sit through just for a piece of saltwater taffy and bag full of flyers. After the parade we get together with Jackie's family for big potluck lunch. It's always a lot of fun and it's good to catch up with all the relatives. It really is sad when it comes to a close, thank goodness we can drown our sorrows in the strawberries and cream.

The land of Kimber and Jason - Arizona

2011-07-06T15:29:00.000-07:00

I keep forgetting to write about our visit to Arizona a couple months back because I wanted to load some pictures with it, but I figured it would be best to write down some of the highlights before I forget them.

To start out. we thought it would be fun to surprise the kids by not telling them where we were going. This turned out to be a lot of fun and we learned some things in the process.
1. I have a much easier time lying to our kids than Jackie does.
2. Our kids are pretty gullible.
3. Our kids have no idea how Utah and Arizona fit together.
4. Our kids are pretty funny.

We told the kids we were going to Scipio to get ice cream from my favorite ice cream place. They got a little impatient after about 2 1/2 hours of driving. Kalli who was initially very excited soon let us know that our trip to get ice cream "sucked". Eventually we told them that my favorite spot was closed so we settled on a dairy queen in Beaver. As we left Beaver we told them we were taking a shortcut home. and I told them if they were good I would take them to my favorite french fry place, that's when Lindsay said "Oh yeah, and where is that? France?" After another 3 hours of driving we told them that we were lost and had to stay in a hotel for the night. Kalli started giggling and said that she was going to tell her teacher that we got lost getting ice cream. As we carried Kade in he told Jackie "That was a long shortcut!"

The next day we had fun misdirecting the kids attention every time we would come upon an Arizona road sign. Eventually we made it to Phoenix where we told the kids I had to pick up some papers for work and that they could use the bathroom if they wanted. When Kimber opened the door they were totally shocked.

We spent the next three days playing, swimming, zooing, and BBQing. The kids wore themselves out each day and had a great time. Us grownups even pulled a reserve of energy from some unknown place to have a late game night. It was definitely worth the sleep deprivation. We were pretty sad to leave when the time came, even though I'm sure Kimber and Jason were ready to get back the 7/8's of there house that we took over.

I'd like to say the ride home was a lot more fun, but really it was just a lot more whiny. We did stop at Lake Powell on the way back which was pretty cool. In the end we had a lot of fun with the Gray family and appreciated their hospitality and patience.

To Bee or not to Bee

2011-06-30T14:54:00.000-07:00

Jackie had a near death experience the other day that we are all a little shook up about. While at the pool with the kids she was assaulted and then stung by a bee! Not any ordinary wasp, or mild mannered yellow jacket, no this was a blood thirsty honey bee. The policeman who took her statement said that it was probably an isolated incident and that it probably wasn't targeting her specifically. Kalli Loveridge, an eye witness to the event (and survivor of 11 wasp stings at one time) had this to say, "Hey Dad guess what, Mom got stung by a bee". This was Jackie's first (and hopefully last) time being stung by a bee. She was quoted as saying "I felt something on my back, so I tried to brush it off, and it stung me". Thankfully the bee died after it stung her so that it can't go on to attack other innocent victims.

Artist rendering of attacker

(I love you honey)

Green Thumb

2011-06-09T14:05:00.000-07:00

Jackie made fun of me the other day because I said that "I like gardening". After re-thinking it I realized that what I meant to say was "I like watching the plants grow, and then picking the fruit, and eating it". The whole weeding and tilling thing I'm not so crazy about, but there is something satisfying once you have the ground looking all beautiful and ready for plants.

This year the kids have really helped out, each in there own way. Kade helped me with the first weeding and tilling. It really helps the hours go by when you're answering all sorts of questions like "why we want to throw away some plants (weeds) but let other plants grow (tomato's), and why some worms are good for the garden (earthworms) and some "worms" are bad (tomato grubs, snails). As I was digging up the ground he told me to let him know when I found a worm. When I asked him why he said that "he wanted to let it slobber in his hand." Nothing like a bunch of worm mucus to start the day. Later when the girls came out he told them that "we only want good worms in the garden, not evil worms". I never knew that we had evil worms plotting to overthrow our garden. Worms these days.

Kalli also tries her best to help out, but when it comes to weeding Kalli has about as much interest as I do in eating a pickle. She is however, great at watering. She can water the heck out of a plant. In fact we have a couple of watermelon plants that may not make it because she did such a good job watering them.

Lindsay is just always willing to help out whenever and wherever. She does an awesome job. Hopefully we won't burn her out on helping, before we get the other two all trained up.

So I may not like weeding, but I do enjoy hanging out with my wife and kids. And just in case anyone has any doubts of my mad gardening skills I decided to post a progress picture of my avocado plant "Gwock". He's one year old now. We probably won't be having a party but you can send a birthday card with money if you'd like. I'm not sure what we'll do if he outgrows the house. Move to Brazil I suppose.

Kade

2011-02-10T09:44:00.000-08:00

Our son Kade continues to be a good source of material to put on this blog.

1. A little while ago I talked about what we like to call "the bum scratching incident". Obviously personal boundaries don't concern Kade. The other day we were grocery shopping as a family and Lindsay was nice enough to buy a treat for everyone to share. As we were getting out of the car I commented on how much chocolate was on his face. Without hesitating he asked me if I would lick the chocolate off his face. My son is to lazy to scratch his own bum, or to lick his own face, but we still love him.

2. As my only son I feel the need to infuse him with manliness as often as possible. I came home from work the other day and saw him running around with a pink watch on. So I said "Kade take that pink watch off, that's a girl watch." He took it off without complaint and said "maybe we can get a boy watch" I told him that would be a good idea. Then he said and maybe I can get a boy i-pod". I thought that would also be a good idea. Then he said "and maybe I can put 'All the single ladies' on it." This is why I don't want him wearing pink watches.

3. Not to be outdone by Kalli, Kade has his own list of mispronounced words.

Stoy Story: A popular movie about Woody and Buzz.
Hamand sandwich: a ham and cheese sandwich without the cheese.
Shnaksticks: Where the girls go every Wednesday to work on their tumbling and back hand springs.

Example: Hey dad, when the girls go to shnaksticks maybe we can watch 'Stoy story' and eat a hamand sandwich.

*side note* as my only commenter, Amy, will hopefully be able to respond this time. Either that or I guess I'll have to comment on my own blog.

Rock-a-bye don't you cry.

2011-01-26T10:16:00.000-08:00

Generally I don't handle being woken up in the middle of the night very well. In fact once I've gone to bed it's pretty hard to wake me at all, but occasionally Jackie can get me to wake up when she needs help with one of Kade's nightly episodes. Last night was one of those nights. I was a little groggy so I don't remember everything that went down last night but I do know that at some point in between 3 and 4 in the morning. I was standing in Kade's room yelling at him to go to bed, and he was laying in his bed crying to me that his "bum itched" and he wanted me to scratch it. After some heated negotiations he settled on going back to bed in exchange for a cookie in the morning and no bum scratching on my part.

Not a creature was stirring

2011-01-11T13:44:00.000-08:00

We had a great Christmas here in the Loveridge household. Everybody got what they wanted (or what we could afford) and we got to see some family that we hadn't seen in a while. All in all it was a great holiday season. There were some funny instances, some Christmas related and some not. The first two involve a mouse.

Kade- We had been out as a family caroling or roasting chestnuts or something and when we got home and opened our garage door we saw a mouse bolt behind a board. This kind of freaked everybody out - except me and Lindsay - Jackie spent the better part of an hour trying to reassure Kade that there was no way for a mouse to use the door to get into our house. Eventually the only thing that convinced him is that Jackie told him that the mice don't have a key to our door.

Kalli- I went that night and bought some mouse traps so that everybody could sleep easy. I thought it would be educational to show the kids how a mouse trap works. I was very careful as I set it and explained what happens when the mouse touches the yellow fake cheese. Then I told them not to touch it and I turned around to get a pencil to set off the trap. Apparently the fake cheese is more irresistible than I thought because I heard a snap and turned around to see Kalli (bless her heart) with her hand in the trap and a look of shock on her face.

Lindsay- this last one doesn't involve a mouse, but it does include a trap. On Christmas morning while we were all eating our Christmas ebelskivers, Lindsay came up next to me with the note Santa had left for the family. She was looking at the note, and in her most nonchalant way said "Hmmm Santa's handwriting looks an awful lot like your hand writing dad." then she set a pen on the letter and said "why don't you write something" I calmly said under my breath "why don't you be quiet". I guess she's just growing up despite my wishes. I must say that was pretty smart of her to figure out that Santa had forgotten to leave a note and asked me to do it for him.

Kade's School of Dance

2011-01-11T08:24:00.000-08:00

I know that we've forced nearly everyone we see to watch this video of Kade dancing in the back seat, but in case we missed anyone I decided to post it up here. The one thing that is obvious to see in this video (besides the size of my huge ear) is that dancing is so much more than just moves. Anybody (except my brother Joe) can learn some basic dance moves, but that's not what makes a great dancer. What makes a great dancer is the attitude, which I think Kade clearly demonstrates.

Shacks, Speed-o's, & Copy cats

2010-08-23T09:51:00.000-07:00

I just had to write down a few things before I forget them.

1. We were driving home the other day and as we were passing a trailer park we noticed a cop car with it's light on in the trailer park. Lindsay turned to Kalli and casually said " Kalli look at that cop car in that little city of tiny shacks". If that doesn't make us sound like snobs I don't know what does.

2. With all the storms we had a while ago Kade became pretty fascinated with the weather. One of his questions he would ask me every time lightning would strike was whether or not the lightning was going to "bite" us.

3. I got up early the other day and was drawing when Kade wandered out of his room at about 6:00 a.m. His eyes were still shut, so I asked him if he wanted to go back to sleep. He nodded his head, and as I picked him up to put him back in bed he asked me if there were monkey's in our trees. I told him there weren't any and he said "okay, . . . can I go to the store with you when you go?" I imagine that's about how the conversation would have gone if he had been drunk.

4. This isn't anything cute that my kids did. I just wanted to thank Tiff for the sweet speedo she brought me back from Italy. I tried in on as soon as I got home (over my garments of course). I don't know how europians can wear those in front other people. While I had it on I think I felt more naked than if I had actually been naked. Don't fear though I'll post some pictures of my self wearing it just as soon as I can get my body fat percentage down to 3% or when hell freezes, which ever comes first.

5. Lastly, I've noticed recently that Kade has been copying nearly everything I do. I confirmed this the other day when I came home and took my pants off and put on some basketball shorts. Kade disappeared for a little while then came back in his basketball shorts. I tested my theory to see if I was right by going and putting on my cowboy boots. He walked into the kitchen looked at me, then down at my boots, and ran to his room only to come out a second later with his cowboy boots on. We ate dinner like that then he came up to me afterward and said his boots were hurting his feet and asked me to put on my flip flops. I'm flattered and a little self conscious to know that he watches me that closely. I guess this means know more scissor juggling.

Interpretation's

2010-07-06T13:35:00.000-07:00

We went to Bear Lake a little while ago with some friends and family. I'd love to post some pictures but I didn't get my camera out the whole time we were there. Maybe I'll track some down later. Anyway It was the trip home that things began to get a little silly. As we got closer and closer to home our kids giddy-level seemed to get higher and higher.(I apologize to my Hispanic friends for my children's behavior). As we got close to home Kalli started screaming out the window at passing pedestrians "HOT SAUCE FOR SALE!!!!" Lindsay and Kade thought this was hilarious so Kade started screaming it out the other window. Then Kalli upped her game by being more specific about her customers shouting either "HEY MEXICO PEOPLE, or HEY AINGLUSH PEOPLE, . . . HOT SAUCE FOR SALE" We would have stopped them but it was pretty funny, and we figured nobody could tell what the heck they were saying anyway.

As I was typing this I remembered a message I'd gotten on my phone a while ago that I forgot to tell Jackie about. Lindsay called me and left me a message that she was a teacher from Mexico that wanted to order some copies of my children's book. She must think that Luigi is Mexican, because she was using her Super Mario accent. Anyway I'm expecting the pesos to start rolling in from Mexico.

I was also going to post some translations to those who may have difficulty understanding Kalli.

he-bout: used in place of "what about" or "how about"

zert: a sweet treat eaten after dinner.

Satan George: A city in southern Utah known for it's golfing, shopping, and triple digit temperatures; making it a popular vacation spot for George aka Satan.

Example: When we are in Satan George, he-bout we get some ice cream for zert.

It's a bird, It's a plane, It's Jackie and Tiff

2010-04-16T14:15:00.000-07:00

This Wednesday Jackie and Tiff took off for Arizona to go visit with the Gray's. That night Kalli was helping me make dinner when she asked me if mom and Tiff were flying in the plane at that moment. I told her that they probably were. She was quiet for a little while then she got this little goofy smile on her face. I asked her what was funny, and she said " That would be funny to see them flying in the plane with there hair blowing all over and everybody screaming". Apparently Kalli thought that planes fly with all the windows open and that it's just shear pandemonium for the entire flight. I can't blame her for thinking that, she's never been on a plane before. She's right though, that would be funny to see.

Potty like it's 1999!

2010-04-02T15:39:00.000-07:00

So we’ve been potty training in the loveridge household. I guess I should rephrase that. Jackie’s been potty training Kade and I’ve been voicing my encouragement. It’s such an interesting concept when you stop and think about it. It shouldn’t be that hard to convince someone (even a child) of the advantages of using a toilet vs. sitting in your own mess, but I guess laziness is a pretty strong motivator.

I can’t complain though because Kade has done really well . . . . at first. We did the whole thing. You know buying the special underwear, explaining the reward system (one animal cookie per body function), freaking out when they have an accident on the couch. It was all going great but then the magic sort of peters out, and it becomes such a chore. I mean I can only fake so much enthusiasm for somebody else’s BM. Besides the nostalgia wearing off, Kade has discovered that he can hold it and wait until he’s in bed to announce he has to pee, and then a second time to go number two. And I’ll be damned if he isn’t able to produce some amount of poop every single time. It’s really pretty impressive.

These late night poop sessions do have their charm though. I’ll wait for him to finish and I’ll just sit there and watch his facial expressions begin to fluctuate from concentration, to concern, to amusement, to confusion, to approval, and then back through the cycle again. It’s one of the most entertaining parts of the day.

Pop goes the Weasel

2010-02-17T14:16:00.000-08:00

Last week was "wife appreciation week". Jackie was gone with her sisters and their mom to Las Vegas for the weekend. Things were pretty uneventful thankfully. Things didn't get exciting until Jackie got home with presents for all the kids. The girls got water bottles so that they can leave mine and Jackie's alone, but the best "gift" was Kade's. I hesitate calling it a gift, because he has a panic attack every time we try to get him to play with it. Jackie got him one of those weasel-balls. It's a ball with what looks like the remains of a raccoon stapled to the side of it and it rolls around in a sporadic unpredictable path. We can't seem to convince him that's it's not real, so his response every time he sees it is to scream, run behind Jackie, cling to her back, and give a hysterical nervous laugh. I feel torn about my feelings for weasel -ball. Part of me wants to be a good father and not let this evil toy emotionally scar my son for life. On the other hand the big brother part of me can't help but laugh every time I see him freak out. So far the good father side is winning (so far).

Can you hear me now?

2010-01-08T14:26:00.000-08:00

Communication is kind of fascinating to me. There are so many different ways that people can communicate with each other these days. It’s also amazing how early in childhood it starts. I’ll try to keep this short (but that might be impossible).

First off there’s Kade. He’s really turned into quite the talker. Like any other kid his age he just repeats everything he hears. I guess that’s why everybody has funny stories about kids at that age repeating funny little things, like racial slurs and swear words. Kade hasn’t said anything too embarrassing, he prefers to express himself through song. He has a beautiful little song he sings which is a mash-up of “all the single ladies” and “the sun will come out tomorrow”. Normally I would say that these two songs go together about as well as diarrhea and a trampoline, but Kade has managed to blend them seamlessly together.

When it comes to communicating Lindsay and Kalli take it to new heights. My first example of the brain trust is when I walked into the bathroom and found Kalli crammed under the bathroom sink screaming something into the cutout for the drainpipe. Just as I’m about to ask what on earth she’s doing I hear Lindsay’s muffled response come back through hole. Apparently they felt that this way they could share secrets back and forth between the two bathrooms. I guess it would be secret as long as no one else was in the house at the time to hear the muffled screaming. I would make fun of them but I seem to remember a couple of other kids who made a pair of peep holes that looked into the back of Mom & Dad's closet in the old Orem house. Want to know what a suit coat looks like in the dark?

They don’t use the bathroom to communicate anymore, because for Christmas they got some sweet texting devices ($10 at Wal-Mart). Kalli doesn’t read very well yet, so this is usually how it goes down. They sit down a foot away from each other and Lindsay starts to type out her message (it’s usually “Kalli what are you doing?”) then Lindsay tells Kalli that she sent her a message and takes Kalli’s texter to read to her what she just sent. Then Kalli gives her answer to Lindsay who then responds and sends the message back to herself. I could only bear to watch this whole process once. Come to think of it I would probably rather have them yelling at each other through the bathroom walls.

Round is a shape

2009-11-18T13:10:00.000-08:00

The holidays are getting close, and every year I tell myself that I’m going to restrain from eating too much. I’ve told myself this for the last 10 years. I’ve also consistently gained weight each year. So this year I’m taking more of a pro active stance. I’m planning on doing the P90X thing starting in January, so until that time I’m going to try to drop some weight so I don’t have a heart attack when I start it.
Since I really want to take it serious this time I thought it would be “fun” to take the before photo’s to compare with the end photo’s. “Fun” probably wasn’t the right word to use, “emotionally debilitating” is probably more accurate. I wanted the pictures to be as accurate as possible so I was trying to let my stomach out without sucking in at all. It was harder than I thought. It goes against everything I’ve ever taught my body. Just like a rollie pollie curls up when you poke it, my stomach automatically sucks in when my shirt comes off, I think it’s some kind of survival instinct. Eventually I coaxed my stomach out of hiding, and all I can say is that the results were magnificently horrifying. I looked like I was in my third trimester, and had better get busy picking a name.
When I looked at the picture that’s all the motivation I needed to scare me straight. So I won’t be posting any before pictures, but here is a close second.

(here's a nice profile view that's pretty close)
As a side note after I was done I deleted the picture, smashed the camera with a rock, lit it on fire and threw it into Utah Lake. . . . . that will teach it not to take any more scary pictures.

Caramel apples

2009-10-24T08:34:00.000-07:00

I was feeling a little nostalgic the other day, and thought it would be fun to make caramel apples with the kids. Jackie was a little weary of the idea and suggested we just cut up the apples and dip them in the caramel. Seeing this as the easy way out I pressed the issue and finally got my way. I learned many things that night. I had forgotten just how good caramel and apples go together. I also learned some things that don't go well with caramel, such as 2 year old boys, facial hair and digital camera's. After a while of Kade trying to wrestle the apple into submission, and kalli pathetically trying to bite the apple without the use of her two front teeth, I gave into Jackie's good idea and cut up the apple. I still think the caramel apples were a good idea.

notice how the caramel on the lens gives a nice "glamour shot" haze

Kade before he got really messy

Lindsay was the only one who managed to eat it without making a mess.

Imagination

2009-09-17T15:17:00.000-07:00

We were driving home the other day and I once again overheard the girls in the backseat having one of their discussions. They decided to play pretend. I’m not sure which one suggested it but they decided to pretend that they were sisters. I’m still not sure if this is genius or idiocy. On the one hand I felt sorry for my daughters that they can’t even think up anything to pretend to be, but on the other hand maybe they are so creative that they decided to pretend to be two completely different people who happen to be sisters. Either way I’m still confused. At any rate today around 5 o’clock I’m going to pretend to get off work and then pretend to drive home

Touching Moments

2009-09-14T08:06:00.000-07:00

Lindsay said the sweetest thing to me the other day, and I just had to write it down before I forgot. It was half time of her soccer game and she came over to us to get a drink. Then she sat on my lap and put her head on my chest and said " Dad, you make everything so shady." then she got up and went to finish her soccer game, leaving me there with a lump in my throat. It' s touching that my daughter finds me as useful as an awning.

Teeth

2009-09-10T16:00:00.000-07:00

We’ve had all sorts of exciting dentistry going on lately. I’ll have to try and add a video we have of Kalli getting her first tooth pulled. The dentist said her new one may not come in for about a year, but regardless it was time for this tooth to come out. Her two front teeth were different colors (neither of those colors being white) I guess that’s what happens when you feel your way around using your two front teeth. I used to do the trick where you say okay let’s pull it on three and then you really do it on one, but they’ve gotten wise to that little bit of trickery. So now I just engage in a little harmless conversation and yank it out while they are answering one of my questions. Kalli was pretty excited to get a dollar from the tooth fairy. The tooth fairy really is an amazing person. I don’t think it’s her fairy wings or magic tooth wand that make her special, I think it’s the fact that she can slide a dollar in between a sleeping child’s head and a plastic sheet without waking the child that makes her amazing. In related news, me and Jackie went to the dentist for a cleaning/checkup (or as I like to call it the “I can sure taste a lot of blood in my mouth” visit). I don’t know what those hygienist think teeth are made of but I’m pretty sure that teeth will break if enough pressure is applied. She was pulling so hard with that little metal hook of hers that when she was done I could floss with a tube sock. Normally I don’t brag about my trips to the dentist but for the first time in my life I didn’t have a cavity. We were so happy we went out and celebrated with some toffee.

Money = Evil

2009-06-10T15:20:00.000-07:00

I hate money. I understand the necessity of it if, and I want my family to have a house and food, but aside from that I’m not really crazy about the whole money concept; It just complicates everything.

I sometimes wish we lived in settler times, when you could go pick out a piece of land, and raise sugar beets with your family, and helped raise barns with your neighbors. I’m not sure what’s all involved with raising sugar beets, but I’m pretty sure it would be a lot more exciting than sitting in a cubicle looking at lines on a screen, and besides that I know Jackie would look smokin’ in a bonnet and pioneer dress.

Maybe it’s not all about the money, it just seems that everybody is so self absorbed (except for my family), and so concerned with how much money they are making (my family excluded), and so untrusting of everybody else (outside of my relatives of course).

I guess I’m just whining because I’m tired of bills, and payments and working just so I can get a paycheck. I’m not complaining about work in general. I love to feel like I’ve worked hard and accomplished something at the end of the day. I’m just impatiently looking forward to the day when I’ll be able to do what I love doing, and getting paid for it will be secondary.

And I’m waiting for that day when Jackie will where that bonnet.

Veteran-arian-egetarians

2009-05-27T15:22:00.000-07:00

I love that my kids are old enough to communicate with each other in full sentences. One of my favorite things to do is eavesdrop on my girls in the back seat as we drive somewhere. They always have the most interesting conversations. The other night we were driving home from a Memorial Day party, and I heard the girls in the back seat discussing holidays and birthdays, and how cool it is to have a birthday on a holiday. Lindsay proudly told Kalli that her birthday was on Veterans Day. Kalli asked Lindsay what Veterans Day was. So Lindsay told her it was the day that we remember all the Veterinarians that have died for us. Kalli seemed impressed with Lindsay’s knowledge of the subject. On a slightly unrelated (but somewhat related note) Lindsay was telling us that there were some kids in her class that were really rude because they eat meat in front of a girl whose mom is a veterinarian. Me and Jackie thought that maybe she had mistaken a veterinarian with a vegetarian but she clarified that she thought the kids were being rude because the girls mom takes care of animals and all these kids are eating animals in front of her. The whole thing seemed very funny at the time. And apparently Lindsay has a fixation with veteranarians.

Why does Tigger Stink?

2009-05-06T15:01:00.001-07:00

I agree with my wife in the sense that I don’t really like the idea of using a blog as a self brag forum, but I do like both of my sisters approach of using it to keep track of funny, cute, special things my kids do or say. So, although it won’t be very often I did want to keep track of some of these moments for myself.

I think that kids are hilarious. Occasionally they are trying to be funny and succeed, but for the most part I think they are funniest when they are not trying. Today my second child, Kalli, started telling me a joke while I was home for lunch. She said “Dad, why does Tigger smell bad?” Having heard this joke before, I tried to act like this was new material. Then she said” because he eats poo!” Personally I think that her punch line was far better than the original, and showed a lot more creativity. After I stopped laughing and told her the correct version of the joke (to avoid her telling anyone else about Tigger eating poo.) She decided to give me a disclaimer that it’s not good to eat poo, because it’s unhealthy. I have no doubt that with her new found knowledge, she will go far as a dental hygienist. She really is a sweetheart, and I think that joke made the second half of work a little more bearable.

Jackie's Blog

2009-02-28T07:15:00.000-08:00

Anybody who knows Jackie knows about her love of Blog's, Facebook, and e-mailing; so I thought I would surprise her with her very own Blog. Now she can join the rest of the world in bragging about their children, sharing 25 things people may or may not want to know about you, and updating her page twice a year. Love you Honey.