The Blushing Bean

Thanksgiving was pretty uneventful until Scott noticed that Lauren's neck and face were really rosy. We stripped off her clothes to find her whole body covered in hives. We dosed her up with Benadryl and Cortizone, and were about ten minutes away from taking her to Primary's for treatment when the rash seemed to subside. She's doing fine now, but we still have no inkling of what caused the rash as well as the cough she had had the night before. It had to have been really uncomfortable for her, but she weathered it like a real trooper.

Rivalry Shenanigans

3 months ago I stepped in to the University Bookstore to gather my school supplies and found a great deal on a University of Utah flag. Patrick had been asking me if he could hang a flag on the playground for some time, so I decided to pick it up. He helped me to mount the pole on the playground and was quite proud. He even asked me if he can get a pirate flag some time.

The flag has been flowing in the breeze all fall, but tonight I got home from work to find that taken the flag down, wadded it up, and thrown it under the playground. I thought that it was the high winds we've been having at first, until I found the heap tucked away underneath. No way it got there by itself. And no way it came down accidentally. It was bolted to the pole.

To be honest I am amazed that it took this long for someone to monkey with it. You hear jokes about people bearing their testimony of BYU football from the pulpit, but in my neighborhood it can happen. What kills me is that when rivalry week comes around each year, the BYU honks give it to me by saying that Utah fans are nasty, dirty and take low shots, but that BYU fans are more dignified and would never lower themselves to some of the things that Ute fans do. To that I now say, "Hi. Kettle? This is the Pot..."

Speaking of the rivalry, I got a text message from Chas on Saturday that read "6 days to BYU victory" I told Pat about it, and she decided she wanted in on the smack talk. She sent Chas a text that read, "I can't wait to see BYU get their butts kicked on Saturday. BYU! BYU! Where girls are girls and boys are too." (I know, very mature). He didn't respond, so she sent another a few hours later that read, "I take it from your silence that you agree with me." "Who is this?" he responded. "God" was Pat's response. We let him wonder for a couple of days before I told him who it really was. He hasn't responded. I think he's really pissed.

Sammi Shurtz

We celebrated Samantha's 5th Birthday on Monday. She chose to have her party at Jungle Jim's Playland.

Bean wanted to ride the bumper cars, but was too small to go alone...

So I took one for the team. I drove with one hand and pushed the floor petal with the other. That steering wheel is murder on the old package...

I finally figured out that Bean could ride with Samantha. Here Bean, like most Utah drivers, uses the one fingered salute to express how she feels about the kid who just rammed them.

Samantha is a pretty good driver and could avoid getting hit by any other driver. But she never passed the opportunity to T-Bone her brother.

Whitney was gracious enough to act as Maddi's escort on the rides.

Bean also wanted to go on the 'spinning' ride with Patrick and Samanth...

...and quickly decided that it was a bad idea. Then she thought that if she went by herself that she would like it better, since she wouldn't be smooshed. She was wrong.

Patrick earned enough tickets from the games to buy a pair of Chinese fingercuffs. He's been stuck in them for 4 days now. It's been great.

Out with the Old...

Six years ago we bought several goldfish for the tank we kept in the office. All but one died, and that one little goldfish survived a solitary existence in the cold dark office for a long time unharmed. Last week Kate took Patrick and Samantha to buy a couple of fish to add to the tank. P wanted the tank in his room, so we moved it up. Within 24 hours of moving from the basement, Goldie was dead, along with Patrick and Samantha's new fish, having been overfed by an unnamed Shirley child. Sometimes when you're forgotten in the basement, it is best to be left there. Ask Omnibot...

But we did replace the new fish that had been killed, and on Sunday we added a hamster when Grandpa Stretch brought over his birthday present for Whitney. She has determined to name the hamster 'Blackie' because of the color of his fur. I am struggling to get her to understand that she needs to pick a different name...

Halloweenies

The big scary holiday went off without a hitch. Annie, Sandy, Cinderella and Batman hauled in a ton of candy for me to take to work. It should be noted that Bean dressed as Sandy only because her first costume (A High School Musical Cheerleader, of course) got barfed on.

In case you're wondering, the answer is yes, we do let the kids cut their own jack-o-lantern faces...

...and if you're wondering how I get such perfect round circles cut in the faces, it is a 1 1/2 inch drill bit...

Kate still wasn't feeling well, so she took the easy road to carving pumpkins and just backed over it with the Durango.