I understand my parent's gray hair

I was looking in the mirror the other day and I noticed some gray hair speckling the area above my temple. What a shock! I still feel and act as if I'm only thirteen years old. I certainly shouldn't be going gray yet. Then I started to think back on what the last three and a half years of my life has been like.
October 6th 2005- phone rings at 3:30 am ish. Heidi is on the other end telling me that she thinks her water broke. I get out of bed and rush to the Orem hospital where my beautiful is being prepped for C section. A short time later, my first son is born. A minute later his twin brother is pulled out and is not breathing. My heart sank! I thought Carter wasn't going to make it. Thanks to a very talented respiratory therapist, Carter begins to breathe and his color goes from purple to a nice shade of pink. The hospital staff usher me out of the operating room so that I might be with my children. It was an amazing experience. I'm sure the seed of my first gray hair was planted that morning.
I have had an unusually difficult time with Davis and Carter lately. They have been very defiant, loud and mean to each other. Carter and Davis have been hitting the dogs each other and their mother. Everything we try to correct the problem backfires and we have to start all over again. They spit. They scream. They throw food. The poop in odd places. They pee on the lawn outside in order to be more like the dogs. They cut their clothes with scissors. They yank flowers out the garden. They hit each other in the face. They pull each others hair. Each time someting negative happens a gray hair seed is sowed.
I can say that I understand my parents gray hair. Each hair represents the time in which their children have caused them grief and stress. Having said that, I wonder what would indicate the number of times a child helps fill their parents heart with gratefulness and love. What is the indicator, of the times of joy?, the number of hugs?, the I love yous before bed?, when they finally understand the concept of pooping in the potty?
Last week I looked a little more closely to my father's hair and I noticed that the hair I thought was gray is actually a brilliant silver. The individual hair must have started out gray but when the pains of raising a child have faded and only good memories remain, then we will learn that the hair was never gray but silver. I have since reexamined my gray and I now see silver.
With all the heartache of raising a child we must remember that what we do today will affect the color of our hair tomorrow. I'm grateful that I have two healthy, loud, and energetic boys. I'm certainly blessed!!
More later

Brakes and my bro.

If any of you have read Heidi's blog then you might have seen that I replaced the brakes on my man van. Thanks to my brother Mike and one of his employees My brakes are done. I basically watched while the two of them showed me how it was done. Now I know and knowing is half the battle. ( Thanks G.I. Joe!!!). The brakes only cost about thirty dollars and a half an hour of my life. I can't believe how expensive it is to have somebody else change my brakes for me. Last time I had it done, I spent a few hundred dollars. What a rip!!
School is out for the summer and my life at work is about to get even more hectic. The student are gone which is a bonus but now I have really tedious work a head of me. Having said that I am very grateful to be employed. There are plenty of people out of work right now.
Peace out! I'm taking my posse home to jump on the trampoline.

It has been forever since my last post. Since I have started my new job, I find myself with less time and more stress. I guess that is why my assistant says I make the big bucks. I'm not sure what he is talking about. Maybe my big pay checks are being sent to another person with my name. If that is true, then I'm going on a hunt. I feel the blood lust rising and my eyesight improving by the second. Look out!
Today, I was home with Carter playing computer games. I have been pointing to places on Carter's torso and asking him "What is in there?" He usually responds with the correct term, stomach, Heart bones etc. I pointed at his head and posed the question, he responded "Poo Poo" Holy Cow! I almost fell off my chair from laughing so hard. I'm amazed at my boys sense of humor. I love it when they make me laugh. There aren't too many people that can get a good deep laugh out of me but my little Gump (Carter) and Short bus(Davis) sure can!
I better get going. I finished home teaching early and the fam is home sleeping( lucky!) and I don't want to suffer the wrath of my significant other if she finds out I'm enjoying myself.(I'm teasing sweetie).
Happy Sunday!!

Wow! The last few days have been really nice with temps in the mid 60s. I can't wait for the sunny warm days ahead.

Our trip to California was enjoyable. Setting a few things aside, I'm glad we went. The boys had a great time watching their favorite Disney characters in "real life". Watching their eyes light up brought back memories of when I went to Disneyland as a child and the excitement that I felt. I couldn't believe the amount of people that were in the park Valentine's day. While I was looking across the crowds of people I wondered, how much money does Disneyland earn in one day? I did some digging and found out that the place made 21.16 million dollars a day in 2007. Holy cow! That doesn't include ticket sales for movies, any of the other parks, or revenues from the disney channel. The company is a monster. 

Since we have been back the boys have been pretty good over all. I really started to use the Love and Logic guide to parenting. Carter and Davis have been responding well to it. Basically you give the child choices, only two, and with the expectation that the parent can live with either choice. It amazing to me how much more behaved they are for me. I guess they just need to feel like they have a little more control over their livesI'm interested to see if it will stay effective.

I will try ro post again soon.

As some may know, I have been given a new position in the alpine school district . I was originally going to start my new job on Jan 16th, but as result of the economic downturn, my start date has been pushed back to April 1st. I have had a few people ask if I am upset about it, my reply is not really. I enjoy my current assignment and I love the people that I work with, so It really isn't that big of a deal. I did get excited for the new duties and challenges however.

I am ready for warmer weather. I want to be out working in my yard gardening and taking care of my lawn. I always thought that people who obsess over their landscaping were nuts. I have become one of those crazies. There is something very relaxing about getting my hands into the soil, picking fruit and vegetables to share with family, and ripping those dang weeds out of my garden. I think I vent a lot of my frustrations on weeds. Better that than on my family.

Next week we will be going to California. I'm excited and also a little nervous about the trip. My boys don't do the best with new situations. We will be sharing a condo with Heidi's family for the length of the trip and I worry that my little buds will drive the Dodenbier's crazy.(especially Heidi's mom) The good news is that the boys will be able to see Disneyland. They have been talking and asking about it every day for the last few months. I have to admit I'm looking forward to watching their reactions to the different rides we will be going on./

That all I have for now. I hope write more soon.