Four Guys and a Game

Back on Friday September 12, two of my four sons flew up from California to join me and Paul for the Washington/BYU football game. Spencer and Brian got to have a "Bachelor" weekend with their Dad.

We had a great time. BYU won in a thriller. We got to experience on campus traffic jams. And time went by way too fast. Sunday morning the California boys flew back to their generous families. It was a real treat for all of us. Thanks Jennifer and Flora for letting us have them for 36 hours!

Our New Refrigerator!

Here it is, the latest addition to our family:

We replaced our 80's era (older than I thought, that came with the house) refrigerator with a Whirlpool French Door.

It's white (Mom required white), Energy Star rated, big, clean, fancy and fun (for a refrigerator).

It has ice and water through the door (filtered), a freezer on the bottom, and the fridge unit on top with two doors that open wide--so, no more stooping to find hidden things growing penicillin in the back corners.

We love our new refrigerator!

Fall

Today at 8:44AM Fall arrived. I love Fall. It is my favorite of all seasons. The best part about it arriving today was it actually felt like a perfect Fall day. A little breezy, a little cloud cover--the kind of clouds that are puffy and white and grey. It was suppose to rain but so far no rain yet. Buddy will have to start wearing his pajamas again if the nights start to dip very low. Pretty soon I'll change to the flannel sheets for our bed. Oh, so cozy.

Today our new refrigerator is going to arrive. We think we might have a problem. It will fit in the space for the refrigerator but I'm not sure it will make it through any of the doors. That's a problem. I guess we will have to see what magic the delivery men can do.

I think Buddy notices the weather too. He has been very frisky today. Happy Fall Happy Harvest Happy Day

Buddy, the Squirrel and the Horse

Today was a great day. Really seemed like fall. No sun and cool. Buddy and I took a drive out to base and stopped at Dewey's work first. Dewey introduced Buddy and me to his pet squirrel that he named Popeye. He even went to the commissary and bought the squirrel his own food-ears of corn and peanuts. Dewey keeps this special food in one of his drawers at work. I now have to be on the lookout for all the fall nuts that come out because they are better for Popeye than peanuts. Buddy was pretty good and only barked once at him. I'm not sure what Buddy thought. He has probably seen a squirrel before in the backyard but I really don't know. Popeye even let Dewey get pretty close before he ran away. Dewey says there is a rabbit that lives by the squirrel and I think Dewey is feeding him too. This afternoon I stopped by a friend's house. She owns a couple of horses. So instead of having grandchildren here to say "hey look at the horses" Buddy had to do. I'm getting pretty pathetic when I treat the dog like a child. Buddy finally notice the horse and the horse noticed Buddy (we were at a distance) and neither one of them thought too much about the experience. No barks or whinnies. I remember the first time Einstein met a horse it scared him to death. He tried to get back across the street as fast as he could and he took me with him. After seeing Andrew the Maltese on The Greatest American Dog Show I'm convinced that Malteses are not afraid of anything big--including elephants. Here's to the little guy and girl.

P.S. Remember how I said it was feeling a lot more fall-like----I think we should have a fireplace tonight. It's down right cold right now.

My Civilization Addiction

I confess. I know that confession is part of the 12-step program to any addiction, so, I confess. I'm Dewey, and I'm a Civ addict. How did I get this way? Simple. It started like so many addictions do with the purchase. Civilization Revolution for the PS3. I had yet to find a game on my Blueray playing game platform that really interested me--COD4, NCAA Football, basketball, all fun and amazing, but just not clicking for me. Then I heard of Civilization Revolution.About how good it was for novices. About how good it was as an introduction to turned-based strategy. About the fun! So I bought it. Paid full price for it (never did that before). And one night I started, and at 3 in the morning I knew I was in trouble. See, with turned-based games, the hook is "just one more turn". One more, that's all. I'll go to sleep after just one more. An hour later I look at my watch and groan, but, one more turn still beckons. I'm so tired I can barely see the screen, or read the dialog, but just one more is all that it will take. So consider this a cry for help and understanding. I'm addicted. But there's more to my confession. Going to Utah to see my new granddaughter and attend the BYU game I had a chance to separate myself from "The Game" for a week. But you know how addictions go. You start with small, simple indiscretions, but before long you're on the hard stuff. In secret, and before we even left on our trip, I had Civilization 3 for PC shipped to Devin and Carl's house. When the UPS man failed to deliver it (because we were away) I convinced everyone that we needed to find the UPS warehouse and pick it up. I needed a fix, and I needed it bad.So we did, and I got it, and I put it on my laptop, for "just a look" and at 3 in the morning JoAnn asked "what are you doing!" and I replied "just one more turn". I'm ashamed. I brought it into my little granddaughter's home! I violated their trust. But "just one more" overwhelms me and clouds my normal thinking. Now I'm at home and it's on my desktop and I can't stop. Sad. I want this to be a lesson to everyone who thinks "just once" won't hurt. Be afraid. It will. And then you'll be just like me, tuning out everyone, eating food in a fog, not sleeping, not talking. Oh the inhumanity of it! But there's hope. Last night I sat down for "just a little while" and after Jody asked a few times I actually turned off the computer. I walked away! I have control after all. I'm cured! I'm so much in control now I... just ordered Civ 4. This time it will be different. This time I'll set limits! I'll stop after an hour! I'll be good, I promise! And I hear that "Spore" is out now. A fun little game that begs for "just one more turn". Maybe I'll get that and prove to everyone that it's just a game. Yeah, that's what I 'll do. Now let's see...I think they sell it at the BX...

BYU/UCLA Heaven

My Son-in-law's blog post was so well written and expressed my feelings so well, I've copied it and repeated it here. Thanks Carl! All I can say is DITTO!

Saturday, September 13, 2008

59-0 Are you kidding me??!!

I know most of you probably missed the BYU - UCLA game so let me break it down for you. BYU scored, then scored again, and again, and again, and again, again, again, kicked a field goal, then scored again. Oh and if you are wondering what the big PAC 10 team UCLA did, well I believe they fumbled more than anything else. I got so sick last week when all ESPN could talk about was how lucky BYU was that the refs called that "crap" call against Washington. Nobody talked about the fact that BYU blocked the extra point. I am glad they came out with a vengeance and that it was against a good UCLA team that had beaten Tennessee two weeks ago. Take that Ute fans and everyone else that doubted the Cougars! Sorry but I just wanted to gloat a little and Devin's blog seemed like the perfect place.

A Beautiful Day

It's a beautiful day. Clear skies and the temperature is just right. I wanted to take a moment to reflect on 9-11. Devin was serving her mission in Venezuela and Jeffrey was on his mission in Guatemala at the time. I know they have their own stories about that day. Spencer called and said they were being called back into the office because at the time I believe they thought the planes were headed to LA. Everything was very confusing. Spencer told us to turn on the TV and that was a little before the second plane hit the second tower. Still no one was really sure what had happened. There was speculation that a small plane hit the tower but shortly after the second plane hit , we all knew something was up. We were glued to the TV for days. American flags started flying everywhere. I remember when Devin got home she was amazed at all the flags she saw and that was months after 9-11. I love this land and am thankful that I am an American. We have the freedom to worship where we want, to go where we want, and to do the things we want. It is truly a choice land. I am thankful for all the men and women who were there and who were heroes and unsung heroes. I think we will never know about some of them. May we live together in peace and enjoy each day as we love and serve those around us. God Bless America.

BYU or Bust

Dewey and Spencer decided a few years ago that they were going to make it to the opening BYU game every year. This year it was a family affair. Dewey, Paul, Buddy and I drove. Spencer and his family met us there.

We all converged on Devin, Carl and Hayden and their new condo.

Jeffrey is living in Salt Lake so he didn't have far to go.

We missed Brian and Flora being with us but the very next weekend Brian and Spencer flew up here to Washington to the BYU/Washington game. We still missed Flora.

The trip to Utah went smoothly. Buddy is a great traveler and so is Paul. When we got to Devin and Carl's Ella was there to greet Buddy and he was in seventh heaven the entire weekend.

He loves Ella and they play so good together.

(Since coming home I think he had been depressed--he sleeps a lot--he misses Ella.)

We went to Olive Garden with Devin, Carl and Hayden Friday night. Food was delicious. We took several boxes home with us. Hayden was darling. I had forgotten what it is like to go to dinner with an almost 7th month old. She gave Devin and me a really big surprise when we went to change her and that is all I will say about that. No we didn't take a picture.

Spencer and family arrived Saturday morning the 30th. Spencer always has to have a meal at Tucanos while in Provo. The only ones that wanted to go were Dewey, Spencer and Carl so they went before heading off to the game. That place is great. By the way the 30th was our 40th wedding anniversary. I stayed home with my grandchildren and all the big kids went and watched BYU beat Northern Iowa. Dewey and Spencer have to go way before everyone else. They watch the warm-ups, go to the pep rally, etc. They are crazy BYU fans. It was all good.

Brian and Flora had a beautiful bouquet of flowers delivered to Devin's for us. Happy Anniversary Dewey. I love you.

Forty years has gone by way too fast. It was a very good anniversary--Dewey got to go to a BYU football game and I got to spend time with my three grandchildren. We get a lot of alone time together everyday so really every day is a mini anniversary for us. It was 100 degrees on game day and by Monday morning we had a low in the forties. A great lightning and thunderstorm rolled through. I miss those kinds of storms. It cooled everything down.

Paul had fun going on a hike and doing some things while there.

The condos have a great indoor pool. I took the boys swimming a few times. I want a pool.

There's a wonderful bakery down the street and we bought lots of goodies.

We went to a produce stand and got some tomatoes, watermelon and corn. The best watermelon I have had all summer. YUM YUM.

Hayden got a highchair while we were there plus a bouncy bouncy. I got to feed her. I think she likes her highchair and I know she likes her bouncy bouncy.

She was introduced to an Einstein DVD and loves that too. She loves the remote control and knows how to use it. It must run in the family.

Hayden is growing fast.

Spencer and Connor kept her entertained. She loves her cousins. Speaking of Spencer and Connor--they are getting tall-very tall. Where are my babies????

Sunday was special. We all went to Devin and Carl's ward. A great Sunday School lesson. The combined Priesthood and Relief Society lesson was on emergency preparedness and food storage. Having so many adults there kept Hayden and the boys occupied. Paul walked around with Hayden during Sunday School. They both loved that. And Devin and Carl actually got to listen to the lesson.

There are certain things we like to do while in Provo and we accomplished all but getting a J-Dog. We love J-Dogs. You know it's the special sauce. Our weekend went fast but we had a great time.

I hope the condo is okay. It looked like we left it in one piece.

I have probably forgotten some things. We got a lot done though. Thanks Devin and Carl for being such gracious hosts. It was a wonderful weekend.

We love our family and enjoy being with them.