We are the Champions!

Danny's first year of Tackle football has resulted in the following:
1. SuperBowl Championship! They beat the only undefeated team in the league Saturday night in a hotly contested night game...9:00 pm kickoff, to secure first place.
2. A trip to the Pro-Bowl! This is the first of two All-star team games he gets to play in.
3. A wonderful learning experience, and many bruises, but overall, totally worth it.

The sweat smell of being #1!

BIG DAVIS (That's what they'd yell at him from the sideline.) and Coach Cobb!

All Star Jersey. Since he weighed in at over 120 pounds, he had to be a #90 jersey. Apparently, the All Star team has more than 10, 90 series players. First All Star game is tomorrow night!

My Boy Eric

So, I'm getting ready to take Danny to go see IRON MAN, a little quality Father/Son time together. This weekend is the Father/Son Camp Out but I have to be in Denton tomorrow at 6 am to help finish an install at one of my customers, so we will not be camping out.

(Whew! Dodged that bullet. I'm ALL for camping out, but here in Texas, it's 90 degrees and 70% humidity. Not to mention that "Camping Out" with church activities means pitching a tent in a pasture. That's just not "Camping Out".)

Anyway, so when I got back from Albertson's with some boxed candy for the movie, Jadi saw it and wanted some. I told her no, that's for Danny and me at the movie. Immediately, she's begging to come. Like the Seagulls in Finding Nemo: I want to go! I want to go! I want to go!

Sorry Sweetness, this is a Father/Son activity...Guys night out...Daddy/Danny time. She turns around, tucks her hair up behind her head, and in a deeper voice says "But I'm your son Eric. I want to go on the Father/Son movie night too."

It was pretty funny, but like any good comedian, she's got to take it to the next level. She pops into the den with a hat on, saying "Look Dad, this is Eric, I really want to go with you and Danny to see this movie."

Here he is, my Son Eric:



If it keeps me from having to buy any training bras for another couple of years, I'm all for it!

LDS or FLDS?

Recently with the debacle going on in Texas, there's been a lot of talk on the news and around the water cooler about "Those Damn Mormons!" My boss sent this to me and I think it sums up the differences between us, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and them, Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints...aka the Nutjobs in Texas. I apologize for the length, but I feel it's totally worth looking at.

Some Mormon Women Sing


Some Mormon Women Dance

Some Mormon Women write scary stories

Some Mormon Women have lots of money and REALLY GREAT HAIR.

I know hundreds of Mormon Women. They do all kinds of things, and live all kinds of different lives.

This woman served as a leader in the Mormon church. She recently spoke to teenage girls worldwide. She encouraged them to stand up to peer pressure, strengthen their families and serve others. (Click here for more.)

None of the Mormon Women I know look like this

None of them are marrying off their teenage daughters and none of them want to share their husband with anyone.

Furthermore...
Some Mormon guys can throw a ball...


Some Mormon guys yell at the ball.

Some Mormon guys make scary movies

Some Mormon guys have a lot of money and REALLY GREAT HAIR!


I know hundreds of Mormon guys. They do all kinds of different things and live all kinds of different lives.
This is one of the leaders of the Mormon church. On April 6, 2008 he spoke about honoring women, especially mothers, and gave advice to husbands and children about how to treat the women in their lives. (For the whole story, click here.)

None of the Mormon men I know look like this...

For any of my friends or family who'd like to know more about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, I'd be happy to discuss our beliefs with you.

Demise of a Digital Camera?

So, some of you may have heard that Carson dropped our digital camera into a tub full of bathwater. I took the battery out, and let it dry out for about 10 days, and it's working...mostly alright. Anyway, when I went to retrieve pictures from it, there were some interesting shots.


Here's Gracie, our second cat. Nice picture, but neither Melanie nor I took it. (There's a previously unknown accomplice...Jadi or Natalie.)

Now it appears that Carson has gotten a hold of the camera. Either that or his sisters thought this was his better side.

Next is a picture of Minnie, our third cat. Decent picture, not sure who took it. I'm thinking Carson, as the very next picture was this:

What could possibly go wrong here?

Nice dish floating in the water. Taken leaning over tub, looking down. Again, what could possibly go wrong?

The guilty party self portrait. Taken with the arms extended OVER THE TUB, camera facing back.
Not sure if this is the actual "OOPS" money shot or not. Blurriness could be caused by water distortion, or subject being too close to lens.
That's the next picture, followed by 4-5 blurry photos, where I'm sure Carson...or unknown accomplice was PRAYING that the camera was fine.
First picture taken after "drying out". I was pretty sure that it was done for. A few days later, started working better and we got this.

Melanie still thinks the camera is defective, as it appears to be distorting her image by a few pounds.

Kodak makes a pretty good camera.

Jadi's latest Soccer Game

Jadi had two games this week!
Monday night they lost. It was really cold, and I'm not sure any of the girls wanted to be out running around. Unusual for Texas in April, temp was in the low 50's with a cool wind blowing. The same time Jadi was playing soccer, Danny had a basketball game. There's a spring league put on by the High School Coach and Players. They're the coaches and officials. Danny's team lost, which he informed us was because the refs were cheating for the other team. (I think the refs may have been checking out the girls who came to watch the game.) I missed out on both games because I was losing a softball game across town.

I took Jadi to her soccer game last night, they played the very first team they played this season (4-1 loss) It was a very exciting game, scoreless through Halftime, good defense on both sides of the ball, girls passing and playing together. The other team finally scored with about 5 minutes remaining, and although we had 4 shots on goal, just couldn't slip one past the keeper. Our team has really improved since the first meeting, and we will see this team again...GO LADY LIGHTNING! I shot almost a whole roll of film. (See kids, before we had digital cameras, we had cameras that used film. Which after you took the pictures, you would put into a shoebox, wait 6-8 months, then take it to Costco, where they would print out double copies of each picture, whether you wanted it or not. Even if your eyes were closed, or it was blurry or someone was naked, you got copies of each picture, and you PAID for each picture.)

I should have those pictures posted to the Blog by Thanksgiving...Christmas at the latest.

When Melanie went to Oregon for Michael's sealing, I took Natalie and Carson to McDonald's one day. McDonald's Happy meals are running a Disney Princess / Pirate theme currently, and in Carson's Happy meal, he got a water/stick-on tattoo of Pirates of the Caribbean Skull and cross Swords. I put it on his arm. Now, almost two weeks later, it's still prominently displayed on his arm. He will lift is shirt up and Flex the Bicep for you to see his Ink. Again, pictures to follow by New Year's.

That's life as we know it.

TAGS

I know, it appears that I'm caving on the whole "Tagging" thing. Actually, I couldn't think of anything funny to post, so I'm going to answer Valerie's Tag.

Jobs I've Had:
City Plywood (Ages 12-24 Summers and when not in college.)
Subway (1 semester.)
Barnes & Noble
PrimeSource (Outside Sales Building Products)
Aiken-Ford Lumber (Lumber Broker)
PrimeSource (Sales Mgr., Outside Sales)
Praxair (Territory Manager)

All the Places I've Lived
Bell, California
Carson City, Nevada
Provo, Utah
El Paso, Texas
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Farmington, New Mexico
Freemont, California
Eugene, Oregon
San Jose, California
Wylie, Texas

4 Favorite Movies
Star Wars Series, although the first 3 hold a special place in my heart.
Braveheart
Blues Brothers
Indian Jones Series (4th one comes out in May!!!)

4 Favorite Foods
In-N-Out Burgers
Mexican
Italian
Thai

4 Weird Things About Me
I like to pick my nose.
I can’t do any household remodel, repair, or construction in general, without swearing.
I LOVE teasing my kids.
According to my in-laws…I’m a Pervert. (If your spouse’s family/extended family are prudish…you become the Pervert by default.)

4 Favorite TV Shows
The Big-Bang Theory (You've got to check it out!)
BattleStar Galactica (New version on Sci-Fi channel.)
New Amsterdam
Dexter

4 Places I'd Love to Go
Alaska (Cruise)
Tahiti
Holland (I'd like to see the tulips.)
Disney Land (It is the HAPPIEST place on Earth.)

Yeah, this post should get some interesting comments.
Just remember, I LOVE my In-Laws. My Mother-in-law is not nearly as prudish as people think she is. Last time they visited, she brought me some Kama Sutra Honey Dust...and told me "This stuff is great for a romantic weekend. Kent and I tried some and Loved it."

For a picture see link below.

http://www.boutiqueromantica.com/images/kshoneydust_350x230.jpg

Detailed Description

Kama Sutra Honey Dust secrets a gentle surprise with every kiss proferring a taste of nature's sweetest gift. This sensuous, edible powder is made with pure, natural honey, one of ancient India's most prized skin conditioners. Dust it on yourself and your lover, leaving a silky-soft glow, a delicate fragrance and a irresistible taste. Includes an air-tight canister, a satin pouch filled with powder and a handmade feather applicator designed to tickle more than your imagination. A delicately sweet sprinkling of pure, natural honey.

With that one gift, she instantly achieved "Coolest Mother-in-Law in the World" status.

Crazy pictures

Some of you who have never seen our Christmas card won't understand the Austin Powers pic I chose for my photo. No, I don't have an alter ego that is Austin Powers, we have a family tradition of taking our Halloween photo and using it in our Christmas letter. The good news is we have unique Christmas pictures / letters. The bad news is we don't have a single "Traditional-in -your-Sunday-Best" family picture in our house. It started back in 2000 when Danny wanted to be Peter Pan for Halloween.

So, Danny was Peter Pan, Jadi was Tinkerbell, Melanie was Princess Tiger-Lilly and I was a Pirate.

Next came 2001 or the year of the Davis Farm. The people at the photography location (I can't remember JC Penny's or Sears.) really thought it was funny.

This is also one of two Family portraits we have with Brynn, the second is a different pose, same costumes.

In 2002 we celebrated College Football, and cheered on our FAVORITE team, BYU!

In 2003, we announced the arrival of the newest Princess, even though we dressed her as a Jester, she's definitely ALL PRINCESS.

If the year is 2004 and you live in the GREATEST STATE in the Country, TEXAS, you have a Cowboy-Themed card. Especially when you now have TWO NATIVE TEXANS in the family!


In 2005, we decided to let the world know we're an Incredible Family.


2006 one of our favorite movies was "Pirates of the Caribbean" so naturally our picture included a bunch of ARRR Pirates.


Last year, we went with the Austin Powers theme, just because it was so much fun to make our boys Dr. Evil and Mini-me.


So, that's a trip down memory lane, and now you know why I enjoy having that Austin Powers photo...it reminds me of great family memories.

Soccer

So, last night Jadilyn had a make-up soccer game. (One was canceled due to rain.) They WON! 6-0. She was very excited! Melanie forgot the camera, so no photos to attach. The game was at 7:30 pm, and I had a Softball game at 9:30 pm so I missed the game! It was a late night at our house, getting the kids to bed, and I got home about 11:15. By the time I got showered, and did some whites (I hate being out of underwear.) it was 12:30. I could hear Carson with a really croupy sounding cough. I woke Melanie up to see when/if she'd given him medicine already, she hadn't and she said check his temp. (We're not sure if he's outgrown the Febroral Seizures yet. Sorry Matt if I totally butchered that but huked on foniks werks four me.) He was burning up!

After dosing him with Robitussin and Children's Motrin, we were trying to cool him down, we didn't want another seizure/visit to the hospital. He REALLY didn't like the cold damp towel on his warm little body, and was fighting us. So, to distract him, I asked him about Jadi's soccer game. He didn't have a lot to say about that but the following conversation ensued. (Carson's in bold.)

Do you want to play soccer like Jadi?
"Yes I wanna play Soccer."
Do you want to play Basketball like Danny?
"No...Soccer."
You'd rather play soccer than Basketball?
"Yes, Soccer." (Keep in mind, he's got a fever, so we can't rule out basketball.)
Soccer or Basketball?
"Soccer"
Soccer or Baseball?
"Soccer"
Soccer or Football?
"Soccer"
Soccer or Ice Hockey?
"Ice Hockey"
Do you know what Ice Hockey is?
"No"
Soccer or Basketball?
"Soccer"
Soccer or Going Fishing with Poppa?
"Go fishing with Poppa"
"Where's Poppa?"
Carson City, Nevada.
"Why"
That's where he lives.
"Where's the fish?"
In the rivers.
"Why?"
That's where they live.
Go fishing with Poppa or Bake Cookies with Grandma?
"Cookies with Grandma."

Sorry Poppa, cookies with Grandma Trumps EVERYTHING.

But it looks like we'll have three playing soccer next season: Jadi, Natalie, and Carson.

Sleeping in on Saturday's?

I got a call this morning at 7:30 am, (Normally I'd have been playing Basketball, but since it was canceled, I was enjoying sleeping in.) inviting me to go play football with the youth in our ward. So, I woke Danny up, and we dressed in some expendable clothing, and went to play with the boys. The next oldest person there was my friend who'd invited me...26. Surprisingly, he and I were the only two not complaining about being tired. Either the youth in our ward are REALLY out of shape, or at 38 I can still hold my own on the Gridiron. Our youth are more dire in need of an exercise program than anyone in the great State of TEXAS. The upside, Danny had a ball, wants me to buy him cleats, and is considering going out for Football this Fall! Guess we'll be going next Saturday too. (I'm taking a camera to include pictures next time.)

Jadilyn had another Soccer game today. She played hard, but their yeoman's effort was to no avail, they lost by a touchdown. (No, I'm not confusing Soccer and Football, the final score was 7-1.) The highlight of the game was Carson...he had one sandal (Left) on his right foot, and one of Natalie's old Disney Princess Tennis Shoes (Left) on his left foot. We got a lot of comments about his choice of footwear.

Afterward, Melanie took Jadilyn and Natalie shopping for church clothes. Good Girl time, Danny Carson and I went to the Library and then home. I was teasing Carson about it being NAP time when we got home. I went outside to work with Josie on FETCH (Somehow, my children have helped Josie "Unlearn" that game.) and when I came back inside looking to feed the boys, Carson wasn't around. "Danny where's Carson?" "He climbed in his crib and took a nap, because you told him it was nap time." Why doesn't he listen to me like that ALL THE TIME?

Okay, I'm caving. Here are the answers to Kristin's TAG.

1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME (first pet, current car): Casey Rover

2. YOUR GANGSTA STAR (favorite ice cream flavor, favorite type of shoe): Lots Birkenstock.

3. YOUR NATIVE AMERICAN NAME (favorite color, favorite animal): Blue Dog

4. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME (middle name, city where you were born): Mark Lynwood

5. YOUR STAR WARS NAME (first three letters of your last name, first two letters of your first name): DavSt

6. SUPERHERO NAME (2nd favorite color, favorite drink): Green Henry Weinhard’s RootBeer

7. NASCAR NAME (the names of your grandfathers): Otie-Ray. (Seriously, have you ever heard of a NASCAR driver named William Robert or Robert Joseph? No, they're all Billy-Bob and Bobby-Joe.)

8. TV WEATHER ANCHOR NAME (your 5th grade teacher's last name, a major city that starts with the same letter): Garret Galveston (You stay Sexy Galveston)

9. SPY NAME (your favorite season/holiday, favorite flower): Fall Star-Gazer Lilly

10. CARTOON NAME (favorite fruit, article of clothing you are wearing right now): Pineapple Socks

11. HIPPIE NAME (what you ate for breakfast, your favorite tree): Bacon & Eggs Sequoia

I think that my favorite is the Hippie Name...Bacon & Eggs Sequoia...TAKE THAT YOU VEGAN SOCIALISTS! Speaking of Hippies, Vegans and Socialists...I TAG Margaret and Rachael, my Sister-In-Laws who are surrounded by Hippies, Vegans and Socialists living in "The People's Republic of Eugene"

Later.

Easter Woes

So, another Easter has come and gone, it's now Thursday, and I think the kids are FINALLY off the Sugar-High! Grandma Davis sent some See's Candy, which the Easter Bunny found and put into each child's basket...what a waste of premium chocolate on underdeveloped palates. Seriously, Jadi actually gave up her Bordeaux Chocolate Egg because she "Didn't like it." Oh well, more for Melanie and me. (Melanie actually lost out on hers, apparently when all the other candy is eaten, underdeveloped palates will scrounge for any thing chocolate. She actually accused me of eating her Bordeaux egg...wish I'd thought of doing that and blaming Carson.)


Why can't kid's just look through there baskets? Halloween, Easter, Christmas it's always the same...Dump everything out on the floor and spread it around. That's okay with Christmas stockings, and Halloween pumpkins, all the candy is wrapped. When you do that with Easter Candy (Chocolate, Robin's Eggs, Jelly Beans, Peeps...they all end up stuck in the carpet! We actually saw Carson grinding a Robin's egg into the carpet with his foot...apparently Malted Milk Balls make a cool sound when you squish them. This is one of the signs that you're getting old...you're more worried about the carpet than the candy stash.

Grandma Hansen had a Birthday on the24th...I called her on the 25th to wish her Happy Belated Birthday. (She's not my Mom, calling the Day after's pretty good. Especially since neither of her own Daughter's bothered to call her on her special Day. Shame on you Melanie and Karen.) Anyway, she said she was feeling OLD. I told her "Hey, 39's not OLD...wait a minute...Sorry Ludene, you can't claim 39 anymore...you're Daughter will be 39 this year." (See, I know how to sweet-talk the Mother-in-Law.)

Kristin "Tagged" me on her blog...what the hell is that? One of your goofy friends asks you a bunch of humiliating questions, and you're not only silly enough to answer them, you actually expect others to answer them and share in your humiliation? Shaw, and Monkeys will fly out of my butt. (The only thing wrong with that last statement is that in order to have monkey fly out of your butt, they have to have somehow gotten into your butt...DON'T GET AN IMAGE! DON'T GET AN IMAGE! DON'T GET AN IMAGE! Aw crap, too late.)

My sister Valerie had to go in for an emergency Gall Bladder-ectomy. She's now officially in the Club! Yeah Valerie! She should be released from Hospital tomorrow, and she's doing much better. Yeah Valerie...Quick Kristin "TAG" her! Her answers while in a drug induced state will be REALLY funny.

Actually, Kristin probably won't be doing any Blogging for awhile, she's been watching Valerie's Boys (Owen and Will) along with Her boys (Andrew, Caleb, Issac, Adam) for those of you not keeping track that's SIX boys all under the age of 7. Maybe Valerie should save some of the pain pills for Kristin...she might need them.

Seriously, thoughts and prayers go out to Valerie and Rob. Way to go the extra mile Kristin. Love you both.

That's life as we know it.

Carson's World

So, Carson has been doing speech therapy for about 8 months now, working to help him improve pronunciation. (Basically making it possible for the rest of us to understand him better.) His speech and dialect have improved vastly over what it was, but he did have some cute sayings, and I wanted to get some of them written out Phonetically before we forget the good ones.

Mo-ha-o: Motorcycle
Lolly: Natalie
Tar(s): Car(s)
Take: Cake
Hate Naps: Father, I am not tired at the moment and would prefer to stay up to enjoy the restful relaxation afforded me through quality play time with my siblings, thus preparing me to handle the real life experiences I will encounter when I have achieved a sufficient maturity.

Spring Break has been an interesting week at our house. On Tuesday it started raining early in the morning, and finally stopped sometime early Wednesday. When it was all said and done we'd received 5.75 inches. Melanie has decided there's no way she could live in the Pacific Northwest ever again...one day of rain with 4 kids and no school...she was climbing the walls!

Interesting facts I learned this week about ipods: (For those of you who've enjoyed your ipod for the previous 10 years or so, you may want to skip the following wide-eyed enthusiasm for the discovery of the obvious.)

1. The church website has the scriptures in mp3 format you can download for FREE. (Here I thought I was going to have to buy the stander works on CD, upload to my computer and then sync with ipod...pshaw!) Warning: Old Testament is almost 900 mb.
2. Podcasts: General Conference and the Ensign are available via the podcast doohickey through itunes store...also FREE! Search under lds. (Warning, some podcasts that come up under searching lds are from the ANTI's. Seriously, who has time and energy to devout to a podcast subscription knocking somebody's faith...oh wait, Mike Huckabee does now.) The Ensign podcast gives you an article a day for the month until you have all the complete magazine for the current month.
3. Downloading books on cd...actually uploading to itunes so you can sync with ipod for later use, takes a long time. (Sidenote: If you're going to do this with audio books you check out from Library...DON'T. Forget about copyright issues, there's too many dumbasses that have checked these things out and scratched the discs...which you won't find out about until you're 10 discs into an upload (That's 10 out of the full 16 discs.) of "Fellowship of the Ring" Needless to say, Tolkien is not on my ipod.
   

Where else but on your ipod can you have the doctrines of salvation, and eternal principals as readily accessible as the "Devil's Music" even Rock and Roll. The dichotomy of being able to listen to the words of the prophets one moment, and then hear "Sympathy for the Devil" by Mick and the boys, then watch the complete Die Hard series...it boggles the mind.

That's life as we know it.

So, a couple of weeks ago, I got into the '90's and bought an ipod. Now all of my spare time has been spent at the computer "ripping" my cd collection to the computer and uploading to the ipod. While the ripping has taken place, I've had time to catch up with my sisters blogs. Some of them are very funny but I was disheartened to learn that one has to have a blog in order to leave a comment on a blog. With the introduction of the ipod, I've got some time on my hands between changing discs, so here is my entry into blogdom.

You'll notice the first picture on my blog is titled my 6th baby. It's a .45 caliber Kimber Warrior...I have one just like it. (I didn't want my blog to be too girly.) When Melanie asked me why I bought it, I told her "I have Daughters, I will need this one day." Not that I actually plan on shooting anybody, but I will have to put the fear of DEATH into a number of hormonal teenage boys starting in about 7 years.

A month or so after Jadilyn turned 9, she asked Melanie "So, when am I going to get boobs?" This comment was followed by Natalie (Not yet 5) asking "Yeah, when am I going to get boobs and how big will mine be?" LA LA LA LA I'M NOT LISTENING. Honestly, what Father wants to think about that?

Apparently, Jadi is traumatized by having to clean her room. Because she's so artistic, she expressed her anger in a picture outlining the inhumanity and injustice...I'm going to try and post a copy of it tonight.


Danny is halfway through a 2 week grounding he received for spray painting the tires on our Suburban. He also is doing extra chores around the house to cover the cost of paint remover, and new paint for the garage trim and one pillar out front. Melanie was concerned that he's acting out because of social problems at school...he's almost 12. The hormones are kicking in, and the IQ is dropping. I think I've got another 3-4 years of just general Non-thinking due to hormonal imbalances. He should be through it about the time Jadi has her own set of moody hormones arrive...if I'm lucky. I don't think that will be the case though...her's will probably arrive in 2 years.

Natalie got to call both Grandparents yesterday, she was traumatized from being shot in the chin by a BB gun. Both her brothers are responsible, Danny loaded the gun, and Carson pulled the trigger. (Again, witness the aforementioned Non-thinking due to hormonal imbalances.) It didn't even break the skin, and she's perfectly fine, but getting to rat out her brother(s) to her Grandparents made her feel better.

Just a typical day at our house.
That's life as we know it.