O Holy Tooth!

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Thomas lost his first tooth on Saturday. He asked me to pull it out, so I did.
He woke me up at 2:00 am to tell me the tooth fairy hadn't come.
I assured him that the tooth fairy doesn't come that early, and i was RIGHT!
He awoke to 5 quarters on his bed.
I guess she had no bills on her!

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Happy Birthday Sweetheart!

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It was my dearest friend's birthday this week - my wife Lisa was born 37 years ago to a family of seven girls.  Though I know it was a terrible surprise to her mother at the time, as most of her sisters were born in the 50's, she blessed their lives throughout her childhood and teenage years beyond imagination, and has filled my life with bliss for nearly 14 years.  Although it was understandably a different experience for her, it was not only love at first sight for me, it was utter amazement that such a creature existed!  I had no idea that good fortune would smile upon me enough to get a date with the darling woman, but the unbreakable spell that inspired every ounce of courage, creativity, and hope wasn't cast until she sang for me.  It was our first date, and part of the date requirement.  My good friend Earl Gage, who was in the first Vocal Point group at BYU, and I sang to our dates, and then we said "It's your turn".  She didn't hesitate for even a fraction of a moment!  She hopped up on the fountain in the Tanner Building and broke into song.  Although she was far from interested in me at the time, she still looked me in the eyes while she sang.  I fell so deeply into that spell that I will never recover from it's effects, neither do I want to. 

Yesterday she gave me some vocal lessons, as we were singing a rather difficult piece (for me) at a church function, and I hadn't seen the piece before that day.  She was patient, persistent, and to my surprise, successful!  At least considering the amount of time invested in the voice lesson, she had me sounding SO much better that I ran over to the bookshelf and pulled out Les Miserables.  I felt like Marius!  I know I didn't sound like HIM, but it was reMARKably more Marius sounding than I had ever sounded.  A pity it didn't last until the church function, but there was a new hope.  

On Friday night she sang, upon my volunteering her in a way not unsimilar to our first date, for our entire company team and their spouses.  She sang like a lark in front of more than 60 of our employees and their spouses.  She sang 'What Child is This?' acapella in such a sweet tones that it's been requested that she do that every year as part of the practice Christmas party tradition.  

And so you know that from the beginning, when I first learned that her voice is intoxicating, until just yesterday night, music has played an important part of our relationship.  And even if she were to lose her voice and her beautiful looks, and even her ability to walk and talk, she would still have me wrapped around her finger forever.  This life is too short to not fully appreciate how I've been so blessed by God through one individual.  It's all Lisa.  I'd do it again a million times.  She hears from me at least once a week the phrase that I can't stop saying: "Thank you for marrying me!"  It's just that it all turned out SO much better than I expected.  

Happy Birthday Lisa!  (And I was only getting started)  

I love you more than my life - or better said, you ARE my life!

The Tooth Fairy Lives!!!

Lisa was HILARIOUS as the tooth fairy.   It wouldn't be fair to take credit for the idea, as everyone assumed it was.  In California we first saw this done by Sister Darlene Robinson in the La Canada II ward.  Although our version lacked the magic wand and happy, twilkle-twinkle music/sound effects (not to mention the free toothpaste), Lisa gave toothbrushes with each treat.  The BEST part was the Lisa was SO sweet to the children that some of them actually seemed to believe that she WAS the toothfairy.  She had ME half-way there as the hour got later.
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SEE!  SEE what I mean?  She was twinkly!  She made this outfit in no less than 20 minutes, and yet she BECAME the tooth fairy!  She had me decorate the trunk with a red fleece (for the inside of the mouth) and red pillow for the tongue.  The teeth were made without much thought, so please don't look too closely.  Lisa's outfit came from an earlier Wilma (Flintstones) outfit, and some wings made from two hangers wrapped in white trash bags.  I thought they would look like, well, trash bags, but they were GREAT!  Leave it to my sweetheart to be the life of the party by totally getting into her part for the kids.  I was boring, and played the part of the dad who was content to show up as the photojournalist.  

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My boys traded their Star Wars outfits in, and went as a robot (Scott), Pikachu (Thomas), and an Alien without it's mask (Parker).  I haven't confiscated all the dum-dums, Tootsie-pops, and other terrible candy this year like I usually do.  They've been brushing for up to 4 minutes with the new toothbrush they have now: it shows their progress on a wireless digital screen on the mirror that turns happy when they are done, then SUPER happy when they brush even longer.  It's losing it's effect, but was going strong last week when their teeth got the most candy.  Ok, so I'm part tooth fairy too.  I do the undercover work.


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Paintball Pleasures and Pain

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Seriously, this was awesome! I came back with big bruises on my torso and arms from getting pelted, but it was WAY better than any other sport I've attempted. This was in August, so we were sweating it in the Missouri humidity still. Scott Sampson, the man who lived true to his name, won most of the games, coming out without a bit of paint or pain. My courageous rampages occasionally resulted in severe pain to the hands and waist. Next time I'll wear something to protect my gut. OUCH!

Lego Paradise

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OK, so my dear friends in Columbus, Ohio will kill me when they know I was there without them knowing, but we were only there for 2 days with my sister!!! Ok, guilt, guilt, guilt, but there just wasn't time enough to bond with them.

That said, we had a blast with Spencer, Amy, and the cousins.  Here are some shots from Legoland in Easton.  We finally have enough large legos to make a house!  We own zillions of spaceship legos, nothing to build UPWARD, only OUTWARD, so the kid in me was let loose in the store that let you buy them by the bucket! 
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