Thomas the Ham

I was walking through Watson Park with Scott and Thomas this weekend before Parker's 5th grade PEGS picnic got underway. Parker is fortunate enough to have been in a 'Program for the Exceptionally Gifted' in 2nd grade. We were thankful to have found the program, as we didn't have any other option but to have him skip a few grades, which seemed a little crazy. Anyway, as we walked past some boys playing frisbee golf, I took this video clip with our new camera. (I'm so excited that the little camera takes HD video! And in a format that my computer recognizes on an SD card) I'm especially glad, because I am enabled to pick up the camera and get funny clips like this one. It shows what a ham my little Thomas is. He came up with this weird voice and crazy story about the tree throwing the disc when he saw that he was on video. Such a ham. Enjoy! :)

Cardinal Night with the Boys!!!!




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I took my boys to a Cardinals vs. Diamonbacks on Friday with tickets from my work partner, Brent. It was the first game this year that we've been to, and probably the second time that all 3 boys have been to a game together. Thomas couldn't remember the last one very well, so I think it was back in 2007. Anyway, it was a very nice game. In the 3rd inning Pujols hit his first homerun of the night. I started to cheer with my boys, then leaned over to Thomas and yelled "Wow, Thomas! That was the first homerun you'll remember, and it was Albert Pujols!" He looked at me really funny, like I was a little crazy. Later, he told me that I was yelling in his ear too loud, and that I was spitting food on him. Unfortunately, instead of the homerun, he will remember me looking like someone with too many nachos in his mouth to be cheering and yelling.

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Of course, I will remember him as spilling most of the condiments of his over-sized hotdog and he devoured most of it in two minutes. The kid is a serious carnivore! We haven't had an eater like this kid. Our grocery bill is about to double compared to 3 years ago, thanks Tommy's devouring skills.

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Scott was very enthusiastic until the 7th inning. Unfortunately, he also dropped ice down the back of the man in front of us while I was on the phone about an emergency patient. When I apologized, he said "That's fine, but could you tell him to stop kicking my chair?" He loved the game, but may have loved going up and down on his seat more!
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I have the homerun hit on film!

Last Day of Utah Vacation

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This is my Darth Thomas.  He licked his lips too many times, and so his fearsome look lost a little of it's bite, but you get the idea.  Very scary and intimidating!

Love this little clown!  Can you tell he's trying not to smile?


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Parker has spotted an unknown object yonder the lake.  I think he actually wanted me to try to take pictures of the insects above the lake.  


He is supposed to be 'fire boy'.  BTW, the kids had their faces painted at the Hogan Family reunion while I was in San Diego.  I missed the reunion, but loved being greeted by these fearsome creatures.


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And here the swamp thing has crawled out of it's dark, watery home to steal some chips and a hot dog.  Scotty posed more than the other boys.  He loves playing pretend, in fact, I think he is in the pretend world more than the real world, so maybe I should say, he sometimes plays 'real world' for us long enough accomplish certain tasks, before going back to his own.  Love it!

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Yes, I married up.  That's why my kids are so cute.  My wife is wonder-woman.  If you have met her, you already know this.  If not, call us up.  We'll do a latte!  That is, a hot-chocolatte milk.  Lisa IS a Cho-Co-Holic, and is going to start the 12 step program for cutting back on dark chocolate.  


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The boys loved being with their cousins, the Whites (Missy's kids) and Joey's kids (McDermotts) who have been in England for some years now.  Although you can't tell what they look like here, this is Wesley, Scott, Jackson, Parker, and Thomas, all with light sticks UP their nose or near their noses.  So hygienic!  

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Green glowing Scott.  They always love these kinds of pictures. 




















Techno - Parker, tweaked w. Photoshop. 

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We thought they'd never start - but there WERE fireworks!  The last thing we saw before going to sleep, then flying back home to St. Louis!

Bountiful Folk Concert In The Park

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Lisa and I sang in Bountiful at a small Folk Music Concert put on by Michael Murphy, my previous guitar instructor and owner of Murphy's Guitars in Bountiful. He has been singing my original version of 'Gus' for 18 years now, and I am amazed that his most requested song at his various gigs remains that silly little song about a poor little chipmunk that got 'run over by the bus'. SO, long story short, we have similar versions of the song, but they are different enough that we had fun demonstrating how the song had changed. In the picture above (that I obviously toyed a bit with on Photoshop), we are singing the song that I proposed to Lisa with, or my spoof of "Kissed By a Rose on the Grey". Good thing Lisa was there to sing with me, otherwise it would have been moderately bad. Since I tend to write songs that are at or above my vocal range, Lisa kicks in her incredible voice even louder when my goes to a whisper (or soft screach).

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So I was thankful Mike put this concert together. This is the 3 of us doing Gus.

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Now let me tell you about my idol from Timpview High, Holly Anderson Robbins. She was one of the best in a very competitive drama program, and definately the funniest. We reconnected through Facebook some time ago, and I saw her playing guitar in one of her pictures. I was intrigued immediately, because I could only imagine how far Holly potentially would go with music, if she was half as serious about her songs as she was about her drama competitions. She was INCREDIBLE. If you are reading this Holly, you WERE the star of the show! Man, I can't wait for your CD to come out! Lisa agreed full heartedly, and we both can't wait to go to her concert someday (when we are in Utah). :) Her concert information can be found at: http://hollyrobbins.blogspot.com

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So does reconnecting with friends go on my top 10 favorite things to do list? You better believe it!

I hadn't seen Holly for 18 years. I was the little freshman that was amazed by her when she was a Senior back at Timpview. At the concert she mezmorized the crowd completely, just like she used to do back in '89. Incredible performance! And we only got to do a handful of songs. More songs next time Holly! :)

That night I reconnected with SO many dear friends, I'm only sorry that we only got pictures of a few! I saw Amy Hoagland, The Crandalls (Linda, Lance, and Shane(my previous neighbors in Provo for years)), Tiffanie Knetch (?), Jen Zaugg Jensen, Matt and Jenny Asay (Orem friends) with two beautiful daughters, Kam and Tami Fillmore with Nena, Max, and probably the rest, half of MY family, including my kids, Missy with her kids, Chrissy with hers, my parents, Lisa's Mom and sister LeAnn, and niece on her side, Robyn Halter, Amy Stout DeLaMare, Reid Holbrooks nieces who i hadn't seen for 8 years, Scott and Kory Wakefield from Logan, Thayne and Kristel Wheeler from Woodscross (both the above couples were best friends in California during my USC Orthodontics residency. Scott is the illustrator of Woodchuck Chuck, a book that I published, and sold for the first time after the concert (below).


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Michael Murphy sold me my first and second set of 6-strings, then told me as I purchased it that I could take lessons from him at Viewmont High as one of my classes. I'm SO glad that I wasn't the work-aholic that I am today, or I would have thought "I already have Show Choir and Senior Choir, and Drama, how can I possibly add another fun class?" My Senior year was FUN, and I still took my AP Biology and AP English classes very seriously. As for Math with John Wadsworth, that was a different story (poor Mr. Wright).


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So the link to buy the books is here (click!)
You can order it at the same site: http://www.scottjwakefield.com/
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Here is my brother-in-law Thomas, with one of my nieces. He is next to the painting Scott whipped up overnight before the Art Festival in Logan a week or two earlier. Not bad for something he began at 11pm after playing basketball for 2 hours! I can promise you that I can't write that late, even if I COULD play basketball.
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This is my 'little brother'. Lance Crandall, and his family (below) were our neighbors in Provo from 1977-1989! I was buddies with all of them. Lance and I had a special bond since he was the oldest, therefore we had the most in common, and he also plays some very mean guitar himself. i was SO charmed that his beautiful daughter was batting eyes at me and giving me hugs, telling me that she loved my songs and my book. :) I almost took her home.

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Father and Sons Campout

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Thomas is as silly as ever! He had so much fun with all the activity, he was asleep by 9 p.m.
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!
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Parker was the first to get soaked! All three were soaked by the time we packed up the next morning, as we got rained out! :) Parker was asleep in second place, by 9:45pm. My boys wake up REALLY early.

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Here Scott demonstrated his skill with glowing warrior paint. The crazy kid! He broke his light stick by bending it a million times, and them DUMPED the contents onto himself!!! That's my buddie. He was awake until after 11pm. :) I stayed up and played guitar until 12:30pm, took a nap today, and now it's 12:40! I better get to sleep.
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GOODNIGHT!
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Dear Friends from Orthodontic School

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It was SO nice to meet up with my old classmates and their spouses in Boston at the recent American Assoc. of Ortho (AAO) Conference early this month. Jerry and Julie Johnson on the left are out in the Seattle area. He is business partners with the classmate (Sigfreid Naumann) of my current business partner(Brent Bankhead). What's more, he was the main competition for my other business partner (Darren Rodabough), who used to live in the same town! There's more connections, but I'll save them for another blog. Jerry and Julie have 5 kids (which includes two sets of twins). In the middle is Monty Richard Curtis, who we all know as Richard, and his wife Allyson. They ALSO have twins! Crazy? He's buying out an orthodontist in Southern California. If you go back to January, you'll see one of my other 5 classmates by the name of Paul Upatham, and his sweet wife An. We missed Paul, Dan, and our token female resident Cheryl Berkmann, who just had her second child.
We always make it a point to get together at the conference every year.
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Boston by 'Duck'

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We were lucky enough to have a hilarious tour guide for our "duck tour". In this shot Parker is taking the wheel in Boston Harbor. I wasn't able to sit next to Lisa and Parker, but had a fun time making friends with another LDS family that was at the convention from Ceader Hills - The Arnolds. Parker was not enthusiastic about the tour until it started, from that moment on he had a blast. The tour guide was the 'guru' of the duck experience. I don't plan to see the Mike Meyers movie "Love Guru", but that was the idea. AS was the case in New York this year for the Orthodontist as CEO meeting, there were Orthodontic tourists everywhere. There are quite a few of us when we all get together.

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This is right outside the Ocean Aire restaurant. Behind Parker is one of the major tourist sites along the 'Freedom Trail' in Boston - the British Govenors Mansion, best known as the site of the Boston Massacre, which took place on the other side of the buidling.

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I LOVE Samuel Adams! This is the church that was PACKED the night of the Boston Tea Party. At his signal, 100 or so men dressed in blankets and black 'indian' paint let the British know what we really thought of the taxation without representation. On my last evening in Boston I was alone, as Lisa and Parker went home ahead of me, and the flight I was SUPPOSED to take was 'having engine problems' (or more likely just not full enough for AMERICAN AIRLINES). I must say, I didn't mind. In fact, I went back for round TWO at the Ocean Aire, where I made MORE orthodontic friends, and then wandered along the Freedom Trail in the misty rain. I made it all the way to the beginning of the 'Trail' which includes the gravesite of Samuel Adams, James Otis, and Benjamin Franklin. Unfortunately I didn't have the camera, although it was nice to have the evening to myself with nothing to distract me from the expereince.

I did Boston 5 years ago when the Graduate Orthodontic Resident Program (Party) was held at Harvard. At that time I skipped many of the classes to drink in Bostons history. Loved it both times.


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