Christmas Shopping

The last few weeks Christmas shopping has been a frequent activity. Nikki and I even got up the day after Thanksgiving and battled fellow shoppers for the door-buster items. I think they should have a yearly reality-TV special covering Wal-Marts and Best-Buys around the country. It really is insane and everybody should see it at least once. Most people don't feel like getting up early on a day off and going out in the bitter cold (in our case) so that's why a TV special is in order. I mean that is what most reality TV is about, right? showing people in their worst form. For some reason, Black Friday brings out this competitive survival instinct. Yeah, everybody acts like your buddy when your standing in line. Some people are even forming alliances. "If you pick me up a GPS navigator I'll grab you a portable DVD player." But then the store opens and all respect and courtesy for other people is left at the door. At that point you are on your own...it's every man for himself. One year Nikki and I saw a lady with a walker go up to the front of the line just before the doors opened. It didn't bother the hundred people standing in line until the doors opened and she ditched the walker and ran for the sock bin. Surely, if that was caught on tape it would draw good TV ratings.

This week Nikki and Hayden were shopping for a gift for Grandpa. Nothing says "Merry Christmas Grandpa!" like some martial arts weapons. They went to the store to buy him a pair of Samurai swords. To Hayden's disappointment, all the swords were gone, but he didn't let it discourage him for long. "I guess we'll just have to get him a Karate suit." Grandpa in a Karate suit? Now that would get great TV ratings.

Love,
Brikki

Dinosaur Museum

We took a short trip this past week after we picked up Nikki from the airport. Nikki went back to Ridgecrest where we lived in CA to sell the Scensy candle warmers at a big Christmas fair with her friends. We picked her up from the airport on Tuesday and stayed a couple of nights in Park City. On Tuesday night we went to Temple Square to see the lights and the visitor center's. Wednesday we went to the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point in Lehi. That place was pretty cool. They had a lot of hands-on exhibits for kids.

Thursday we got to see Grandma and Grandpa Dyer who are serving a mission at the Family History Library. Then we headed for home.

It looked harmless...

...but then it attacked Nikki.

Mom and Hayden uncovering bones at the dig site.

Here's our little Chick Magnet:

Dad and Hayden making a dam to later create a flash flood and bury a family of dinosaurs:

Love,

Brikki

Super Powers

Kids say the darndest things. I think that is one of the main purposes of this blog is to document all the crazy things that come out of our kid's mouths. It is so easy to laugh and then forget a few days later (except for a few of the classics that I will post someday), but if these gems are written down as they are dropped on us, eventually we'll have a nice little collection of family humor. Of course, they probably won't be as amusing to you as they are to us so including them here is probably as much for us as anybody.


Hayden is into super heroes and their special powers. The other day he asked Nikki if he could go to the power store and get some powers. He wanted to pick up some shrinking powers and some flying powers. Can you imagine a store that sells super powers? You think Wal-Mart is crazy on Black Friday, what if on the morning after Thanksgiving they had "Buy Invisibility get X-Ray Vision Free!"


Last week in Sacrament meeting Hayden was getting a little rambunctious during the Sacrament so I told him this was a time to be quiet and think about Jesus. A few moments later I noticed he was sitting there doing a pretty good job and he looked up at me and said, "I'm thinking about Jesus coming over to my house to play games." I'm sure He'd love a round of Jenga, Guess-Who, or Candyland.


Love,
Brikki

Hungry Hippos and Gumballs

The most challenging thing we have done as parents thus far was to potty train Hayden. It was and epic battle of wills that brought both parties to tears on several occasions. We did everything we could think of short of cold showers. We threatened that he would not be able to start preschool. We bribed him with rewards that included candy, movies, and a Spiderman tent. One of the bribes which he earned, and then quickly reverted to his old ways, was the game Hungry Hungry Hippos. When he had an accident, especially of the solid variety, the game was off limits. When he went in the potty the game came down from the top shelf and he got to play. We also bought a small gumball machine and each time he pooped in the toilet he we gave him a penny which he could use to retrieve a gumball.

Finally one day he decided to be a big boy. I honestly think that when he saw that we had given up and that we weren't going to fight him, the joy in it was gone and he made up his mind to go in the potty. Even now, he doesn't like it when we tell him it is time to go. He prefers to slip into the bathroom unannounced and take care of business. If you try to go in he'll say "I need some privacy Dad."

A few nights ago, he was taking his turn to pray before bedtime. After including the usual "Thankful we can see like bats," he busted this out of nowhere: "Thankful after we go poop we can play Hungy Hippos and eat a gumball." Count your many blessings, name them one by one.

Nikki says that a post is not a post without some pictures, so I've included some of Hayden and Cole wearing Lisa's extensions.

Love,

Brikki

Meowloween

What holiday do cats celebrate on October 31? Meowloween. That is the joke that Marci got off of a Laughy Taughy and taught Hayden. For the boopers, Halloween was surrounded by activities. They raked leaves at Grandma Walker's, carved pumpkins, hiked the Crimson Trail, went miniature golfing, went to the Anthropology Museum on campus where they told us some scary stories and we sang some scary songs.

The boopers wore their costumes to the Walker party.

Cole was a yummy hot dog and Hayden was a ferocious lion. Roooaaaar!!!!!

There was the annual donut on a string competition.

Nikki and the Boopers took a trip to the pumpkin patch in North Logan. I think they had the most fun sticking their faces out of these boards. There was a group of teenage girls standing in front of a board with a pilot's face sitting in the cockpit of a fighter jet. Hayden stuck his face out of that one and said to the girls just a few feet away, "Look, I'm a jet!" They thought he was pretty cute. We'll have to see if that pickup line works when he is 18. There were lots of funny boards, but Yoda has to take the cake, hmmm, yes?

May the force be with you!

Love,

Brikki

Fluffy the Praying Mantis

Today on our way into the house after church Hayden and I found a praying mantis on the porch. With some help from Grandma, Hayden made a little home for the critter. It was a clear plastic bowl with grass and leaves and two holes cut in the lid.

Hayden decided to name him 'Fluffy' and he kept him in his room during his nap. By evening, Hayden agreed that Fluffy didn't look to good in that little bowl, and we decided to set him free.

Cole got a bath today...he loves the bath. We thought his hair looked cool when he was laying in the tub. We have started feeding him rice cerael, which he likes. No surprises there. Does the kid look like he turns food away to you?

Love,
Brikki

Alert the Media - We Have a Blog

Yeah that's right, a blog. After Brikki took a giant leap into our hyper-connected society by purchasing cell phones for the both of us, it seems we have stepped onto the high-tech train and the technological advances within our family are coming without effort and at an astounding pace. We better be careful or we'll wind up with an iPod and a Facebook page before our next post. By having a blog, I'm not sure if we are finally catching up with the times or if we are just getting more nerdy in our old age (I'm now 30 and an engineer, so that's two votes for nerdy).

The primary purpose for the blog is to post some witty commentary and some cute pictures of the Boopers to get our web traffic numbers up, sell advertising, and eventually quit my job, stay home and pursue my personal creative projects (eat Peanut M&M's and watch ESPN Classic and Seinfeld re-runs all day). If that all doesn't work out, at least the blog will help us stay connected to a hand-picked group of family and friends. We love you all more than anything in this world (except for maybe the life of leisure that would come from a passive stream of internet income) and we wish we could see you more often. I guess until we convince you to move to Cache Valley we will do the next best thing and take advantage of the power of blog.

Love,
Brikki