his Cars (dars) on his bedroom wall, and his big truck (bi buh)). Once I noticed his babbling was just a lot of... well, babbling, I told him to tell Grammy bye... so he did "Bye, wob oo"! Things perhaps only a mother and Grammy could appreciate... and Daddy too. Daddy is proud to share "warrior fists" with his son and is beginning to realize that it wont be too long and they will be able to be boys together! OH and most importantly ~ I want healthy chocolate ("I eby yaw"). He's going to keep our business flourishing!
following right along in her mommy and big sisters footsteps and is getting the art of being clumsy mastered! Besides the normal I've-only-been-walking-for-two-years trips and falls she has another black eye! She was over at a friends the other day and ran into a door knob (that's my girl!!) that evening when she was getting a snack and walking to the table, she decided she needed to say something silly to daddy on the way and turned her head to look at him. When she turned back around the back of the char was right there, and SMACK.. same eye! THEN a couple days later she was being silly and walking around with a hat over her head and ran into the corner of the island hitting the bridge of her nose... and those of you who have never had the privilege of hearing her cry, the best way I can think to describe it is a howling hurt donkey. :) (I say that with the most abundant love in my heart). Uncle Clay has commented a few times on how funny it is to see her and have this little pretty thing looking at you and then hearing her sometimes nasally voice, or cry, and how it just doesn't seem to fit! She is our "little precious".
is already a professional (or so she seems to think sometimes!). We are looking forward to going and seeing her at her school for the Christmas program and at the mall where they are going to perform. This is going to be a big step for her because, like me, she doesn't really enjoy getting up and being in front of people, although with her pageant experiences she is getting much stronger! The difference will be that in the pageants the audience is hidden in the darkness and at the mall she'll be out in the open. She has a great teacher this year too. She has had lots of fun stories when she comes home each day, and had a few extra recesses this week because they "have been doing testing, and Ms. Earl doesn't like testing, so we get recess.". I guess this is the age also where you start getting "best friends" and "you can have as many as you want" so, counting Ashlyn's, we have 5 birthday parties this month! Ashlyn is going to have to learn the art of budget gifting!Blake... Blake, Blake, Blake - Oh how I had suppressed my days in high school... the drama! The 
only thing I have not liked about living with a high schooler is replaying my high school years! Its funny how we can look back and feel so foolish about things we cannot change... EVER! He is a natural at anything musical and plays the drums in the high school band. I have heard him on many occasions "playing" with the keyboard I have (I'm really glad that is getting used!) and sounding like he is following sheet music. He was confident that he would be able to stay stron - be a warrior- while he was hare and not give into the female influences.. he has done ok... but there are days he goes home with bigger grins than other days.. and I can see right through it! Those tend to be the days that he insists he cannot go another day without a cell phone (I have dated myself significantly by insisting that many intelligent people - including doctors AND lawyers - have come from the days where high school kids didnt have cell phones! I can't beleive I am giving those lectures in my 30's! My EARLY 30's)! Overall though, he is doing awesome! He had almost straight A's on his midterm report with the exception of one B in percussion from missing the first football game of the year. HE and CJ still tend to be a source of amusement in the home, and only a couple of times have seemed to be getting bored of eachother! (Sorry, the picture was the best I could do - Blake refuses to smile for a camera!)
Now, onto my dear dear hubby! Didn't I point out in an earlier post the we just wouldn't be us if we didn't have drama?! Well, this week also was no exception. First off CJ sold his Storks pick-up. He is hoping to get out of the meat business and start focusing more on chocolate. CJ, being the guy that he is, met a guy in the Wal-Mart parking lot who was interested in buying the business' assets. So they talked and met and the money was transferred from the buyers bank to B of A, where the truck loan was. CJ proceeded to find the truck he wanted, and purchase it. Its a beautiful truck. A F350, same year as his F150, but rated to haul a heavier load. (We have had lots of truck problems due to the amount of weight he was loading in the bed of the truck). PLUS the new truck has a warranty! Woo hoo! All said, we're only going to be paying less than $50 more a month. So it was a great deal (no drama yet, right?)
Well, 2 weeks after the sale, and purchase, CJ got a call from B of A stating that the truck payment was late because the wire transfer had been reversed! Basically, the truck had not been paid for and we were still responsible for the payments! (tah-dah! now, we've got drama!) My first response was, call the police, this guys stole your truck!!!!!!!!!!!!!! CJ's first response was there must be some kind of mistake, I know this wouldn't happen on purpose. My response to that was - call the police, this guys stole your truck!!!!!!!!!!!!! I proceeded to get every bit of information on the truck, including the bill of sale both CJ and this guy had signed. CJ did a very good job maintaining his composure and insisted that there was some kind of mistake. He tried to call the guy... cell phone number changed. He went to the credit union the guy belongs to and talked to the branch manager who handled the transfer to begin with. She couldn't give any information. So he went to the house where he picked him up the day of the sale... moved. I think at this point his anxiety level was beginning to increase and he was realizing that he had been scammed. He went back to the bank, talked to the same lady and got a little information. I, being the super sleuth detective that I am, got online (ok, so I'm a nerd) and did a reverse search of the address in Idaho CJ had been given, and got a phone number. To sum up a long story, CJ ended up calling the number, getting a cell phone number, and calling this guy. It turns out, it was, in fact, just a mistake. The guy had no idea. The bank had sent CJ the title, free and clear, to give to the guy who bought the truck. The guy who bought the truck received a letter saying CJ had the title. Apparently what happened was this guy went right to work selling meat. One of the checks he received from a sale bounced, leaving him $3 short!! So it was the bank that reversed the transfer. They spoke on a Saturday night, and he was back in Salt Lake Monday morning to get cash in hand and brought it out to CJ. PHEW! But, after the adrenaline that had been pouring into CJ's blood stream for 3 days suddenly stopped... he got the stomach flu that I had and was in bed for the 4 days following. He got up for a day, just to go back down the next. Finally, yesterday he forced himself back up to take a trip, so we can pay bills this month.
