"the BBQ king"

You are gazing upon smoked tri-tip and ribs. A six hour process. Brought to you by Brett Burton, my brother-in-law. The man knows what he is doing when it comes to smokin meat! Brett is married to my sister Sarah "Bug". We really enjoy having family time with them and it's not just because of his mad BBQ skills. Keep up the smokin good work Brett!!!! We love you guys!!!!!

Sunday Fun!

OK. Boys......disgusting little creatures. This is Grant eating a chocolate candy still wrapped in the foil. We had a difficult time removing this one from his mouth. He was like a pit bull on a pork chop according to Josh.

This post is specifically for "Kokie Girl". Easter Sunday morning I was home with Grant doing homework and suddenly realized I did not hear anything in the house. With children silence equals trouble. I went searching and found him in Josh's bathroom. Grant was having a ball. He found Demi's Hello Kitty electric tooth brush and was swirling it in the toilet and then brushing his teeth! He is quite the one for hygiene. He had been doing this for a while because his entire shirt was soaked!!! I wanted to throw up....I was so disgusted. I screamed and washed him up and couldn't wait until Josh came home and received the nagging of his life!!!

I did yell at Josh and told him, once again, please close the toilet and the bathroom door. He said "Yes dear", once again. That afternoon Grant again had disappeared. I found him......you guessed it.......in Josh's bathroom shoving towels in the toilet!!! Apparently he thought they needed washed...and if it's clean enough for your tooth brushing then why not clean the towels there too?

So I made Josh get the towel out. Hmmmmmm.......I wonder if Josh has learned his lesson?

I do have to admit that even though I have to put up with Josh's forgetfulness about closing toilets and such.......he could possibly be the best husband and father on planet Earth. This is true.

You Rock Baby Girl!!!!

Proud mom and dad want to give a "shout out" to our baby girl Demicans.

Demi has really learned a lot in Sister Caseys first grade class....including how to be more independently responsible for completing her work. Sister Casey has a tough job and with her help and expertise I think we have helped Demi to reach a monumental point in life and academia.

Two words.....Time Management!!! This may be a strange concept for a first grader to need to learn, but in our household time is a precious commodity. For the past few weeks Demi has successfully been completing or almost completing all her work in class and then what she does not finish she does at day care after school. She is trying really hard and we are so proud of her.

Yesterday Demi did not do her homework at day care......I think spring break messed up her system and she forgot. Anyway, she woke up today and on her own did her homework before going to school!!!!! How's that for first grade motivation!!!! She is growing up so fast and becoming a little funny lady!!! She is doing so well in school and received all A's and one B on her report card!!!! WOW!!!

We would like to thank all the school staff and day care staff support that help our family every day!

"SWEET BABY JESUS"

Baby Firo is a real live miracle baby, so how appropriate that he should play baby Jesus in our church Easter play.

Baby Nate is the newborn son of Richard and Jessica Firo. He is a baby of promise. He did a great job of remembering his lines and gave such an amazing performance portraying Christ as a baby in the "Messiah" play. He seemed to really enjoy the bright blue lights on the stage. He did not cry and looked bright eyed at the crowd!

He is perfect in every way.....if you don't believe me just ask his parents. Congratulations Richard and Jessica and great job baby Nate!

The Left Shoulder

I was honored to play in last Novembers annual church football game. The Youth against the Oats. In other words....the young against the has beens. Usually the youth really sock it to us, but this year they didn't fair so well. I don't want to mention the score, but it was like 60 something to 7, and a lot of fun.

It was all fun and games until someone hurt their shoulder. That would be me. I played 6 years of football at a competitive level and I personally love the sport. Strategy, physical contact, execution of athletic skill on the fly. However, at the age 32 chasing a 17 year old who has more energy than the energizer bunny, not to mention a great set of wheels, and a competitive spirit, my mind (ego) chooses to mislead me into thinking that I could catch him.

Allow me to set the stage. Fourth quarter, they were down by a ton, and this kid was determined to score. Well, I was just as determined not to let him. I was playing inside line-backer and he was playing tail-back. He ran the ball to the right. I predicted his path and chose my angle. I pushed him to the side line and at this point in an organized level of football my job would have been successful. In football an inside line-backers job is to make the tackle on the run, stuff the hole, or push the runner to the outside. In which, the outside line-backer would execute his duty of pushing him back to the inside. Well, my outside line-backer was no where to be found leaving the 17 year old (130 lbs) and the 32 year old (230 lbs) all alone. Needless to say Jordan Johnson turned the corner, hit the after burners and took off like a gazelle. My 32 year old mind told me I could still catch him, if and only if I dove. So I did, and I missed. With my left arm completely extended I hit the ground and heard a loud POP! I jumped up like nothing happened, and it didn't hurt, but I knew I was in trouble. However, I still thought I would be better in a few weeks, so I continued playing.

Here it is over four months later and my shoulder is still killing me and I can't lift my arm past a 45 degree angle without feeling excruciating pain! I was told that shoulders usually heal in three months so I refused to see the doctor....because I AM A MAN! Doctors are for sissy's, and injuries are for the feeble. LOL......just joking.

My wife told me that they had a meeting at work about laying people off due to the economic downturn, and since she carries our insurance through her work I figured it might be a good idea to get my shoulder looked at now while we still have insurance. Not that she is getting laid off, but just in case.

So I went to Dr. Chang and he said, "You have shouder injury u need x-way. X-way no show u notting, u need specawist. But fust u go x-way. Insuwance all cwazy. Don't do nutting wight." LOL hence the name Change. I got a copy of the x-rays and Dr. Chang was right......x-ways no show nutting. I made an appointment for March 30th with the specialist. I closed my shop early potentially losing customers and money and showed up at the specialists office with my x-rays. I found out upon arrival that the specialist was on VACATION! Sorry for the inconvenience, but the specialist will not be able to see you until April 8th.


Keep you posted.

Poo Poo Surprise!

Well my husband does not necessarily agree with me "blogging" this story. But it's my turn to "blog" and I can "blog" it if I want to.

I love my kids so much. I realize a tremendous difference between the female type and the male type of children. My son does things my daughter never did....hit me, slap me, scream and bite me, and then give me a kiss like it's all okay. When an elder in the church warns my husband that he is going to need handcuffs and shackels to contain my 16 month old son in church, there might be a problem.

Sunday morning we all sleep in a little late. It was about 7:45am and Josh and I hear Grant yelling from his crib, "Ma!" He repeats this over and over while shaking his crib continuously. He only does this when he has pooped in his diaper and wants to be cleaned right away. Knowing the certain yell of the poo poo call I tiredly asked Josh to go get Grant. He also knowing the poo poo call said, "no, he pooped," and then closed his eyes and pretended to sleep, with a smirk. So I being the good parent got up and went to get the baby.

Upon entering his bedroom the smelly evidence of what he had done hit me hard. I approached his bed and he very quickly stood up and held his right hand out to me and said, "Ma!" I looked at his hand and quickly realized what I saw. His hand was covered in you know what. I quickly surveyed the bed and the rest of the baby. Yes folks, it was every where!! It was on the sheets, blankets, crib bars, and the baby!!!!

I opened the bedroom window, grabbed Grant and put him in the bathtub and scrubbed him with bleach. (Not really, just baby soap.) I removed all the bedding and washed it immediately and then disinfected the crib.

This whole playing in his poop seems to be a problem. I am not sure if he is trying to take the diaper off or just investigate what is in it, but he keeps sticking his hands in there. How does a parent stop this from happening?

I know.....I'll duck tape his diaper to him so he can't possibly reach the stinky poo.

The Lighter Side of the Amazon in Iquitos, Peru

The lady in the background is Sister Nix, the missionary's wife from Lima Peru, (if not one of the best hostess' ever), thanks Sis. Nix!

In this picture you can see one of the native Amazonian rats. They are nocturnal hunters......just kidding. I can't remember for the life of me what kind of animal/rodent this one is. It was pretty interesting and friendly.





This is me the snake wrangler! This picture does not do the snake justice. That was a big snake! He was a hisser.

This is a sloth. Yes, a real live sloth. This was a fascinating creature. They actually had two of them, and while they were in their cage you could observe them eating. What was neat about this observation is how incredibly slow they functioned. Fascinating.

Now this guy, he was a blast. Very observant fellow and not bashful at all. I extended my hand to him and he extended his to mine. He began licking my hand and then I realized he was actually licking a wound I had on my hand. Pretty much freaked me out, wondering what kind of amazonian monkey Peruvian germ I was contracting. At this point it was too late we were friends to the end. He would not let go of my hand and after standing there for a few minutes I began to get nervous. The rest of the pack had left except for Brian Gregg who was getting a great kick out of this and fortunately videoing the whole event. I will attempt to post a video stream in the future. I started to walk and he started to swing from my arm. I was quite surprised at his rather dense frame. He was much heavier than he appeared and very strong. He was able to maneuver around me ,like I was a set of monkey bars. His tail......Wow.......it's functional. He was able to hang from my arm by his tail, swing around to my leg, crawl up my side, dig in my pockets, only to be disappointed, look me in the eyes, crawl up my back, yank the hat off of my head, and try to jump off and run away. Ha, ha, ha not so fast Mr. Monkey. I snagged my hat back during his escape, put it back on my head and the guy didn't even hit the ground and he was back up my leg and to my shoulders and trying to steal my hat once again. Once he realized he was not going to make off with my hat he started to lick the back of my neck. He was really starting to freak me out. So I ran to the native and told her to get him off of me. She yelled at him in Spanish and he didn't listen so I used my hat to lure him off of me. It worked....but if it hadn't I was ready to jump in the river.

More to come soon. Don't want to bore you.