Party at the Park

Today I had the opportunity to hang out with one of my best friend's kids. I have known this friend for almost 8 years and he is truly one of the best people that I know. Since the time that I met him as my seminary teacher, I have come to admire him, and love him and his family. For a while now, it has been a tradition for my siblings and I to send Christmas presents to his family, especially his children. Over the years, we have tried to stay close, and I try to spend time with him and his kids occasionally.


Every now and then Jayce, Janaya, and I will "kidnap" his children. Originally we did this because he stop letting us babysit his kids because we wouldn't take his money when he tried to pay us. So we decided that we would just take his kids and hang out, and then he would have no way to dispute because he can't pay us to hang out with his children. Anyway, it had been a while since we had seen his kids, so Jayce suggested that we once again kidnap the children.

I called him up to see if we could, because of course it is inappropriate to kidnap children without parental consent, and it turned out that the kids were available, so Janaya, Jayce, Christy, Caitlyn, and I took four children to the park. We decided that it would be fun to have a picnic and play at the park. When we went to pick the kids up, one of them ran around saying, I am hyper, I am hyper, I am so very hyper. We knew that we were going to have a fun time at the park.



When we got to the park, the kids immediately ran to the playground, so Janaya and Caitlyn decided to prepare the picnic while the rest of the adults played with the children. Pretty soon, the food was ready, and we all went to eat sandwiches, chips, carrots and capri suns. Around the picnic table there were some very hungry red ants, so Jayce and I got to carry children to the benches so they wouldn't get bit. One of the children ate a few bites of his food and proclaimed himself full. That was until he found out there were cookies, and all the sudden he had some room left. (Yes mother we made him eat more real food before allowing him to eat a cookie.) Soon, everyone was done eating, and it was back to the playground.
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I don't know what it is about kids, but their favorite activity seems to be racing. Now I am not in top athletic condition, and in addition to that, the pants that I was wearing do not stay up when I try to run, so I respectfully declined the invitation to race. Jayce got to run the majority of the races, but Christy and Caitlyn also took part. The rest of us hung to our somewhat lame excuses in order to not run.



I think we got the kids pretty well worn out, so it was back home. I asked the kids on the way home if they had fun. They all answered yes, and then came the excepts. Except when it was hot, except when I was sweaty, except when I was itchy, except when I missed my mom and dad. I guess a park in the summer is not as much fun as we had hoped. However, we were asked to return every Saturday, so apparently it wasn't all that bad.




So there you have it, a party at the park.

Drinking Games!!

Last night, Jessica calls to see if we would like to come over to her and Trevor's house for a party. There will be pizza, and games. Jayce and I were put in charge of getting drinks and asking the girls, Christy, Janaya, and Caitlyn to come and bring dessert. Jayce called Janaya and she said that they could come but they couldn't bring dessert. So Jayce told her that if she brought Christy, he was sure I would spring for dessert. So then Jayce called Jessica to tell her that the girls were coming. So then Jayce had to call Janaya back and tell her to invite Tania at which point Janaya told him that the girls would be able to provide a pan of brownies for our soiree.

While all of this was happening, Jayce and I were watching the Cosby Show. We were enjoying an episode where Vanessa goes to a friends house and gets drunk playing drinking games. Jayce and I both thought what better way to rock a party than by playing drinking games. So we called Janaya and told her to bring some shot glasses (she collects) to the party.

Jayce and I then hurried to the store where we purchased a cake, some juice, and some sparkling apple cider. We were off to the party. Woohoo!!

The party was great fun, and after dinner, broken glasses, boundless hilarity, an excursion to deseret book, and a thouroughly one-sided game of taboo, it was time for the drinking game. We decided to play the one that we had seen on the Cosby show, where you go around a circle clapping a rhythm, and naming citys using the letters of the alphabet. Atlanta, Buffalo, Crede, Denver... and so on and so forth. The person who breaks the rhythm or can't think of a city is required to take a shot. Quite etertaining; however, we discovered, that when using sparkling cider, no one actually gets drunk. And when people get drunk, they get stupider resulting in lack of city nameage, and more drinking. Fortunately none of us were drunk but unfortunately none of us were getting any stupider. Luckily for us, we weren't the brightest bunch to begin with. All in all it was just a fun night!!

Vincenzo's Perfect Pizza

So, today I came home from work, and I recieved a text from my brother who wants pizza. I happen to have a brother who is a big fan of my homemade pizza; unfortunately, this requires work on my part. In his text, he asked if I would help him make homemade pizza. Code for will you please make me pizza, and I will be your willing slave in accomplishing that task. I then queried whether or not we would have to take an adventure to the store to successfully perform the creation of the pizza. It was decided we would discuss when he returned home.

Before he returned, I decided that homemade pizza sounded quite delicious, and that I would indeed like to make some. Once he returned, I told him to prepare a shopping list and to my surprise, he discovered that we had all the necessary ingredients to make the pizza. Consequently, we set to work.

Now I enjoy cooking, and I enjoy making cooking more enjoyable, so I often take upon myself new personalities as I cook. Today I became Vincenzo, pizza creator extrordinaire, and Jayce became my slave. Along with Vincenzo came a really lousy, but thoroughly entertaining Italian accent. So Jayce and I slaved away to create Vincenzo's Perfect Pizza.

At first, it was a grueling chore as we pounded away at the dough, to create a delightful crust, a necessary attribute of any perfect pizza. Things got easier once the crust had been laid out, and we had this to work with.

The toppings, are no doubt the easiest part of the pizza; however, the sauce must be seasoned just right to create a absoulutely perfect pizza. Topping placement is also critical, as the pizza must remain aesthetically pleasing.

Lastly, for a pizza to be truly perfect, it must be enjoyed by all, even the slave who helped create it.

Back in the Grind??

Alright, so I knew when I decided to write a blog that I would be harassed if I failed to post regularly. However, you would think the way my mother constantly badgers me, that she knows nothing that is going on in my life, except from what she gets in blogs.

Today I started work, again...

In the morning I attended a mandatory district wide meeting for IA's and PA's. It lasted about fifteen minutes once it got started, a very beneficial meeting. Then, I got to attend a portion of the Frank Elementary School Staff meeting, which had an olympic theme, and I evidently missed the entertaining part of the meeting. Although I did hear a few good stories. While sitting at our team's table, one of the ladies who is new to the school, was introducing herself to the IA's, and she looked at me, did a double take, and jumped up and hurried around the table to give me a hug. This lady worked at the elementary school that I attended when I was still in elementary school, and also worked with my mother, so it was exciting to see her there.

After a nice summer break, I can finally get back in the grind. I am excited because I love my job. Today, I got to help make final preparations for the classroom. It would seem that over the summer, I have lost my IA skills, you see today I went in to laminate some cards, and by the time I got back to the classroom to cut them out, air bubbles were forcing the lamination to pop open. After much contemplation, it was decided that the laminator had not been hot enough when I used it, but I really do know how to use a laminator, and it appeared to be working fine. When I got home I told my mother about this incident and she told me right away that the problem was that I was laminating cards taped together back to back, and she didn't even know what I was laminating yet. Apparently, her skills haven't diminished.

I will be much more excited once school actually starts and I get to see the students again as well; however it is nice to have a job again. I love work, even if my mother refuses to believe it (I guess it just has to be the right kind of work).