Happy Birthday, Granty

Last Saturday we celebrated Grant's 2nd birthday. Please, no questions about the cake.

There are many things people know about Grant: That he has a wickedly cute smile, that he has the ability to smell through opaque wrappers and bite through them to find the fruit snacks inside, that his tantrums look like desperate kowtows, and that he has outstanding reach for pulling things off the countertops (and destroying pyrex pans full of brownies).

But there are some amazing things about Grant that you DIDN'T know:

1) In February Grant counted to infinity . . . twice
2) When the Boogeyman goes to sleep at night, he checks his closet for Grant
3) Grant knows where Carmen San Diego is
4) Grant does not sleep. He waits.
5) Grant "waits" with a night light not because he is afraid of the dark, but because the dark is afraid of him
6) Grant doesn't need to swallow when eating
7) Grant can slam revolving doors

Happy Birthday, Grant.

Jenny Upset

On Friday, March 19, Jenny and I had the pleasure of watching BYU upset #4 TCU Horned Frogs on their home field. The game gave me indigestion; BYU baseball committed egregious little-league-esque errors. But it was fun nonetheless to spend a good evening watching America's pastime, and to see a team that will likely end up playing in the College World Series.

We had excellent seats, which were given to us by a good friend from high school who used to pitch for TCU.


Jenny asked me if this man really had purple hair.

(it was a cap)


Jenny also asked me why the umpire was proportioned like a Grecian, with abnormally wide shoulders and a narrow waist.

(the ump was wearing shoulder pads under his shirt)

Trip to Salado

This past weekend we took a short trip to my hometown, Salado, Texas. We had no real purpose outside of the fact that it was my first time visiting the folks since moving back to Texas.


First stop: Grandpa Hernandez.


Next: Pepa McGregor


Then, Jenny and I took a break from Satan's angels (thanks, mom) and went putt-putting. With creative scoring, Jenny won.

Home is not what it used to be. I graduated with a class of 57 students. The town probably registered just over 1,000 people. Now, there's about 5,000, there's a new high school, the town matured from a village into an actual municipality, and we installed a traffic light.

Dear Ben

Dear Ben,

Today I was looking at Dennis's facebook and saw something on there that is called family link. It didn't look like everyone was there--I had to actually count to see who was missing--3 siblings didn't look like enough. That made me start thinking... you would have really liked facebook. You would have been friends with everyone. You would have had a lot of pictures on there of race cars and tractors, maybe some dogs. Then I started thinking... I think we would've become better friends. I think you would have had kids by now. Maybe our kids would have played together. I'd call you with computer questions. I think you would still live in the east--for some reason you really liked it there. Logan would love to hang out with you--he loves tractors and four-wheelers. Madison loves animals. She also favors boys, so she would ask you to help her and to play with her. Grant is pretty easy-going too. I'm sure you peek down on us and already know all of these things. Anyway, the years keep passing, but we are still thinking and talking about you. We miss you.

Love,

Jenny

Just thinking

(According to Wikipedia)

Conflict is a necessary element of fictional literature. It is defined as the problem in any piece of literature and is often classified according to the nature of the protagonist or antagonist.

Most of you know that my true passion is reading. I love good books. And I was just thinking... all good stories have opposition and conflict. I mean, the story would be very boring if the main character didn't have to overcome and achieve something. So while I like to complain and mourn all the conflicts in my life... I think it will be ok. And my life story is going to be a lot more interesting. I hope.

Creative Spelling Fail

I pass this shop every day on the way from the train station to my office. The proprietor evidently meant to communicate to the public that inside shoppers will find the "unique." Instead, it's where you go if you are a "eunuch."

The Lord's Earthquake Warning: Report from Chile

I wanted to share a link to a story reporting on the experience of the mission president in the Santiago Chile East Mission leading up to Chile's recent earthquake. The story is an incredible testimony, and I encourage all to read. It can be found here:

http://ldsmag.com/churchupdate/100303chile.html


As a side note, I've taken particular interest in this country lately. For the longest time I have declined posting on one of my favorite topics--politics--because it's such a divisive subject, and a family blog is not the appropriate forum to engage in tit-for-tat exchanges.

But I think in light of recent circumstances it would be appropriate to note that Chile is becoming a model American country, refusing to succumb to crippling populist programs. Their foresight in overcoming this physical devastation was borne of the same foresight that helped them ward off equal devastation of this recent worldwide disinflationary decline. Decades ago they invited Milton Friedman--arguably the most important economist this nation has ever produced--to offer suggestions on how Chile could curb inflation, grow their economy, and increase the nation's standard of living. The solutions were simple and based on free-market economics. Their successful implementation by extremely bright, educated, and disciplined government ministers has proved once again the value of free-market economics. This country could learn a thing or three from Chile.

First Outing in Dallas

This past Saturday we decided to see what Dallas had to offer. There are tons of free things to do here, so we decided to start there; we'll work our way up to the paying venues later.

We also called up our old friends, the Packers, from BYU 1st Ward to enjoy the day with us. We always enjoy spending time with friends from the past (although technically, since the Packers live here, they are now friends from the current).










The kids at Whiterock Lake Park in Dallas. We stopped here first to have a picnic lunch.










Next we went to Uptown to ride the free trolley. Uptown uses 4 fully restored vintage trolleys from the early 1900s.










Our friends, the Packers: Trulee, Matt, and Samantha










The family.










We rode the trolley to the Dallas Museum of Art to view the Crow Collection of Asian Art. My favorite was a series of photos from Ka Yeung, a Chinese photographer.

Best part of the day was that I think Jenny started to like Dallas a tad bit more. It's a slow work in progress, but someday she will like this town.