My parents took the kids out to some parks this morning while Emily and I relaxed.  Then, as Liam napped, I disassembled my driver side door and tried to fix the sticking lock.  No luck.  Emily and Maddy went craft shopping with Emmy and Lainey and Liam helped me on my next car project: installing the spoiler.  I can't believe it was so easy; I had been so nervous for so long.  I also replaced the antenna and touched up the paint.  I feel like a car guy now.

The girls picked us up and took us to Mike's house.  They crafted while the boys watched football.  Then we headed over to the Kings' house for the premier of Dexter.  All in all, it was a great day!!!

Work was quiet today, and seemed to go by quickly.  I went and got lunch from Bruges and ate it while I watched Baylor @ West Virginia end 63-70 on my computer.  Then I realized that I didn't have my office key with me for some reason, so I had to wait for my mom to come in before I could leave.

We were supposed to go to the Hope Alliance's silent auction in Park City, but our babysitter had to cancel.  Emily still isn't feeling that well from the new sleeping medication, and I was exhausted too.  So we slept while Liam napped and Maddy was at a tea party at Anastasia's house.  When she came home, she played outside all evening until we all fell asleep in our bed.

I had breakfast at the Blue Plate Diner with Brooke and his sister Alison.  I tried unsuccessfully to convince him to move his family back to Utah.  It would be so amazing if they lived nearby.  Oh well.

I just barely had enough time at work to fix a pair of glasses before I had to leave again to pick up Maddy from school.  She played outside almost all afternoon, while I stayed inside and relaxed.  It was a pretty good day.

I dropped Maddy off at school, had a coffee at Starbucks, picked up donated glasses from Riverton Family Eye Care, and went grocery shopping.  Then I was unproductive for the rest of the day.

Well, not really.  I did get our shoe shelf done, and put up curtains in the music room.  But I took the curtains right back down again, since my idea didn't work so great.  I have a new idea though.

This evening, Liam and I rode all around on Maddy's electric scooter.  He stood in front of me and directed me where to go.  We went around the school, the pool, the garden (and stopped and ate a tomato), Nainey's house, and then back home.  He is seriously at the cutest age right now.  We are getting along so well!

I took two ritalins today, one in the morning, one in the afternoon.  I got lots of work done, like frame inventory and setting up the visual fields machine.  But it did kindof give me a headache.  I picked Maddy up from EDP and we got Wendy's on the way home.  Then I called about 30 people to follow up on their invitations to the Hope Alliance's silent auction on Saturday.  Not a lot of people sound like they're coming. :|

Back to work, but no more studies.  It was an uneventful day as far as work is concerned, but at least the weather was very fall-like.  Tonight Maddy and Liam played out front with the neighbor kids while Emily and I looked for dining room lights online.  Boring.

We woke up to find Mike making crepes from scratch for everyone.  We all sat around the table for breakfast, then packed up to go home.  We headed straight over to the Kings' house.  They weren't home yet, and had changed their garage opener code, so I slid open their garage window, and let Maddy in.  She opened the garage for us and we went inside.  Sarah came over soon after.  Liam went down for a nap, and we played Scrabble out on the back deck while waiting for Dennis and Cyndi to get home.

When they did, they gave the kids some Halloween presents and Sarah an iPhone 5.  Then we went to dinner at Spice Bistro and went back to watch the Emmys.  But it got too late to watch the whole thing, and we went home.  I was so tired and sore and stiff, I really wasn't much good to anyone.

Today was the Dirty Dash!  I was so nervous the whole week leading up to it, and even when we set out, I thought for sure I would run out of breath and my heart would explode.  But we made it up and around the first hill just fine, and leapt easily over the hay bales of the first obstacle.  From that early point, I was encouraged that my body was keeping up with my spirit.  My dad and sister stopped about a mile into it, but I was still feeling good, so I kept on.  I decided that I wanted to give it my all and not skip anything, if possible.  Mike and I continued and looped around to meet my dad and sister again, and I was honestly shocked that I still had plenty of energy.

It basically continued on like this the rest of the way.  I kept expecting my muscles to give out, or my sides to start aching, or my lungs to start burning.  They never did.  I made it all the way to the end, and still had energy to spare.  I have absolutely no idea what to make of this.  I was utterly convinced that I wasn't in the shape to handle it.  How did I do it?  I don't know.

The rest of the day was an exhausted haze.  I mostly laid on the couch and watched football.  We went down to the carousel at Zermatt resort, and Liam was ecstatic.  Literally shaking with joy.  Then we fed the goats, which Maddy loved.  She pet them all gently and named them "Sweetheart" and "Snowflake."  She was sad when we had to leave them.

We're not able to get the Utes game on TV here, but that's probably for the best.  Listening on the radio, it sounds like they're going to get blown out.  I'm not even staying up for the second half.

I'm so glad the study is over!  It was grueling.  But I got the last three patients to come in early, so I was able to leave early.  I picked up some food from Saffron Valley, and we relaxed while Liam napped.  Then we drove up to Midway and stayed at the same house we rented last time.  Mike made us all chicken tacos, and we played until we were all exhausted.  I thought I fell asleep peacefully with Maddy and Liam laying by my sides, but I found out the next day that the rest of my family had a hard time falling asleep.  Sorry.

Exhausting day.  9 studies.  The last three are tomorrow.

A couple days to catch up on here:

Monday was a normal day at work, nothing big, but when I got home, Sarah was over to hang out with us.  That was a nice surprise.  We had take-out from Greek Souvlaki and watched the Alfred Hitchcock movie "Rope."

Tuesday I got to start acting like the vision clinic mission leader as I made a flyer asking for glasses donations and sent it with my dad to the UOA meeting.  Emily was productive too, ordering all the clothes Liam needs for his Halloween costume: Marty McFly!

Today we went to Ikea and got a new shoe shelf and some other home decor.  Liam and I took a nap while Emily went to see Dr. Jennings.  Then Dennis and Cyndi came over after watching Maddy at dance class ad we had pizza and hung out.

It's been a great week so far!

Today was such a fun day with my kids!  We woke up and ate chocolate muffins in the loft while playing with toys.  Then we went to the park at the school across the street so Maddy could show me how she goes on the monkey bars backwards.  Or "monky PARS!" as Liam calls them.

We were only there for about an hour, then we came back to cool down before we went to Wheeler Farm.  Poor Emily was still feeling too sick to come.  She missed us, but she did enjoy a quiet house.  Madeleine sketched each animal we saw, and Liam told me what the animal says.  Cows, horses (they say "YEE-HAW!" according to Liam), rabbits, chickens, turkeys (they pecked at sticks the kids held out for them), goats, ducks, geese, swans, and sheep.  The pigs were hiding in their homes.  After walking around forever to find a restroom for Maddy, we ended up at the huge playground they have there.  The kids played on that for a while before we stopped at a little tent where we could pet a sheep, a goat, and a donkey.  They had just stopped giving pony rides, but Maddy was able to sit on one for a picture.  She also got to hold a bunny.  It was $1, and although I was out of cash, Maddy was prepared with her wallet in her purse.  That was pretty awesome.

After the farm, the three of us ate dinner at Hoppers.  They were very well behaved and ate well.  I was a proud dad.  We brought home some dinner for Emily, and then took a big bath to get all the farm dirt off of us.  It was a wonderful day!!!

Oh man, I had such a migraine this morning.  I ate too many of their cookies last night, and the sugar did it.  I just barely survived work, then I went up to the Westminster campus for the Hope Alliance's Global Health Seminar.  The campus is beautiful.  I wish I had gone there, or new more people who went there.  I wanted to just sit around.  But I also felt like I looked more like a professor than a student.  I was wearing my red vest (for Utah) and my glasses, and I had not trimmed my beard in a few days.  When I had picked up some breakfast at Rocky Mountain Grill, Lori and Margie both commented that I look older, more of a dad and less of a boy.  And Melissa and Cynthia at the Hope Alliance both commented on it as well.

I learned that maybe somebody involved with the Hope Alliance seems to think I'm not qualified for the job.  Since this is a public blog, I'll leave it at that.  But I was very hurt, and I chose to defend myself via email.  That seems to have only made them hate me more.  I shouldn't have said anything.  Darn it.

I couldn't stay at the conference though, because Emily was ill, so I hurried home to her.  I stopped at Bruges again to get her a Machine Gun and me a waffle.  Oh man it's good.  When I got home we just laid on the couch together.  I watched football and tickled her feet.  Maddy played outside almost the entire day.  We went out to get some sunshine later, and I (hopefully) fixed our sprinklers from soaking the dirt next to our house.  Time will tell on that one.

Then Maddy watched the Utah-BYU game with me until she fell asleep on my lap.  I put her in bed at halftime and stayed up to watch the Ute fans rush the field three times, once for each time the clock appeared to hit zero.  It was an awesome end to the game.

We began closing out our study at work today, so yay!  And Bruges opened across the street, so I finally got to try the Machine Gun sandwich.  I seem to have come down with this cold-like thing that Emily and Liam have had, and it makes me exhausted.

Tonight we went to pick vegetables from our garden, and while we were there we heard corn stalks rustling at a nearby plot.  We watched as a stock shook and sunk into the ground.  There was a mole or something underneath!  We spent a long time watching and waiting and trying to see whatever little creature was there, but nothing happened.  Nevertheless, it was fun!

Maddy and Emily made Nutella sugar cookies when we got back.  Then we turned out the couch-bed in the loft and stayed up watching Monster House all together.  It was a good night.

It was Grandparents' Day at school, and I played music for the All School Mass.  Madeleine was the lector for the opening of Mass, and she did such a great job!  We kept smiling and waving at each other throughout the service.  Then I went back to work while my parents and Cyndi stayed through lunch.  Maddy interviewed them about what it was like when they were kids.  They had a wonderful time.

I posted this on my facebook today: "So there is some sort of telemarketing company that is trying to get us to let them come in to the office for a consultation on our credit card machine (or something). Their strategy is INSANE though. They call us every couple of days and abuse the staff here, telling us we're stupid, we're useless, we're liars, and that we should be fired if we don't let them talk directly to 'William' immediat

ely.

"The one time I pretended to be 'William,' I told them I wasn't interested, and they began to scream at me, saying I wasn't legally allowed to refuse them and I would be stupid to do so anyways. I figured if they were going to stoop to false legal threats, I would make one of my own, and began asking for all their information, telling the caller they will be subpoena'd. It stopped them for a while, but now they're back again."

Liam had a little bit of a runny nose yesterday, but today it became a full cold.  Emily came down with it too.  I came home and played with the kids and watched the Bears lose miserably to Green Bay.  Liam is learning to use the potty, but still hasn't quite gotten the hang of it.  At least he was thoughtful enough to cover the mess he left with a tissue.  Still, he's showing rapid improvement each day.  And his vocabulary is stunning.  Every night he says goodnight to the paintings Emily made for his room: A giraffe, a monkey, and a zebra.  Then he says goodnight to the picture of him as an infant and the picture of the four of us on the day of his birth ~ "Dayee, Mommy, Shisha, and Baby Me" he calls us.  He also pointed out the banana in the monkey's picture, calling it a "ba-NAY-na."  He's just so incredible.

I heard Madeleine singing the Gospel Acclamation from church today as she dried her hair.  Then we read a chapter of Treasure Island and she went out like a light.  What a wonderful little girl she is.

After dropping Maddy off at school, I ran a few errands; getting paint colors from Home Depot, buying touchup paint for my car, getting my hair cut, and buying a few groceries.  Emily and I then painted our dining room the same color as our island.  It looks awesome.  Afterward, we had jambalaya Emily made in the crock pot and conversed with Cyndi after she brought Maddy home from dance.

While nothing was particularly eventful about the day, the evening was pretty cool.  We found out that Mo Willems was doing a reading and signing of his new book "Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs" at the King's English bookstore in Sugarhouse.  Madeleine adores Willems's books.  She probably has more than twenty of them.  At the end of the work day, Emily, Madeleine, and Liam met me at work, as well as Emily and Lainey.  The six of us and my parents went to dinner at Olive Garden and to the bookstore.

My parents and Emily and Lainey were too tired to stay after the reading, but we did, and Madeleine got to meet Mo.  He signed a copy of his book for her, and another for Liam, and that was it.  I know that book signings - especially for popular authors - can't logistically be much more than that, but it doesn't make for a very memorable or friendly encounter.  Maybe Mo's personality has something to do with it too, but I'll try not to judge him.

I saw Dr. Jennings this morning about my throat, but he can't really discern what it is.  I tried loratadine allergy medicine, to see if it responded to that, but it didn't.  Tomorrow, I'll try cetirizine.  I also tried hyoscyamine as a muscle relaxer, but that doesn't seem to handle it either.  It's getting harder for me deal with this.

In other non-news, I listened to Harvey Danger again for the first time this year.  Still love them as much as ever.

Uh, yeah... this blog is getting kinda depressing because it's showing me how boring I am.

I had a bad migraine this morning, and I'm not sure why.  I didn't drink or anything last night.  And my throat has been doing this strangling feeling today too.  It's really uncomfortable.  It makes my body feel  all panicky, like I'm choking or gagging or something.

Anyways, Maddy and I went over to Sloth's house to watch football with him and his cousin Mike.  We told Maddy that there really wouldn't be much for her to do there, but she said she just really wanted to see Sloth and Mayra.  It was really sweet.

On our way home, we saw Emily and Mike taking Lainey for a walk.  We pulled over and she really wanted to get in the car, so Emily let her.  As soon as she sat down she said "bye mom" and told me to drive.  Emily and Mike said it was ok, so we brought her home to play.  We set up the igloo, and the three kids had a blast playing together.

I worked this morning, and towards the end of the shift, I started getting a strange feeling like a lump in my throat.  Nothing seems to have brought it on, and nothing seems to make it feel better.  But it pretty much persisted all day long, off and on.

This afternoon, we went to Daybreak's "Fizz Fest."  But it wasn't really all that exciting for me or the kids.  My parents and Emily and Mike and Lainey came along too.  We had kindof an awful dinner at the place that used to be San Gelato, and then the girls all shopped while the boys sat on a bench.  We came home, and Maddy got to sleep in bed with Mommy, and I stayed up and watched football.

After work today, I went to feed Sarah's cats, and like last year, I went up on her roof afterwards.  That mysterious empty cage I found last year was still there, but this time it was no longer empty.  There were about five or six dead pigeons locked inside.  I don't know -and maybe don't want to know- what is going on there.

Then I came home and watched the Utes lose to Utah State.  I know you're not supposed to blame a loss on the officiating, but this one makes a stunning case for it.  John Hays threw two TD passes at the end of overtime.  One was called back for offensive passing interference, while the second one wasn't caught because of defensive passing interference which wasn't called.  Utah still may have gone on to lose the game in second OT, but it would be an honest loss.  Not one caused by poor refereeing.

And we watched the last episode of Downton.  Now what are we going to do?

Time flees and you have to try your best to catch it and hold on to it.  I hate how tired I get, and just watch an evening slip away.  Today was the busiest day of the study, and I had quite a migraine when I got home.  But now I'm so sad that I've seen so many of these days go by.  Writing this journal has shown me how often I let it go.  My kids are growing up right in front of me, and I can't even slow it down.  Wow, why am I so depressed?  Oh well.

Emily and I spent the day working on decorating ideas for the house.  It's a beautiful home, but everything is light brown or tan or somewhere between the two.  So we struggled back and forth on ideas until we arrived pretty much on a direction to take.  The name of the style is a little off-putting to us; "Hollywood Glam," but the look is nice.  Not at all trashy and overwrought as the name would suggest.  So we're going to decorate that way.

This took us all day to decide.

Meanwhile, Liam went to the park with "Umpa" Bogus and met "Dabby" and "Nainey" there.  Madeleine had her usual busy Wednesday, with Grammy's house and Dance after school.  And that was that.

The study visits this week are particularly complicated, and it drove me and my mom crazy.  But we survived it, and once we get past Thursday, it should be smooth sailing.

Maddy had her first homework assignment tonight, and had it completed by the time I got home.  She also had time to help Emily bake some sugar cookies from scratch.

I was too exhausted to be any fun tonight, so we laid around until it was time to sleep.

Today was Labor Day, but we didn't do anything special for it.  Liam and I woke up early, and Maddy wrote "Sleeping In. -_-" on her white board and set it outside her door.  When she did wake up and join us, she thoughtfully set the board in front of Mom's bedroom door.

We had the estimator from Lowe's come out to look at the cost of having our fence installed, and it came to about the same as Western Fence, $1700.  That's a hell of a lot of money for 20 feet of fence.  After that, I had just enough time to finish building my sound baffles for my music room before heading to work for some studies.

The rest of our evening was a laid back one.  Maddy, Liam, and I played some Mario Kart before bed, then I had my traditional two chapters of Treasure Island with Maddy and an episode of Downton Abbey with Emily before sleep.

This morning, Maddy was a wonderful little girl for Mom.  She made her a peanut butter and jelly waffle sandwich and iced coffee and brought it up to her in bed.  She also made a peanut butter "samich" for Liam when he asked for one.

Liam's vocabulary is growing larger daily.  It's getting easier and easier for him to communicate complex thoughts to us, and it's so fun to see how his little mind works.  He's also learning to use the toilet, and we are all very encouraging and proud.

The three of us went to Lowe's to pick up some lumber, then I built a shelf for Maddy's play kitchen using my Kreg Jig for the first time.  I love that tool.  It makes my work look like a real carpenter's.  The shelf I built is designed to hold all of the food for Maddy's kitchen.  I figured she deserved a reward for being such a wonderful girl.

That took up almost my whole day.  After I finished the shelf, I started making the sound baffles for my music room.  But I got way too tired to finish, so we put the kids to bed, read some more Treasure Island, and watched more Downton Abbey.

I woke up early to watch Notre Dame and Navy play in Dublin.  It kicked off at 7:00 am, and I had Irish oatmeal and coffee with (non-alcoholic) Irish cream.  Liam woke up a little later and joined me downstairs.  He spent almost the whole day with me today.

Sarah took Madeleine to see a movie at the Clark Planetarium before bringing her home.  They had so much fun.  I can't believe how much stuff she's done since I started this blog.

Speaking of fun stuff, after she came back, we went over to the school playground and played with Cressida and Jackson until they went home.  Then other neighbors, Tabby and Ike, came over and we played with them.  We came home, I took a bubble bath with the kids, and then we played "MONSTERS!" with Mom.  Maddy slept in bed with Mom, Liam went to bed like a champ, and I fell asleep on the couch watching Oklahoma at UTEP.