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Ava is taking some liberties with her parents at only 2 1/2- years-old. Illustration:

“Hey Bud, can I have some of that?”

We drive past Peter’s Canyon Regional Park on the way to church. There is a hill in Peter’s Canyon called Big Red, which is a big bear, especially on a bike. Grace has been begging me to hike Big Red. So we went yesterday.

For our 1/2 hour hike, we packed a camelback with granola bars, pretzels (prentzels if you are Grace), and dehydrated fruit and tackled the hill.

And a video: Grace and Marlan on Hike

I was getting Ava cleaned off after dinner the other night. She gives cookie monster a run for his money with the amount of mess she makes when she eats. Well, after getting a small scoop of rice on her plate, she proceeded to let them go swimming in her drink of water, making a rice mess everywhere.

As I lifted her out of her chair, I noticed that there was rice all over her pants. I said, “Hold on rice crotch,” under my breath as I went for the cleaning rag to avoid rice floor. She heard me and repeated “rich crotch” to Sally and me while laughing hysterically at herself for the next couple of minutes.

It’s kind of jarring hearing a two year old say the word “crotch,” but super funny at the same time.

Staci, Jackson, and Paige were in town. Disneyland was in the works, as it often is when visitors come. After the little kids got tired, Staci, Jackson, Grace, and I went back to go on the fun rides.

As you can see, I was too cheap to buy the actual photograph.

Ava has really taken to the joke, as I mentioned. So I played it with her…

Dad: Ava, guess what?

Ava: Chickenbutteyeball.

Dad: No, Ava you say ‘what’ when I say ‘guess what.’ Ava, guess what?

Ava: Mmmm-hmmmm.

Dad: No, you say ‘what.’ Guess what?

Ava: Mmmm-hmmmm.

Dad: No, say ‘What.’

Ava: Chickenbutteyeball.

And repeat ten times.

This came as an email forward, but pretty much sums up my feelings regarding lights on the house.

His wife had been on his case to get the Christmas lights up for a couple of weeks.

They are up now and for some reason she will not talk to him – go figure.

Grandma Doty sent me a letter in which she enclosed the memories of people on the morning of Sept. 11. I thought I would record my memories as well. Why not?

I remember it well because I was driving to school my first year of law school. I had Civil Procedure that morning, and I had been listening to these lame Lord of the Rings tapes that my mother had bought at Costco. I had made it far enough through them that I felt I needed to finish them. So the radio was off and adults imitating the squeaky voices of hobbits filled the interior of my Green Jetta. We generally didn’t watch TV in the mornings back then, so during breakfast I didn’t hear anything, and on my way to school I was listening to the Lord of the Rings…

I parked at the back of lot 57, which is the big mall parking lot at ASU. You take a bus from the lot to the school. As I got out of my car and went to the bus stop all the way at the back of the lot (it was advantageous to park at the back of the lot because you got to get on the bus first and therefore got a seat rather than having to stand), there was a kid who was talking obnoxiously loud into his cell phone about how much he was in support of Israel and how bad the terrorists were. The bus stop faced east, and the morning sun was peeking over the Superstition Mountains. I remember noting to myself how much of a dork that guy was. I distinctly remember thinking he was both a drama queen and that nobody was interested in his conversation with his phone.

To me it was just a normal day. I made it to school, got my books out of my locker and went to class with five minutes to spare. It was there I heard for the first time that one of the twin towers had collapsed. You can imagine my skepticism when I heard it, but when I learned that my fellow student was deadly serious, it was one of those moments where you feel scared and vulnerable for a few split seconds before the rational side wakes up and says “No Way!” to living in fear.

The teacher got to class and excused us for the day. Well, he gave us the option to have class or go home and follow the news. With such an option, it would have been unanimous either way. We went home and we all were glued to the TV for the rest of the day.

What is your memory of that morning? How did you feel when you heard and saw the images? Post as a comment, or put it on your own blog and post the link as a comment…

P.S. For my reasons why Iraq was the right thing to do (albeit stream consciousness ramblings at this point), see: Why Iraq Was the Right Thing to Do at Mecki’s Advice Column.

So I got into a bike crash on Saturday. I got a nice bump on my head (concussion – my helmet fared worse) and some great road rash.

Today, five days later, I discovered that my phone had also taken some bumps and bruises and wasn’t working. I don’t know anybody who would take the better part of a week to realize their cell phone was broken. Moral of the story: better to email me than call.

The sitting/standing position. I think it is so funny that they stand there with their butt a half an inch off the floor.

And another:

Ava and Dad having a good time:

Ava running: