Don't Make Mom Mad

The above is the advice my 6 year old gave me today before heading off to school. So I had to ask why. This was the conversation, or at least what I can remember of it.

Nikki- "Boys just make girls mad. It's real easy to make girls mad."

Me- "Do girls ever make boys mad?"

Nikki- "No, Boys just get mad at their kids."

Me- "Can boys ever get mad at girls?"

Nikki- "No, because girls don't do anything wrong."

Me- "So why do girls get mad at boys."

Nikki- "Because they do everything wrong."

Me- "Are you ever mad at boys?"

Nikki- "Yes."

Me- "What did they do wrong?"

Nikki- "I don't remember, but they're boys, so they obviously did something wrong."

About right now I am feeling real sorry for her future boyfriends/husband/sons.

The Science Project

My daughter has a science project due. When this type of an assignment comes home for a 1st grader it should pretty much be assigned to the parent. Just like the Pinewood derby in Cub Scouts, or the Eagle project in Boy Scouts, it's really done by the parents. Just saying. With Nikki though, she was very active in the entire process. We've had the note from the school for ever and every night for the past month Nikki has been reminding us "We've got to do my science project." Since it's due on Wednesday (two days from now) we decided to hack it out last night. We asked Nikki what she wanted to do her project on and she kept talking about interest in planets and their rotations, and how the moon circles the earth, and how the sun comes up in the morning. I didn't know what she was talking about so we chose Gravity.

We also had grand ideas about awesome experiments demonstrating the use of gravity. A bowling ball and a feather, a ball tied to a string, a couple things I saw on Growing Pains when I was a kid. We narrowed it down to a tri-fold poster. Nothing says preparation like a tri-fold poster.

This is where I get to be real proud. I do a lot of work in Adobe Illustrator, I also teach classes on Illustrator and Nikki has been begging me to teach her how to use it. She has already mastered the Wii drawing game, plus she loves sketchbook express. So I though this was the perfect opportunity to teach her some basic illustrator skills. She's better than most beginners. Let's just leave it at that. She then told me that she wants to do what I do when she grows up (little tear in my eye right now). I then asked her why. "Because it looks fun and easy." (tear gone)

So here we are with the current version of her science project/tri-fold/beginning illustrator project.

I drew the circle.

On this one I only drew the cone and the body of the rocket.

Ok this one is all me. But she posed.

Dumpster Diving for Boxes

Since we are moving, and moving soon, we are in dire need of some boxes. So like anyone does when they need some help, we post something on facebook, and one of my good friends from the mission era came through with  a tip on some old garment boxes that no one was using. We just had to go pick em up... In Ogden. It's only about 45 minutes from our house so we decided to take a short little jaunt this morning and go pick em up. With Nikki gone at school, we moved the two youngest kids to the captains chairs in the minivan, and then lowered the back seat down to give us an SUV type cargo area.
Well we got to the site, and, well all the boxes were in a dumpster. Not like barely in a dumpster, I had to get in it to get them. Luckily it was a recycling only, so there wasn't anything too gross in there. We lucked out pretty good, even though it was a little difficult jumping in with a sprained ankle.

So the funny part of the story was as we were finishing up, one box had a bunch of just odds and ends pieces, so we dumped them back in the dumpster, and some guy comes up and says "Did you pay to use that?" all accusatory and not in a real nice tone. I didn't really know what to say except "We're not dumping, we're taking." Shoot I just admitted to being a dumpster diver to a complete stranger. So I felt kind of dumb. The guy then asks "Oh, I was just wondering if I could take the boxes off your hands, but if your not dumping, then sorry." Was this man a fellow dumpster diver? A kindred spirit? If we had shown up two minutes later, would we have switched roles? So I can now add dumpster diving to my list of strange things that I have done. Even after I laughed at the sign on the dumpster that stated "Do not occupy".

I fell on my bike, and my bike came with me.

So a little while ago my brothers and I decided to "compete" in this event called the Spudman. It's a triathlon that consists of a mile swim down the snake river, a 25 mile bike ride, and a 10K.  They're pretty fun and I have done triathlons before, but never one this long. Anyway, this event is coming up in July and so in order to prepare for it you have to start training several months in advance. Well, my training for the spudman has been somewhat limited as of late. Let me explain.
Two weeks ago I did an 8 mile run (I know, I freakin rock) and afterwards I just could not shake off that exhausted feeling and I eventually got sick. Went to bed early that night, almost got to miss church the next day (I should have milked it a little more), and basically it took me about a week to get back out and train. Well, the monday after the week of non-training, we decided to go to this indoor trampoline park as a family because my daughter had won a gift certificate at school for spending time with the family (We are the type of family everyone strives to be ;)). So we get to the trampoline park and we sign all the waivers and seriously like 5 minutes into it, I am just jumping from one trampoline to the next, and I don't get enough distance, and I land on the "padded" part between the trampolines, roll my ankle, collapse, and almost throw up because of the pain.

I did not work out this last week.

I could barely walk the first day. I had to have Kara help me get in the shower the first day, and my foot swelled up to the size of a softball. Oh and it turned purple, that was a fun show n tell.
So it's been about a week since the trampoline incident. Everytime I get on facebook there are a lot of those motivational images that say stuff that basically says that running will solve all my problems, and that sleeping in is bad, yada yada yada. Normally I am pretty active, getting up at least once a month,  week to run, bike and swim. I even have a GPS watch. I mean nothing says I'm serious than a GPS watch right? I usually wear it around just so people can think "Whoa, he must work out," then they look at me and think "He must have stolen it".  So it's Saturday and I am feeling very ansty to get out and do something, and I can't run, and I really don't want to swim, and I bought a new bike, so biking it is.

Whenever I go cycling (another pro term) I usually take at least one of the kids with me. Today it was my son, and I put him in the bike trailer. Also, I ride clipless, which is very pro of me, but the term doesn't really make sense. Because to ride clipless, you actually have to put clips on your shoes. It's kind of like the Unsharp mask in photoshop. It does the opposite of what it says. Anyway, I set up the trailer, get my son in the back with his helmet on, the ipad to watch Wreck It Ralph, and then I set my GPS watch on my bike, and I clip in. I am ready to go, but before I take off my wife asks me to check on our daughter at a neighbors house. So Now, I am clipped in, GPS is doing it's thing, Wreck it Ralph is Wrecking, and I am cycling two doors down across the street to the neighbors house.

I don't know why I bothered clipping in to go such short of a distance.

We arrived.
We stopped.
I attempted to clip out.
I did not clip out.
The bike wobbled.
The bike fell.
I fell.
The bike and I fell in unison.
I landed on the driveway.
I am still clipped in.
A barely discernible obscenity escapes my lips.
I quickly look around to see who witnessed this.
I then look at my son to make sure he has not just learned a new word.
I clip out my left foot.
My right foot is the one with the sprained ankle.
It's the one I couldn't clip out in time.
I still finish my ride.
GPS still working fine.
Wearing it to church today.

Looking for a job

So with this new chapter of our life coming up, certain changes need to be made. First off is we need some way to make some income. As of right now the only thing we have that will travel with us is some freelance work that I do from home, and possibly a graduate assistantship that Kara has applied for. Not a lot to go on to feed a family of 5. It's only been a little over a week since Kara found out about grad school and the fact that we are moving, and I know it usually takes longer than that to find employment, but holy crap it's been tough.
One of the reasons for this is probably due to the fact that I will pretty much be doing a student work schedule (because while my wife is at school I will be with the kids) so I can only work odd hours. I mean there are lots of ads out there for full time during the day positions, and I avoided those at first, but as we get closer I'm pretty much applying for everything. I'm checking out jobster, ksl.com, indeed, and craigslist. I was actually tempted to apply for a hand model position the other day, just to see what my chances would be. I am grateful that I still have the freelance work, but I know it would make my wife and myself much more sane to just know that we will have a positive influx of money instead of living off student loans for the next two years (not fun and not a good idea).
I did apply at one place that called me back the next day, but they called because they thought I was interested in their product (I had called to talk to HR and got the sales guy instead). I also tried to get on at the sister school of the college I work for right now, but after talking to the Dean there, they're actually laying off faculty. Not in my department, but probably not the best time to get a job there.
I'm looking for a job in photography/graphic design/anything but a call center/etc. So if anyone knows of a job out there let me know.

I'm a stay at home dad!

So here's the story, a few years ago I decided to uproot my family and move them to a little college town so that I could pursue a graduate degree in photography. During the course of my studies my wife felt impressed that she needed to return to school and finish her undergraduate degree. After we graduated together, I got a job teaching Graphic Arts at a local college, along with some freelance work, and my wife prepared herself for graduate school. She applied to two Universities and got into the one that required us to move. So in the next 6 weeks we will be uprooting our family once again, only this time the roles are going to be reversed. My wife will be hob-nobbing with faculty and collegiate associates, and I will be at home making sure my daughter doesn't electrocute herself while keeping up with the laundry, doing hair (sorry to my kids in advance), running kids to soccer, dance, tumbling, friends houses. Also cooking food that is hopefully edible, buying the groceries, balancing the budget (wait, nevermind I'll let Kara do that still). Basically it's my turn to nurture the family and maintain the house, on the inside. Also during this whole time I am hoping to land some type of part time teaching job plus continue my freelance art work to support the family. So I would say that the plate is full, but I am excited about it. Seriously, how many dads get this type of an opportunity? Not many. I get to spend time with my kids everyday, and not just watch them, play with them, teach them and really bond with them on a completely different level than before. True there will be tantrums, timeouts, and the occasionally Barbie Doll head ripped off and put on a leg, but there will also be hugs, and soccer victories, dance recitals, stories, and bedtime.
Also my wife bought me season tickets to both Football and Basketball at my favorite University, so that helps too.
Welcome to my adventure.