Carnival

The only time Drew smiled on a ride, it hadn't started yet.



This is the face Drew had on every single ride.





Springville City was having their annual carnival and when Alexis saw it she just about died from excitement. She was kind enough to wait until they had opened before going, which was about a days wait. She loved going on all the rides, and I think Drew did too. He didn't smile at all during the rides, but he would get a smile and want to go before each ride and after a few of the rides he was smiling too. From what I understand about John as a child, he didn't really smile until he was almost three, it didn't matter what you did to him. I think Drew's more like John every day!! The one ride that Drew was really excited to go on, was the Merry-go-round. So, we waited in line and when we finally got on, he didn't like being so high. (When we went to the farm, he LOVED riding the real horses, but this one was not floating his little boat). Overall it was fun, a lot more money than it was worth, but they enjoyed. You'll notice they both have little dog back-packs in the pictures. These are actually little leashes, yes, I put my children on leashes. John wasn't with us, and I don't like the idea of some pervert trying to steal my children. Don't worry, the kids love them they think it's fun.

The basement

John's room



Kids' play area



Alexis and Grandpa Hakes getting ready to paint. Drew and Alexis didn't like their masks, go figure!!




Kids basement area. Yes, it's very bright, hopefully it turns out!!



John's theater room, it makes us want chocolate!!

Have you ever had one of those never ending projects? We thought our basement was one of those, never ever going to get done but always there for us. Well, we might actually finish it!! We're surprised too. We had someone come in and finish it and now we're painting. Yes, we're painting. We decided to turn the bedroom into a little home theater room/no kids area. It's not big, but it'll be nice to go into a room and know that we aren't going to get our clothes sticky. The big long living room we decided to make into a kids playroom so that the upstairs looks like we've cleaned more recently than we really have. Hopefully it all goes well and our ideas actually work.

I'm a believer

I've got to admit I was skeptical when I heard about "upconverting" DVD players. Supposedly these players are supposed to upscale your old dvd's to 720p or 1080P resolution for improved picture quality. I am creating this post so everybody knows.... IT WORKS!! I read a lot online about this technology so I finally bought an Upconverting Samsung at Sam's Club to try it out and I was blown away. It works amazing! The colors are so brilliant (Use an HDMI cable) and the details are sooooo much improved over just a standard dvd player. So for all those nay-sayers out there like I once was, here's your testimonial. I'll have to wait a while for a blue-ray disc player, but for now, upconverting dvd players really do work well.

Design studio

We created a funky collage of a picture of our design studio at Rocketship Inc. This will be coming out in a local business magazine here in a couple months. There's going to be a 2 page spread talking about the company. It's a pretty good place to work. Almost everyone gets dual monitors. We also have bagel Tuesday! It's a pretty small company. Maybe 9 employees total. I've been here just over a month now. Quite a change coming from a very large company in Provo Craft.

Mom said what?

Here's Drew's response to mom telling him that he couldn't have any more watermelon. Little sneak!!

I have a gas problem!

I was thinking today about our nations little gas tantrum we're throwing. I think it's funny everyone is trading in their SUV's and trucks and buying hybrid's and geo metro's. If you really stop and consider how we drive, one might first consider simply planning your trips smarter, walking to church, or just skip going out to eat once a month or skip going to a movie once a month, and you more than make up for the gas hike. I heard on the radio a guy talking about how people spend exorbitant amounts of money "per gallon" on all kinds of liquids...salon quality shampoo, soft drinks, hair gel, lotion, bottled water. Bottled water???? Hello! Tap water won't make your kidneys shut down! Can you imagine people 200 years ago seeing the future and watching us walk into a store and lay down 2 dollars for a bottle of Dasani water when you can have it for free from your own faucet? They would be dumbfounded! Yet when the rate for gas goes up by a few cents on the gallon, everyone has a huge meltdown because they are in a sense "forced" to adjust their budget, whereas, if they go blow 16 dollars at Burger King, and Supersize it without hesitation, they don't give it even a passing thought. Don't get me wrong, I don't believe in driving cars that get 8 gallons to the mile, but I think people just need to relax a little about this whole gas thing. It's starting to get annoying. Am I alone in my thinking??

Labor

Not Tiffani's......John's





Mom and Dad Wadley were getting rid of their long time dresser that they've had for years. Tiffani had a hair-brained idea that it would be fun/cheap to strip it, sand it and then paint it. Tiffani's idea, John's back-breaking ordeal is what it was. It took about a month and a half longer than we thought it would, and John lost a good pound sweating while working!! Don't worry, we stuffed him full of food to make up for it. We think it turned out nicely, and it didn't break the bank. Since John is such a white-collar kind of worker, I thought I would brag about his being able to tackle a blue-collar job and make it look good.



After John had finished his work on the dresser he and Alexis took a break in the back yard. The pool is too small for John to get in, although I think our bathtub is too small too and somehow he fits in it, but Alexis fits perfectly and boy does she love it. Since it's been so warm the last two days, she has lived in her swimming suit and reminds me frequently to put more sunscreen on.

You'd think that John's day would've ended there, but oh no, it wasn't dark yet so we kept him busy! My sister's kids and my mom came over to play this afternoon and we let John babysit them outside. The youngest one, Aydian (15 months), had a dirty diaper and grandma doesn't change those, so she bribed John to do it and he made $5!! About three minutes later Ryley (3 years) came waddling into the house. Grandma really doesn't do big kid nasties, so John made another $5 cleaning him up. Not too bad, now he can go out to lunch this week!!