Utah Vacation Top 10

We just returned from our annual summer vacation to Utah. We usually make this 800 mile trek a couple times each year. We are always excited to go, and always excited to return home. Here are the highlights from our delightful trip.

1. Trying to beat the heat in St. George by visiting the coolest family in town - the Eriksons! Thanks for dinner and entertainment!










2. Playing at Grandma Cleo & Grandpa Mark's house.














3. Staying with Aunt Ashley & Uncle Brian. Meeting Zeus. Looking at the fish. Admiring their darling house. Eating Fazoli's and great gelato (check out Maestro's gelato shop on Center Street if you are ever passing through Provo)!














4. Seeing Aunt Jenny compete in the Miss Utah pageant, and meeting her boyfriend John. We aren't biased at all when we say we think she should have won!














5. Playing with Emma. Amelia turns into a fit of giggles everytime Emma is in the room...no one else has that effect on her. It is so cute to see how much they love each other.












6. Playing with Cate.













6. Playing with Grandma Stephanie.










7. Playing with Grandpa Barry.







8. Playing with Uncle Travis






9. Doing all the miscellaneous stuff that make vacations so wonderful. Eating at Rumbi Island Grill, playing in Grandma Stephanie's backyard and picking tomatoes, ping-pong tournaments, staying up really late, playing Apples-to-Apples, going for walks on Lagoon trail, playing with Brooke, bike rides, pasta salad and bbq chicken (don't forget the spinach dip), watching cable tv, looking at home decorating magazines, and going to Taipan (if you live in Utah, and you haven't been to Taipan, go...go now, forget Ikea, go to Taipan!).














10. And, of course, having fun as a family!














Thanks to everyone who fed us, sheltered us, entertained us, made us laugh, giggle, sing, jump for joy, and just plain showed us a good time!

Let's do it again soon!

For additional vacation photos - click here: http://picasaweb.google.com/wignall/June2007.

come home.

My traveling man is coming home tomorrow.

We've had plenty of fun while he's been gone.







But, we're exhausted.








And we didn't laugh as much,
and we didn't sleep as well,
and just aren't our same selves without him.

If you're happy and you know it...

On becoming a real man

I'm not very handy around the house. Don't get me wrong, I am a handy man:

Hey girls, gather round
Listen to what I'm putting down
Hey baby, I'm your handyman

I'm not the kind to use a pencil or ruler
I'm handy with love and I'm no fool
I fix broken hearts, I know that I truly can

If your broken heart should need repair
Then I am the man to see
I whisper sweet things, you tell all your friends
They'll come runnin' to me

Here is the main thing that I want to say
I'm busy 24 hours a day
I fix broken hearts, I know that I truly can

Anyway, my point is that I don't fix things around the house. Friday night, the hot water in our shower stopped working. This happens every three or four months. We call the maintenance guys, and they come over, smelling of testosterone. They spend maybe one minute working on it.

Since it was the beginning of the weekend, maintenance was several days away. Well, Amelia had to take a bath in the sink (since it's only the shower that's broken). Emily took a cold shower, squealing loudly. Then my turn came.

And then I felt the urge. I think the best way to describe it is as a surge of adrenaline. It's Father's Day. I'm the dad. I'm a man. I can fix things. I can fix this thing!

If you've used our shower, you know it has two knob things (I don't know what term the "so-called professionals" use, but I'm pretty sure you know what I'm talking about), one for the hot water and one for the cold. If you turn the hot water knob thing, nothing happens.

I decided the best approach was to disassemble the hot knob thing. I'm not sure what I was looking form. I was kind of hoping there would be something obvious, like maybe Amelia had jammed something in there. No luck; everything looked fine to me.

Since the cold water knob thing works fine, I disassemble it as well. You know, to compare. Anyway, I see the difference. The hot water knob thing is sticking out farther than the cold water knob thing.

A Little Digression on Biochemistry and the Industrial Revolution
Men have an X chromosome and a Y chromosome. Women have two X chromosomes. The Y chromosome determines the "handy-man" trait. This is a multi-gene trait, so different people can have different amounts of "handy-manity." For most of human history, men had to take care of their own homes and farms. There was no division of labor and no professional handymen. Women knew this and would, therefore, reject the "handy-impaired." Men with high levels of "handy-manity" (think auto-mechanics or Thomas Edison) were much more successful with the ladies than their equally intelligent and handsome but less manually dexterous neighbors (think accountants or Isaac Newton). Anyway, the "non-handies" (as they were derisively called by the schoolyard bullies) mostly failed to pass down their poor genes and, therefore, most people inherited handiness. When the western world industrialized, people began to specialize and income increased. Suddenly, men were able to hire other men to fix stuff for them. "Handiness" became much less important in attracting a female mate. Now, only about 1/2 of men are actually "handy." The rest are actively lobbying congress to enact affirmative action policies to redress the wrongs against the "handiness handicapped."
End of Digression

Well, I'm not a particularly handy guy. If I were, I probably could have figured out how to take some tool out of my bag (like a "allen wrench" or a "wingnut" or maybe a "wiper blade") and get the hot water knob to look like the cold water knob, to make it closer to the wall. I failed.

I resigned myself to a cold shower. I turned it on and stood there, out of the stream, trying to get the courage to step into the cold water (researchers are undecided about whether handy men are necessarily braver than the "non-handies"). And then it hit me. I want the hot water knob thing to be closer to the wall. So I kicked it. With my bare foot.

And I truly enjoyed my hot shower.

Below is an actual picture of a "Handy-man" in his natural environment. Notice how, like the peacock, he uses humor and plumage to attract females.

Riding Along in My Automobile

All the kids on the playground better watch out...Amelia's got herself a new set of wheels. She can't pedal yet, but she sure rings a mean bell.

Happy Father's Day

As cheesy as it sounds...dreams really do come true.

Just Being Content

I just found this photo of Amelia from about a month ago. She spends most of her day completely content with life...I love that about her.