One Crazy Week

I haven't really posted in over a week, because it's been crazy. A few tidbits:

-- Last week I was sick. Not badly, but enough that I ended up working from home on Tuesday, took a sick day Wednesday, worked on Thursday, and then worked from home on Friday. All in all, it was a relaxing week. Work has been good, but busy. And, thankfully, weekends are finally looking free again!

-- Saturday my wife gave me an early Father's Day gift: a new body board for use at the beach. We then headed there and had a wonderful time. I spent most of the time out in the waves with my oldest, who came back bruised, but happy. It was a blast.

-- On Saturday night, we went to a movie night at the church. There wasn't a very good showing of people, but it was a lot of fun. We watched the Disney/Pixar movie Ratatouille, and the kids consumed mass quantities of popcorn and other junk food. I hope we do it again.

-- Sunday was Father's Day, and it was quite nice. I called my own father and wished him a Happy Father's Day, and had a great conversation with him -- my wife found a great book to send to both of our fathers called "Supersonic Saints", that he seems to be enjoying. Church took a lot of time, as usual, but the evening was mostly clear to spend with the kids -- it was a nice day.

-- The kids had their last day of school last Friday. We're delighted for them to be moving on, my oldest so he can hit the "reset" button on his social life, and my daughter so she can have a new (and, hopefully more conscientious) teacher. My wife is excited about having the summer with them, and their lives are already full of swimming lessons, karate, gymnastics, and ... something else I forgot. With gas prices as high as they are, we probably won't be traveling much, but we will probably hit the beach more often (which I wouldn't mind at all, with my new body board).

-- Yesterday (Monday), I took the day off work (mostly) and we went over to Magic Mountain. We don't have season passes this year, so it was probably the first of maybe two trips we'll take this year. We all had a great time. We rode some new rides, spent a lot of time in the new "Thomas the Tank Engine" area of the park, and my oldest son earned five bucks for going on Goliath with me -- he didn't want to go because he doesn't like the lift hill (yeah, I had the same thought ... "What?!"), so we bribed him. He was happy, I was happy, it's all good. With my brain rattled three times on Revolution, my feet sore from all the walking, and the summer heat -- it was an exhausting, but happy day.

-- My daughter is now reading like her older brother -- anything she can pick up she'll read, and she reads a lot. She's even begun reading The Book of Mormon with me at night. I'd be lying if I said this didn't please me.

-- My youngest is now effectively potty-trained. He still won't actually go into the bathroom by himself (but he can be left once there), and he can't get his underwear and shorts back on by himself (we've seen a naked bottom running around our house far too much lately), but other than that, he's fully self-sufficient.

-- My wife and I are having pretty good success with Weight Watchers. We've both lost about 7 pounds and are feeling pretty good about it. We're learning the ins and outs of the program, and developing good habits about what to eat and portion control. I still really, really want a massive, chocolate-slathered banana split, though, but the "points" for that would be too high ...