Last week we had a Family Fun Day. We pulled our own April Fool’s prank on the kids’ elementary school and let them ditch class for the day (or “sluff school” in Utah language). It was a lot of fun. We woke up to a pretty big snowstorm, which of course I enjoyed, but it made Amanda and Maddy REALLY mad. They’re tired of winter and want warm, sunny weather. Amanda kept saying “It’s April! Why is there snow!?!?!?!” I tried to explain to her that the weather doesn’t instantly change, just because the calendar says it’s a different season. I mean, this earth life isn’t a cartoon!
Is it?
Anyway, we went to breakfast at the local Kneader’s Bakery, which we heard had $4.99 all-you-can-eat pancakes and French toast. Turns out that’s true, but the initial portion is so large, none of us were hungry enough for a 2nd helping. In fact, the kids hardly made a dent in their pancakes. The French toast came with caramel syrup, as well as a cup of whipped cream and strawberries.
We came home and the snow let up quite a bit, which was good, because it was soon time to drive up to Sandy to go see “Monsters vs. Aliens” up at the Jordan Commons movie theater.
“Why drive all the way up there?” You ask in a strangely upper-class, British voice. “Surely there are closer theatres…”
Well, we wanted to go see it in IMAX 3-D, which was awesome. In fact, it made up for the fact that the movie itself was fairly mediocre. The kids loved it though. Abe even kept the 3-D glasses on for the whole movie (usually they’re off after about 10-15 minutes). Maddy’s favorite character was BOB, the blue blob-like character. Joel liked when the President of the United States played funky music on the keyboard and danced.
After the movie, we were hungry and decided to go to Chili’s (though for a moment we considered going back to Sam-Pan, a great Chinese restaurant in Sandy). Amanda and I got the Chicken Crispers—our favorite dish there (although Amanda got the Honey Chipotle Crispers, which weren’t as tender as the regular ones). Abe got Macaroni—gotta love paying $4 for a bowl of Easy Mac... Maddy and Joel both got hamburgers, which brings up a pet peeve of mine. Whenever we go to a sit-down restaurant, the kids hamburger has NOTHING on it. It’s a bun with meat. No lettuce, no mayo or mustard, no ketchup, no pickles—just a bun and meat. Now, I understand that not all kids want all toppings—that’s fine with me—but seriously, shouldn’t the waiter ask if the kids want something ON the burger? I mean, when we saw the burger they brought, we asked for mayo, which they brought out in a little bowl for us, and we had ketchup at the table, but Maddy was really annoyed that her burger wasn’t a real hamburger. Fast food places give you toppings—“restaurants”? Nope, sorry…
We ended the night with a trip to Cold Stone for some ice cream…so, yeah…not surprised I gained several pounds this week…While we were there, there was a little girl dressed as Snow White—Abe couldn’t take his eyes off her—I think he thought she was the REAL Snow White.
Of course this weekend was also General Conference weekend. We enjoy conference more and more as the years go by. Saturday, we hurried and got groceries first thing in the morning to avoid the between-sessions crowds. After the afternoon session, we ran some errands—while Amanda, Abe and Maddy were at the fabric store, Joel and I went to F.Y.E. to look at movies and video games. I was surprised to see that the Disney “Dance Dance Revolution” had come out for the Wii. We’d been wanting to get it, but I thought it wasn’t out til later in the year. We decided to get it, and we’ve really been enjoying it. You can get a pretty decent workout, and it’s challenging without being impossible. I can’t say I’m thrilled with the pop renditions of the classic Disney songs, but I guess to make them work to a dance beat, they had to do SOMETHING.
Here’s the ad for the game:
But back to Conference:
It seemed to me that this Conference was a lot more “practical” than other years’ conferences. Obviously, there was a lot of talk about the current economic situation, but with it, a lot of optimism and things we can do in our lives to counteract the fear, despair, and struggle many of us are going through. Conference this time got me more excited and motivated to improve myself spiritually than ever before. Kinda like the episode of “The Office” when Michael eats a sweet pretzel with ALL the toppings and gets a sugar rush which turns him into hyperactive mode.
OK, maybe not QUITE that excited, but we did make some important changes in our family’s spiritual development, focusing more heavily on daily scripture study, singing hymns and having morning AND evening prayer, as well as getting the kids started on nightly personal prayers. I hope you all were inspired and uplifted by Conference as well.
Sunday morning , instead of the traditional coffee cake—I mean CONFERENCE CAKE—we made homemade Cinnabons, eggs, bacon, and hash browns. Delicious, of course, but I miss my coffee cake—maybe for Father’s Day…
In other news, Amanda’s been working TONS of hours at the Disney Store lately, and last week was the worst since the Store Manager was on vacation at Disneyland (while there, the manager sliced her foot on a stroller and had to get stitches—serves her right for over-working Amanda!) Amanda thought this week would turn out better, and was only scheduled 20 hours—HOWEVER, because the District Manager comes on Thursday, Amanda now has to work Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday (Tues. and Wed. WERE her days off…) She will get Thursday off, thankfully.
Here’s what the D.M. said to Amanda last time she came for a visit, “We don’t all have to be Tiggers… We can have an Eeyore, but Eeyore needs to change…”
As I mentioned in my previous post, I’ve been working on some animation for a music video project. It’s going pretty well. I just finished a logo/end tag animation for the videos.
I’m also applying to Disney Animation’s Talent Development Program. It’s an 8-10 week paid internship with a Disney Mentor at their Burbank Studio. It’s for people who’ve graduated college within the past 3 years, so I’m JUST BARELY within the cutoff. This is also the first time in those 3 years that they’re looking for traditional animators rather than just 3-D animators. I’ve been overhauling my demo reel and will be sending it off next week, before the April 20th deadline.
Well, that about wraps it up. One final anecdote:
Last night, when we were picking a hymn, Abe suggested the hymn, “Jesus is a God.” Never heard of that one, but at least it’s doctrinally sound…
6 comments:
>Whenever we go to a sit-down restaurant, the kids hamburger has NOTHING on it
Sit-down restaurant hamburgers in general tend to be a disappointment. They rarely hold up to the specialty shops (the fast-food hamburger shops). I'll take a Carl's Jr. burger over just about any other burger.
How about the fact that ALL hamburgers are gross....I think I ate too many of Dad's bland homemade hamburgers. Now I just don't like any hamburgers whatsoever.
I'm glad Abe is learning something in Primary! Our RS teacher's husband asked their 4-year-old son who the Pres. of the US is. He said "Jesus and Harry Potter." We thought that was pretty funny. Shows you what Mormon kids are learning.
I really enjoyed this conference, too. Very motivating. And I agree that it was practical. I felt like I had a nice to-do list by the end.
You guys have fun! Eating out, going to movies, going shopping. Sounds great. Unhealthy, but great.
And why was techno music ever invented? It has the tendency to ruin every song to which it's applied.
Reed: You eat REAL MAN burgers!
Libby: I TODULLY need to catch up on yer blog. I've just been voraciously job-hunting and making CDs for my fellow 40-something friend that was actually more friends with Reed and Scott back in the day. Yeah, Jana. She's my non-sexual girlfriend like Beth now.
Andy: I STILL insist on coming over next time 'Manda makes Cinnabons. So make plenty!
Yeah, we caught most of Conference, but then our boys are at THAT AGE, so we'll have to catch up on some of it by reading.
But it was cool how Joseph sat through the whole talk by the Gen. Primary President! Then he thought it was weird that they said, "In the name of Jesus Christ , Amen," and I had to 'splain they do that with not just prayers, but talks, too. So he gave me a talk about Heavenly Father, Jesus, and the Holy Ghost who doesn't have a body because he's dead!
You guys are like all righteous and stuff. That rocks.
I LOVE LOVE that for April Fool's Day you fooled the school and let the kids stay home and do fun things!!! You're BAD!!!!
George says he woulda totally punched the manager who said the stupid Tigger/Eeyore thing. That is CLASSIC.
Wibby, I like some techno -- if it's all ballsy like, por ejemplo, Wumpscut. But they are scary, too.
coushum = we had coushum Pete Webb over for a visit the other day. It was phun.
Yeah, so was that manager saying that Amanda is an Eeyore and needs to change and start bouncing around all the time or something? What's the dealio?
Libby, yes, that's exactly what the manager meant--that Amanda's a serious/cynical/grumpy Eeyore rather than a hyper, bouncy Tigger. Not sure how you can be an Eeyore if Eeyore "changes."
She also told the employees that they were supposed to say things to customers like, "Ooh, doesn't the sparkly floor look like pixie dust?" Or "Did you come to play with Mickey?" And if a group of people comes in, say "Look, it's a parade!"
Anyway...
What the FREAK! That manager is crazy. I hated working retail.
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