Marriot Stay

The Marriot stay was fun. Its kind of a mess around there with all the construction going on. I like the atmosphere of the hotel alot. We went to Temple Square with the billions of people there. It was nice to have Ben around, although he is still in missionary-weirdo mode. The kids enjoy the pool more than anything. And the nice thing about the Marriot is they have a hot-tub too which I really REALLY enjoy. The best sleeps of my life are the ones where I go to bed after having soaked in a hot-tub for 30 minutes. AHHHHHHH.

At 730 the next morning, the kids and I were back in the pool. No one could sleep past 7. So we swam there till about 9pm and then we all met in the Lobby except for mom and dad who had to go to a funeral. The rest of us went to JBs and had their breakfast buffet. There were 17 of us total there. With mom and dad it would have been 19. And with Marie and Bryan's fam it would have been 23. I cant believe there are already 23 of us just in my parents family. There are Lymans growing everywhere.

Now Amy and I are back in Stockton with ours and Ed/Sades kids. It sure is nice to come home, even after all that excitement.

Rooker: Hero or Criminal?

Pretend for a minute that you are a 4 year old boy named Rooker Jay Lyman.

Its a normal day.
You wake up, find some swords and immediately start clearing the house of all the dragons, demons, and monsters that have accumulated throughout the night. Your keen senses allow to see beyond the disguise of a bed or a pillow or a dresser. With swooshing sounds, you plunge your swords deep into the wooden or feathered materials thereby vanquishing the foul beasts back to the nothing from whence they came. Scanning the rooms for more intruders, all you find is beds and blankets and laundy baskets having returned back to their previous normal state before they were defiled by their possessors.

So you sheath your swords back into the toy box. You remove your batman cape and your dads protective googles and head out into the normal world a hero.

Or so you thought.

What you failed to notice could be your greatest and last mistake ever. The leather couch has become a GIANT wretched monster never before seen. All hope seems lost. You have but seconds to make your move. The fate of your entire house depends on it.

Acting on pure instinct, you run as fast as you can straight into the kitchen and grab the most dangerous of all weapons.

The steak knife!

It gleems in the sunlight and causes the befouled couch to pause... but that is all you need. With lightning speed you plunge that steak knife DIRECTLY INTO THE CENTER CUSHION. Never have you heard such a blood-curdling scream in your whole life... but wait, that doesnt sound.. right.... and its coming.. from the other side.. of the room... and it sounds like..... MOM!!!

Mr Magorium: The Movie

I totally forgot to blog about this movie. I also saw this the night it came out.

This is a really really fun movie. I should take my kids to it. Now I generally dont like Dustin Hoffman, he is way to serious for me, and I cant stand his real-life self. BUT in this movie, he was perfect.

I truly enjoyed this movie all the way up to the last 5 minutes. The last 5 minutes was horrible. Up until then, everything was flowing smoothly and things were coming together nicely, and then I felt like they ran out of time and smooshed a HUGE turn of plot into the last 5 minutes of the movie. Just completely ruined it for me.

However, I know my kids will love this show when it comes out on DVD.

I am Legend: The Movie

Of course I had to see this movie. Cmon, the last guy alive.... is not alone?

So I went to the 940pm show last night. The plot is wonderful and makes enough sense to make it believeable. Will Smith is a great actor, and the action scenes were pretty fun.

HOWEVER, the whole reason I go to the theatre is cause the huge screen, big sound, and darkened atmosphere really pulls you into the movie and you almost feel part of it. I am Legend however failed to do this for me. So although I enjoyed it, I would probably have enjoyed it just as much if I had waited till it came out on DVD.

Job Satisfaction up 10,000%

Lots has changed in the last 2 months at LBi. A few have quit, a few got laid off, we've moved some people around in their positions, and now that everything has settled down.... I LOVE IT.

I moved upstairs into the accouting office with Kristin and Owen, and I LOVE it. Owen is always putting M&Ms into my keyboard and shooting rubber bands at me, and Kristin and I banter back and forth all day long and just have a great time.

The accouting office is much quieter and I feel ALOT more organized up there than I was in the NOC. Rodger keeps trying to tell me that its because I had to take charge of Brett's job when he left that I have really stepped up, and I try to argue back that its because of being in the accouting office - but either way, I am really enjoying working at Lyman Brothers, and I hope things never change.

The Golden Compass: The Movie

I admit. I LOVE going to the movies. I enjoy it more than most everything else. I like to see them pretty much the same day they come out. Amy is really good about it. I generally catch the 930ish movie after the kids are in bed while Amy stays home. I am super excited for "I am Legend" coming out Friday.

I saw "The Golden Compass" this last weekend. Although the movie already looked really cool, I mostly went to see it to spite all the dorks crying "anti-religion" all over the place. And I didnt catch any of the anti-religious crap anywhere. The movie was awesome. It was sooo good I had Amy go see it the next night while I stayed home. Simply put, it was very fun and very adventerous. Giant bears fighting, witches flying around shooting bows and arrows. Freakin awesome.

Crocs is Socks

I got some new Crocs. This is my 2nd pair. Amy bought me the All-Terrain choclate/black pair. They actually look really nice, almost like normal shoes. They have a leather lace-up piece at the top and a full foam bottom with no holes like the sandals.

I wore them for the first time today to work... I may never take them off.

They are soooo roomy inside, I feel like Im walking around in my socks all day. They are so light (cause they are just foam) you barely even notice them on your feet. And the soles? Holy Shnikeys! They are like marshmallows. Oh, and did I mention they are 100% waterproof?

At $60, it took me about 2 weeks to finally get up the nerve to buy a pair, cause for a piece of foam, that seems a steep price. But now that I am finally wearing a pair, I will never buy any other shoe ever.

The value of the shoe is in its unmatched comfort, NOT in its materials.

The Value of Things

My family and I went to Denny's tonight and had a great time. I was watching my kids talking to each other and laughing and coloring while waiting, and I thought, "right now, Denny's is exactly where we need to be". I know, its a rather cheap restaurant, but to a family, its perfect. My family wouldnt have had near the fun at an Olive Garden or Macaroni Grill. When it comes to families, Denny's is the best family restaurant ever period. So to me, Denny's has value.

I was also thinking about McDonalds and how often we eat there, which isnt too terribly much, but for all the jokes and flak McD's gets, you would think I would know better right? Well go jump in a lake. McDonalds with a playpen is a mini Disneyland when it comes to families. The kids have a great time, and the parents get to breathe a little while their kids enjoy themselves. So to us, McDonalds has value.

It seems that every change in life, completely rearranges your priorities on what is and isnt of value to you. I would never have thought in my life that I would one day be standing up for McDonalds, but I now realize its worth to a family.

It would seem the only way to truly stay true to yourself, is to shut up about whatever you think you know, cause who knows but one day youll have a large family of your own and youll make a complete U-turn on what you support.