Monday, August 27, 2007

Kentucky Trip! Aug 2007

Biker Evan low ridin'!

uuuhhh what?!

cuzzin's just hanging out

Mr. Evan and Aunte Amy

Blaker Bee and Grammy

Peasss easss deasss boss???



The aforementioned sentence (and yes, it is a sentence) translates to "May I please eat this purple crayon?".

Let me explain.

Our neighbors' daughter - Shaylie is her name - is now a little over two years old (in the pictures above she is a little under 1 year of age).
Last I checked, the above sentence, formed with four simple words, comprise Shaylie's entire vocabulary. Here are the words defined, to the best of my knowledge (and from the help of parent translators):

  1. peasss (sometimes pronounced as peasshhh) literally translates to the English word please and is often used in the form of a question with desperate tonality in multiple succession when a parent previously answers "No".
  2. easss (often pronounced with a slight easshhh sound) this one word can translate to anything having to do with food (e.g., "Can I have some food NOW?!", "When are we going to eat?", "Did you bring my Cheerios and muffins to sacrament???", etc.)
  3. deasss (again sometimes with a slight "-sh" sound at the end of the word) translates to the words "this", "that", or "look over here". It seems that the usage of this word is employed in various other situations and contexts as well.
  4. boss (yes, spoken just like the word you would use for "your employer/supervisor") accept that this word translates to any tool that can be used to write with (e.g. crayon, lipstick, pen, pencil, permanent marker, eye liner, lip liner, etc. are all fair game for literal translations to this latest addition in little Shaye's arsenal of power-packed vocabulary words).
When I think about it, those words that Shaye employs, on average - 108 times each per day, are all that are necessary if you are limited in your language and rhetoric skills. With a nice little finger that accurately points to whatever it is that you want your parents' attention drawn to, BIG blue attention-grabbing eyes, and the utterance of a special word with almost universal application, it has been proven over and over by our little friend that you can make a very good living, indeed. As this little tike would tell you (if she could), the "terrible twos" aren't really terrible at all.

Dustin Rhoads - a Friendly Capitalist Neighbor Correspondent

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Birthday Surprise for Everyone!

Click here and scroll down to the box where it says, "Happy Birthday Audio Sample" and click play.....

Indiana and Kentucky


Well I have had a ton of stuff going on and I will try to catch you up very quickly.

I went to Indiana for a work trip and then made my brother come pick me up in Fort Wayne and my dad drop me off so I could spend a little time in KY :)

The work trip was fun. Full of excitement as usual. All kinds of after parties going on....this is a TOTAL joke...if you have ever been to a genealogy conference you know that it is nothing but senior citizens. But I am telling you they can throw some mean parties...

This picture is the World Vital Records gang at Olive Garden for my birthday. I had some kind of ziti, tons of salad :), bread sticks, stuffed mushrooms, cheese sticks and of course chocolate cake. The next night Yvette (standing) and Whitney took me to a dollar movie in Indiana. We sent to go see Nancy Drew but then went theater hopping and ended up seeing Spider Man 3. I wasn't a fan, actually I don't think any of us really liked it, but it was a fun night out.


Well, Michael came to pick me up in Indiana, Northern Indiana to be exact, :) and we had a great time there. We stopped off at an outlet mall right before we hit Indianapolis and we may even go back when I come back next time. On Saturday we all went to Lissa and Nate's house to eat. It is SO fun seeing my brothers and sister's kids playing together. I LOVE it. We ate dinner and just hung out.

Sunday I went to Church with mom and dad and got to see a few people I haven't seen in a long time and it was great. It is so weird to see some people who where several years younger than you now married or in college or having a baby etc...

Then I went home and mom made an awesome lunch: grilled chicken and gravy, potatoes, steamed glazed carrots and brownies. She is amazing (as usual). Then we both took NAPS!! I was so exhausted from that week of travelling and I could barely keep my eyes open. Then we woke up and went to Melissa's Pampered Chef party. That was a lot of fun. There was a good turn out and Lissa gets a lot of stuff now. I want to have one of those parties too. I LOVE Pampered Chef. It all started with my Pampered Bride party. That was the best!

I spent the night with my sissy and we stayed up and talked and ate and it was SO good just to be there are her house with her. We all went for a walk putting Evan in his little wagon with his glow worm. I love Lissa's neighborhood. It was a beautiful night to go out. Then we came back and she plucked my eyebrows and tried to pop "blackheads" that she saw but I didn't and I now have two scabs on my forehead to prove it!

The next day I woke up and took a very long and relaxing bath in Melissa's awesome bathtub and felt so relaxed AFTER I did 2.5 miles on her treadmill. :) But of course I had to hit up White Castle while I was there so I don't know how much that treadmill really helped me. THEN daddy surprised me and took us all out to El Torasco's (sp?) for my birthday and Melissa, mom and I made her world famous flippin awesome cupcakes--chocolate cupcakes, chocolate pudding squeezed into the middle of them, homemade butter cream frosting with mini chocolate chips mixed in!!!! DA BOMB BABY!!!! Freaking awesome. I ate two of them. Oh yeah, mom and I went to Kohls and they had some amazing deals and we shopped there for a little after dinner.

I had TONS of fun being there with everyone and it was awesome to be at home. Family is some type of medicine that helps everything in your life just feel better. I can't explain how much I love them and how much they mean to me. I am so grateful that Dusty and I get to make a trip back there a week from today. I LOVE YOU ALL AND I'LL SEE YOU SOON!!!



Friday, August 03, 2007

Wheatberries :)

Here is a healthy snack you can put on or in just about everything....

You take wheat from your food storage or any kind you can find. Soak the wheat for about 5 hours. Then cook it in boiling water for 20 minutes. Rinse it under cool water in a colander then place in the refrigerator. It will stay good for about 3 weeks. Use in yogurt, on salads, over you cereal. Wheat has 78 of the 91 nutrients, mineral and vitamins the body need for good health. This is why it is called the staff of life. No other food has so many.