Ryan and Me

Last night, Hunter was invited to a Birthday Party with his friend Max. Well, when I got home from work Ryan was basically waiting by the door for me to walk in. He asked me if I wanted to go to the church and play basketball with him. I was taken back as this was a request that he has never asked of me. Stacey and Mom were planning a little night out with the family to PF Changs, so I really struggled with what to do - I thought "Maybe we could do both?" But in the end decided that a night out with Ryan would be fun. So, we ran over to the Rec Center and found a basketball court open but it had a rim at regulation height. Ryan and I tried to shoot on it, but he just couldn't get the ball high enough. We decided to practice dribbling and passing instead. Ryan can't decide which hand to use to shoot and dribble so he ends up using both at different times - maybe this will be good for him as he gets older or maybe it will hinder him, but I am not messing with it because he is having so much fun. After about an hour of dribbling, passing, and trying to shoot a court opened up with a small rim. We proceeded to shoot at the basket for the next hour (again, sometimes Ryan favored the right and other times he favored the left hand). We took about a five minute break and a couple of water breaks.

During our long break, Ryan mentioned something to me about him getting old and then I would be a grandpa. He said that then I would die and he would never see me again. I took the opportunity to talk to him about our bodies and spirits and living with Heavenly Father. In the end, big alligator tears dropped from his eyes as he said that he would miss me when I died. We hugged for a while and I told him "That is why we need to have fun together everyday so we can have such great memories to keep us going until we see each other again with Heavenly Father." We hugged some more and then played some more basketball. Then, we went home and fell asleep...we were worn out.

Happy Birthday

So, my little girl turned 1-year old yesterday. ONE-YEAR OLD! What is up with that? She is growing up way too fast. She is walking everywhere, has a little attitude going on, but she is so stinkin' cute and continues to smile all the time. Like a deadbeat dad, I missed her Bithday and did not even see her at all on her B-day. I stayed late at work so I could go pick up Grandma McClanahan at the airport last night. Then, her flight was delayed 40 minutes so we got home even later. Sami's actual B-day party won't be until Saturday anyway, and we love having Grandma McClanahan at our house. I don't think Sami was real disappointed that I missed her B-day...but I know that she misses her Daddy.

Opposite of YESDAD

So, on Saturday night, Hunter and Ryan built a 'fort' out of blankets and pillows in out room. Ryan ended up sleeping all night in the fort, but Hunter crawled in bed with us. As part of the YESDAD movement, I allowed the fort and the sleeping in our bed to happen. However, sleep for me that night was horrible. Anyway, on Sunday I came home from church ready to take a good nap to catch up on my lack of sleep. Hunter wanted to play Madden 09 on the Wii with me, and I very much wanted to say 'no,' but then Stacey said "remember YESDAD." So, I played the Wii with him. We had a great time. I even showed Ryan how to play the game and he had fun with it. I eventually got a 20 minute nap in, but was awaken by the boys.

So the story continues....last night Hunter and Ryan wanted to build the fort again and sleep in it. Though my YESDAD process should have been to say "YES," I emphatically said "NO." Other factors outrank YESDAD - these factors included school day the following day and my lack of sleep if they were to crawl into my bed. Besides, they weren't spending time with me or asking me to do something for them, this was just something they wanted to do and there was more harm than benefit.

The moral of the post is: you can't always be a YESDAD.

A Couple of YESDAD moments

I went to the gym yesterday morning and ran on a treadmill for 2.85 miles (I can't quite hit the 3 mile mark yet). When I got home all the kids were in the family room and Hunter asked me if I would play Madden Football on the Wii with him. Recognizing this was another YES DAD moment, I said yes and we played for about 20 minutes (I beat him by 1 point by the way). I made sure to put a limit on the time played so that we didn't waste the morning playing video games. I know that it was just a video game but hopefully he recognizes that I put some time into doing something that he wanted to do.

Next, Hunter and Ryan wanted to build a fort in our room with pillows and blankets and then sleep in the fort. Stacey and I agreed to do it. Hunter ended up in our bed and the fort collapsed on Ryan, but pulled it down and wrapped Ryan in the blankets when he was asleep. Anyway, Hunter was all over the bed last night and needlesstosay, I did not sleep very well. But, again I hope this is something that they both might remember that they got to sleep in a fort in Mommy and Daddy's room when they were 'little.'

YES DAD

The other day I watched a movie called YES MAN that starred Jim Carrey. The basic plot of the story was that this man lived a very boring life because he never exposed himself to new things and was consistently saying “no.” He was so wrapped up in his miserable life that he never thought about what saying “no” meant to other people. He got so used to saying “no” that when he did make a commitment to someone he usually forgot about that commitment because he was not used to saying ‘yes’ to anything. This caused him to hurt or destroy friendships with loved ones and those closest to him. He eventually ran into an old friend who talked him into attending a motivational seminar where people refused to say ‘no’ in their lives and were constantly saying ‘yes.’ Events in his life lead him to attend this conference where he made a pact with the YES GURU to say ‘yes’ to everything that came into his life – with a warning, that if he said ‘no’ then very bad things were going to happen. The character in the movie soon begins saying ‘yes’ to everything which leads him on many crazy life adventures and experiences, including some very, very bad things that he should have said 'no' to. Now, this movie goes a little overboard in the fact that the man feels like if he says ‘no’ then his life will be severally cursed or that karma would come back and get him. I like the basic principle of the story in the fact that there are so many times in my life that I say ‘no’ to my children. That is probably the number 1 word that comes out of my mouth. I decided to make a commitment to my children – with reasonable boundaries (as I refuse to go to McDonald’s or buy them things) – that I will say “yes” more in 2009. I am confident that I will not experience some of the wild escapades that the man in YES MAN experienced, but that I will share some great and intimate experiences with my kids. I was put to the test the other night when Hunter and Ryan asked to watch CLONE WARS with them. Though I had 100 other things to do, I laid on the floor and watched the movie with them. Before long, I had both boys laying on the floor along side me, snuggling close and watching the movie. That is definitely one of life’s little treasures that only parents can fully understand.

Don't Even Think About Taking My Fruitloops

Where's my little girl?

Sami keeps getting bigger. She is not even one yet and she is walking around the house. That is all she does all day - walk around the house with a big grin on her face. She is the sweetest things. Last night, I came home from work and the house was rather quiet (so I knew that Hunter and Ryan were not at home). Then, I heard some clomping of little footsteps on our hardwood floors and I could tell Sami was coming toward me. I paused and waited for her to come around the corner. Then, I saw her little head peep out and when she saw me she very clearly said "Hi Dadda!" I picked her up in my arms and kissed her cheeks and she gave me a little open mouth peck on the cheek, and she threw her arms around my neck. What a cutie!

2009

So, can someone explain to me what happened to 2008? All of the sudden it is 2009 and I am looking at a little girl that is about to turn 1 year old. 2008 was a good year and I look forward to seeing what 2009 has to offer. I made a couple of resolutions in 2008 that I reached or came close to reaching. First, I read the Book of Mormon. I actually read that at the beginning of the year in 76 days or something like that (it is in an earlier blog). I also had the goal to get to the temple 10 times. I actually went 9 times - in my defense I thought I was going at the end of December but it never materialized - no excuse really, I should have gone more. For 2009, I would like to continue on with similar goals as I did in 2008. I want to go to the temple 10 times, and I want to spend quality time reading the Book of Mormon. I also want to complete the 20 week workout that I have set up with Tim and Chris, which will hopefully help me lose wait, get stronger, and read the scriptures. Other resolutions are to finish my book and to write an article for the Association of Legal Administrators magazine (whether that gets published or not doesn't really matter - just that I did it). I also plan on learning a few more songs on my guitar and being a YESDAD, which I will go into in some later posts. 2009 here I come...