Banjo Boy, Karli's job, Krissy, Ang and Cam, Brenda and Tasha and Gary Coleman...

Sorry for taking a week off last week... I had meetings to prepare for at work and just didn't have the time. No such luck this week, however -- I'm back in all my blogging glory, ready to lay it down.

Banjo Boy? I've always prided myself on the fact that I've never paid money for a country western album. It's probably because it was so prevalent in my formative years and I just learned to hate it. I still remember watching Hee-Haw as a kid on Sunday nights and yawning. Was there any deciding factor? The twangy voices, the slide guitar and the banjo all contributed to my general disdain for the genre.

So I spent my high school years enjoying the new wave/punk/ska offerings out there, then enjoyed some grunge before finally settling in on softer, Jack Johnson types of music.

So, when Brandon Halcrow invited me to listen to Ryan Shupe and the Rubber Band, I decided to humor him, play nice and pretend like I liked. But something funny happened. I actually enjoy the stuff. Banjo Boy was particularly catchy at first, then I found myself humming along on Dream Big.

Before I knew it, I purchased their Dream Big album on Itunes. Yes, I had actually purchased my first 'country' album. Except that I'm not too sure it's country per se. Ryan Shupe sings in a fun, mostly alternative style. No twangy songs that bring back memories of being forced to listen to George Jones as a kid. These songs were fun, smart and decidedly un-country. In fact, two of the songs can be classified as reggae in my book.

In fact, the only decidededly country part to it all all is the presence of a banjo. But, funnily enough, it fits and I don't mind it.

Karli's job -- With the kids all in school, Karli couldn't stand to sit around all day and decided to get a job. The hard part was getting a job that fit within her strict parameters -- during the day, with enough flexibility to be home whenever the kids are home.

So, she went to work for Ridgeline elementary where our kids go to school as a Teacher's Assistant. She basically hops from one first grade class to another for five hours a day, helping with reading, or writing or whatever each teacher has in store for her for the hour she's there.

She seems to absolutely love it, especially for the fact that she gets to keep a somewhat close eye on Dustin and gets hugs from Katelyn and Kristen whenever she sees them. And all the vacation days she could hope for.

Kristen the amazing soccer player -- At the beginning of this soccer season, I told Kristen that if she scored a goal in a game that I'd buy her an ice cream cone. I might want to rethink that promise for next year.

Kristen is enjoying the year of her life in soccer this season. Not only is she scoring 2-3 goals every game, but she's doing it as she plays sweeper on defense and midfield most of the game.

I brought a camera to her last game for the blog but forgot to put the memory card in, so no pictures this week. We'll fix that for next week's blog entry.
To be fair, Dustin is also tearing it up on the soccer pitch this year as well, scoring several goals and pushing even more little girls aside to accomplish his goal of total soccer domination.


We've been privileged this week to have Karli's sister Angie, her husband Cameron and their kids Dakota, Kadyn and Cassidy visit for a few days. Their kids and our kids usually get to spend a month together at Grandma and Grandpa Orton's house during the summer, but circumstances didn't allow for it this year. This group of cousins love to hang out together so they've spend a lot of time playing dolls, Power Rangers and having fun outside as evidenced by these pictures.

Some of the Happy Cousins -- Dustin, Cassidy, Kristen, Katelyn and Kadyn.

Cassidy playing with an American Girl doll.
Kristen is supplying the rabbit ears behind her.

The Acor Family: Cassidy, Cameron, Angie, Kadyn and Dakota

The girls clowning around after church...

And playing with those expensive American Girl dolls.

After Church we went to the park. Here's Karli making the kids real dizzy then forcing them to give her a high five right aftter. Katelyn's not doing so well at it right here.

Cassidy, the pretty girl.

More dizziness.

Karli and Angie.

Angie and Cameron.

If there's water around, Dustin will find it and be sopping wet in no time.

Dustin and Dakota had a ton of fun together.

Kadyn, another pretty girl.

Aren't we cute?

Two little monkeys hanging from a pole.

Can you guess which one is two years older?

Dakota, ready to head back.

Angie and Cameron will head back tomorrow to Pennsylvania, but we'll catch up with them at Thanksgiving back east.

We also had a quick visit from my sister Brenda and her oldest daughter Natasha one week ago. Tash recently graduated from BYUI with a nursing degree and got a job at the Utah Valley Regional Medical Center in Provo. Brenda was here to drop her off, get her situated and apparently do a ton of shopping.

My kids loved their visit because they were not around when Brenda and her girls came and visited this summer. Brenda made sure she made up for lost time, reaquainting herself with all the kids (Reading with them, shopping with them, tickling them, etc.) over a several day period. Dustin was genuinely sad when he learned Aunt Brenda had left.

We held our first campout as a new ward troop last week as well, loading up 15 boys and hauling them down to Payson to Mom and Dad Craner's house for a quick overnight/planning session. Dallin and I went to Mom and Dad's house the Monday before to set up the TeePee.

The boys were in heaven with the awesome campsite, the TeePee and the ability to play Capture the Flag, with glowsticks at night on the wooded terrain of the lower lot.

Well, despite being very careful, Dallin managed to trip, fall and slice open the skin on his lower knee. It was a pretty wide cut, so after getting a blessing from myself and the bishop, we loaded Dallin in James Conlee's car and took him to the Payson Hospital at midnight for 8 stitches.

Dallin did a great job, only wincing when the pain medication was injected into his leg. We got out of there in no time and on our drive back to Mom and Dad's house, we noticed a huge 'disturbance' at the bowling alley on the way. Cars were everywhere. People shouting and a person laying on the ground writhing in pain. Since we had a wounded child, we kept on driving, but the next day learned what had happened...

Small world.... he he he...

Congrats to Matt and Cat for making it to Hawaii despite Ike.

And how bout them Cougars, eh?

So that does it for this week. I'll have a more complete post next week.