Workin for a living, What's the plural of louse?, Dallin's birthday, New blogs

I loaded all the kids up Saturday morning for a different kind of trip to Grandma and Grandpa Craner's house. As I mentioned in my last post, we'll be taking a vacation (well, the kids and Karli will... I'll be working half the time) to Disneyworld. As this trip is on an extreme budget, we informed the kids that they're on their own for souvenirs this time around. After doing some brainstorming, the kids decided that they'd have to do some work to earn some money to purchase things.

First Stop: Grandpa.

I was put in charge of asking if this was even a possibility. He loved the idea and assured me that there was plenty of work to do at their house in exchange for Disneyworld spending money. He told me that the work wouldn't be easy though, and they'd be expected to provide value for the jobs they were tasked with.

So as we drove to Grandpa's house yesterday morning, the mood was different from the other trips down to Payson. This time, they were going to work.

When we got there, Grandpa brought us right into the garage and handed out jobs. Katelyn was to spend her day in Grandma's rose garden, picking up rose bush branches. Dustin and Kristen were in charge of picking up rocks near the fruit trees in the lower lot. Dallin would be spending his time with Grandpa in pruning trees.

Here is some video of the occassion....






They worked from 10 a.m. until almost four. They were very tired at the end of their 'shift', so Grandpa treated them to 'Escape to Witch Mountain.'

In all, it was a great experience for them to work outside and get a chance to earn some much needed money. Thanks to Dad for giving them the opportunity.

Yes, you heard Kristen correctly. She had lice this week. You never know where it exactly comes from, but we're thinking it had something to do with the play she was in this week -- A play all about Utah. Kristen played the part of a mountain man and was required to dress up like one... buckskin shirt, and a coon skin hat borrowed from her cousin Madison.



Kristen said there was a lot of sharing of the hat with her friends. We're thinking one of her lice-infested friends was one of the 'sharers.'

Kristen came to Karli on Friday morning complaining that she hadn't slept very well that night.

'Why?' Karli asked.

"My head kept itching," Krissy said.

So Karli checked Kristen's hair quickly and found the source of the problem... a small, black bug that was dead on her scalp.

"Well here's your problem," Karli said. "You slept on a bug."

Problem solved. The bug was dead. Kristen was sent to school and even had a friend stay until 9 p.m. that evening. After her friend left. Kristen put her pajamas on and then came back into our room to tell us that her head still itched. Karli took another look. This time she found several of the black bugs.

Alive. Moving. Sucking the blood right out of her scalp.

So I was dispatched to internet research duty. I kept looking for pictures of white bugs, cause lice are white, right?

Duh Pat.

Nope. Those little buggers were black in the pictures I found. Just like the ones that Karli kept bringing me off of Krissy's scalp.

Crap.

So, we sprung into action at 10 p.m. Friday night. I drove to Wal-mart to pick up the Lice shampoo. Karli immediately started the cleaning process. Sheets and pillowcases first. We woke up Dustin to make sure he didn't have them. He didn't

We called Dallin and Katelyn home from the neighborhood party they were at. They didn't have it either.

Whew. So, we all got a nice Rid Shampoo that evening. Kristen got a thorough hair combing with a special comb. We were all in bed by midnight. In the end, it wasn't that huge of an ordeal. Of course, Karli was happy we were all gone the next day so she could deep clean the whole house. But other than that, I think we're good.

Karli was sustained today as the new Relief Society 1st counselor. While sad she was released as the ward choir director, she's excited for the new opportunity and she'll do great. There are not too many people who work harder or are more organized tha Karli. I wish I had those attributes.

Dallin turns 14 this week. If you haven't seen him recently, he's grown like crazy the past few months. He's shot past Karli and is challenging my 6 foot height status.

We are extremely blessed to have him in our home. He's a great kid, very kind and loving and hard working. Today at church we had a parent of one of the kids he regularly babysits let us know how impresssed he is with Dallin. This is not the first time this has happened.

What's sad to me is the fact that we only have five more years with him until he goes on a mission. Holy cow.

So, happy birthday Dallin. Here's a video of one of his songs during his most recent Jazz band concert.



I will not be here to share in his birthday festivities this week. I will instead be in Logan, Utah that night, presenting to the Utah State University Partner's in Business Conference for the Carrot Culture Group. It's a big forum, a big stage and i'm a little terrified of acting all smart in front of all those intellectuals.

But it should be a lot of fun. I'm excited to go back to Utah State and see my buddies from my grad school days.

Busy April -- I'm also prepping for trips to Chicago, San Francisco, Sacramento, Reno, Dallas and Atlanta in April. Not to mention the trip to Orlando. Wish my back good luck.

Melissa and Mark Craner recently started a blog and it's great if you enjoy keeping up with what's going on in their lives in Houston. I've linked to it twice in my sidebar. Go have a look!

And remember to visit KK's blog as well. She puts a lot of hard work into it.

So, there's another update! Comment away!