Shrimp Fork

Apparently, shrimp forks solve all childhood eating problems. Mothers and future mothers...be advised!

The Problem: Marin would push away food before even trying it or would decide she needed her independence from parental feeding and wouldn't eat unless she could feed it to herself. I went on numerous silverware hunts to find something that would actually pick up food and was user friendly to children. The toddler metal forks and spoons, not only cost a ridiculous amount, they are also useless in holding food of any type. I found myself constantly trying to balance the food on them in order to get the food to her mouth.




The Solution: Shrimp forks and tea spoons. They have the same curvature and staying power as adult silverware and are small enough for Marin to manipulate. She will now eat just about everything, because of her new found independence. The extra bonus is that I can actually eat a few bits of my own dinner occasionally.

Strangely Familiar

Something about this and this reminds me of some old roommates that I once had.

What are your thoughts?

Daniel's ABC's

Sorry folks. Here’s another one of those annoying list things. Enjoy.

A- Attached or single: Attached
B- Best Friend: Katie
C- Cake or Pie: I cannot choose. I will not choose! It’s a tie between chocolate dump cake with peanut butter icing or peach pie with whole milk pored over the top.
D- Day of Choice: My weeks don’t have any way to track a beginning or end, so I choose any non-work day as my day of choice.
E- Essential Item: I need Heroes to make more episodes and put them on DVD fast!
F- Favorite Color: Blue, without hesitation.
G- Gummi Bears or Worms: Bears, of the cinnamon variety and then covered in chocolate. The one thing that makes BYU tolerable
I- Indulgence(s): Oreo’s and milk, or a dark chocolate Snickers. Drool…
J- January or July: JULY! I love hot. I despise cold. The only reason for snow is sport, ever.
K-Kids: 1
L-Life is incomplete without: Katie and Marin
M- Marriage Date: August 18, 2004
N- Number of Siblings: 3
O- Oranges or Apples: Apples as long as they are crunchy.
P- Phobias or Fears: Heights freak me out. The crazy thing is that I dig being freaked out. I like the adrenaline. I enjoy anything that gets me to the edge of a very steep drop.
Q- Quote(s): "You must be a creator of circumstances, not a victim of circumstances” – President Robert E. Sorenson, San Francisco, California Mission President 1997-2000.
R- Reason To Smile: My little girls giggle.
S- Season: Summer. I love being outside in the sun. It even beats the smell of fall or the energy of spring.
T- Tag Six: I think that I’m the last person that I know to have been tagged and if I’m not, I don’t want to suffer that anyone else would have to feel obligated to fill this out.
U- Unknown Fact About Me: Mostly unknown… I hated pizza as a kid. I was a teenager before I learned to like it. The truth of it is that I hated anything with any red sauce. Spaghetti was the first thing with red sauce that I started liking. I still hate fresh tomatoes. I’m pretty sure that they are the reason for initially hating pizza.
V- Vegetarian or Oppressor of Animal: I think that I’m somewhere in between. We don’t eat a lot of red meat, mostly chicken and pork. Even then it’s still in moderation.
W- Worst Habit: “Yep” “uh huh” and “huh?” as opposed to “Yes” and “excuse me?” Also, I incessantly crack my knuckles. I lack the will power to stop.
X- X-Rays or Ultrasounds: X-Ray. As in X-Ray vision. I’m all about super powers. I am such a dork when it comes to comic book stuff. I so want to be Peter Petrelli when I grow up.
Y- Your Favorite Food: It changes often. Currently I love this Japanese chicken salad that Katie makes. I think that it’s my favorite for now.
Z: Zodiac: Libra

Just Thinking

To all those who think that I’m not the same person than I was only a few years ago, you are right. And I thank you for noticing. Katie and I are working very hard to build a home for ourselves that our children will be able to grow and thrive in. Most of all, we want them to feel safe in it. We want it to be a refuge from the world and all the ugliness that is out there. We don’t want to shelter our kids, but we instead we want to give them an example of what they can have if they work for it. This, by the way, has nothing to do with belongings. Frankly, we’ll probably never be able to afford to buy a new xbox, Nintendo, PSP, cell phone, car…. every time a new one comes out - we try to be responsible with our finances. On the contrary, we feel that happiness comes independent of having the latest… anything. I think that my family benefits far more when we can spend an hour at the park together than even three hours in the same room rotting in front of the TV.
I digress.
My point is this. Katie and I are in fact trying not to be the same people that we’ve always been. We believe that we can be better. We are constantly looking for ways to not only love one another, but to actually enjoy one another too. This sounds elementary, but it's kind of a new concept for me and can be a serious struggle. It really takes a lot of work. The hardest part is when you see others involved in mediocre relationships, for whatever reasons, and they seem to have given up the hope of changing for the better.
I had a friend in School that was a very good friend. We did just about everything together. We did so much together that it actually stopped me from doing other things with other people. Often was the case that my friend didn’t like those other people or those other people didn’t like my friend. I eventually realized that my “friend” was like this gigantic black hole in my life, slowly sucking me to their level of darkness. Maybe you never had one of those “friends” but we have all probably observed it at one time or another. The moral is that a true friend would/should want you to be the best you that you can be, not just the one that they’ve always known. When anyone begrudges you for wanting to reach new heights and be better people, they are surely not a true friend. I believe, for right or for wrong, that when ever this happens, you need to step beck at least a little bit from the person or persons that are fighting your attempts to better yourself. This can be so hard because you most likely feel an obligation to help your friend. In addition to the fact that your friend almost certainly is living in some state of denial with regards to their condition, they will certainly see your stepping back as a painful slap in the face of your relationship. They will also probably try to manipulate you with the blame of ruining the relationship. There is nothing that is easy about this situation at all. I think that I am a better person when I surround myself with people that actually cheer me on and wish me well. It is a dangerous place when you are surrounded with “friends” that want nothing more than the way that it always was. I want better. MY family deserves better. I have to safeguard them and keep them from the dangers of being torn down instead of built up. I have to teach them by example that they should never be in any relationship where good enough is good enough. It’s never true.
If you’ve read this letter in its entirety, you have made the list of good friends. Thanks for sitting through my brain vomit. Hope you enjoyed.