Compliments are worth remembering

I do believe I've written on this blog that I believe that compliments are worth remembering to foster gratitude, charity, and goodwill. Any feedback, positive, negative, or neutral can be valuable and beneficial but I still want to focus more on compliments.
             Anyway, recently my father-in-law told that I have a very special relationship with my daughter, that he delights in watching us interact with each other. He told me that she adores me and that I adore her. Thanks, Baba.
          

History

Ours to be specific.
     Today, Friday October 12, 2012 Vidalia got the chance to touch the very bench where her parents' very first conversation took place. It was a very nice experience. For me, I don't think she got it. but she will. she will.

Traumatic Event #2

            This is another event that took me several months before I could talk about it. This happened many months ago, perhaps last November? Anyway we were living in our first place in Lincoln, a town home with two stories (from the main floor you walk up 6 steps to a landing where there was a back door, then turn around and climb 6 more to be on the top floor).

             So, one night at about 3:00 AM I woke up to go to the bathroom when I felt a draft of cold air. I walked to the top of the stairs to investigate and found the back door slightly open. I started asking "Hello? Hello?" with as firm a voice as possible. After taking two steps down the stairs I noticed a silhouette of a large person wearing a baseball cap swaying slightly back and forth. I instructed Melissa to call 911 and started telling this person "Sir, you're trespassing, we're calling 911 and you will be prosecuted! Leave immediately!"

         At the same time I grabbed for the nearest protection I could find, which happened to be a camping blanket. At this same time, Melissa was whispering to me "the phones are downstairs, we don't have them up here." I continued to repeat my instructions while my anxiety was rising by the second. "Sir, you're trespassing and you need to leave immediately!"

           I mustered up enough courage to take a few more steps downstairs, bracing myself for a confrontation. Whatever happened, I was determined above all else to protect my wife and daughter even if it meant bodily harm to myself.

            As my foot set on about the third step from the landing, the profile became clear and I could see exactly who I was talking to. A helium balloon. It was a helium balloon, suspended about 6 feet off the ground right at the base of the stairs; it was swaying slightly in response to the heater vent blowing hot air in its direction. 

State License Plates

We've seen many license plates in the recent past. I will list all the ones I can remember for no apparent reason:
Maryland
North Carolina
Pennsylvania
Kentucky
Texas
Illinois
Nebraska
Iowa
Missouri
Kansas
Florida
Indiana
New Mexico
Idaho
Utah
Wyoming
Oregon
Washington
Nevada
California

That's 20 states! I wonder if over half the United States population lives all of these states combined. I think there is a good chance of that.

sincerly,
-Ryan Armstrong CTRS

Vidalia's Doings

     1) Vidalia helped me take apart our futon couch. I was using the screwdriver behind one of the bars, a little bit out of her reach. Well, it wasn't easy for her to reach so she came around the back put her hand out and said "da? da?" I told her no, that I was using it. So little Miss V walks around to the other side, picks up a set of Allen Wrenches and comes back. Then she extends her hand with the Allen Wrenches and starts reaching for my screwdriver. Then it hit me! She was trading me toys!
          We realized that she learned that because that's what we tell her friend James to do when he wants something she is playing with. Little miss clever :)

      2) We have been packing up a lot of boxes (because of course we will move to Utah in 4 days). So Vidalia saw us stacking them and caught on. We placed a box on the floor and she grabs it on both sides and starts grunting! Cute!
   So I picked up the box, and she and I carried it over the pile. Adorable. She is a good helper. Well she tries really hard to be and its very charming. 

Tramautic Event #1

   There is an event that until recently I have not been willing to discuss publicly; it started on June 9 and resolved (mostly) on July 19, give or take a few days, I can't remember the exact day the restriction was removed. So, without compromising the agreement I signed or compromising any agreement to confidentiality I will lay out some basic details. I do this primarily for the sake of keeping a personal family record.
    On June 9, one patient turned around, cursed and punched another patient. There was no warning, no odd behavior preceding this event, no exchange of any kind between the two patients. It was senseless, unprovoked violence.
    I insured the patients' safety and reported to the best of my understanding. I later came to understand that wasn't sufficient. I was suspended for 5 days without pay. When I came back I found out that the allegation were more severe than I imagined. I was placed on a restriction.
    The restriction wasn't lifted for several weeks. I am glad the incident happened that I might learn patience, humility and charity. Also so that others were given the opportunity to help me.
The End

Family Experiment

Recently I was chatting with one of my favorite people, Bont (known to Vidalia as Bum).

She was telling me the story behind her husband Mateo trying to teach their daughters Spanish; it's pretty much all his idea so her attitude was, "if it's important to you, do it." So he does it. I asked her does she ever get frustrated not knowing what he's saying to their kids and she said no that if ever she wants to know she can ask and Mateo will tell her in English.

So then I told Bont the reasons why we don't do the same, mainly that I would either have to choose between Spanish or Portuguese, or I would have to try to teach them both. Also, that Melissa would want to teach them Arabic. After talking to her I thought, why can't we try to teach them all these languages? We did work hard to acquire what we know, shouldn't our children benefit from our efforts? There are people completely fluent in 4 languages, in fact it's pretty common in some parts of the world.

So I discussed it with Melissa; she told me go for it so as of Tuesday, August 21, 2012 I am speaking to my child in primarily Spanish or Portuguese :) It's been fun. I was a little apprehensive thinking, I've already lost 20 months, Vidalia is used to responding to me when I speak English, this will be frustrating for both of us and for our relationship. I also thought to myself "What are the chances this will have any permanent effect on her seeing as how she would be hearing her father speak it who she only sees a few hours most days?" I finally concluded it couldn't hurt and I would be allowed to change my mind later.

So in summary, blah blah blah (Bob Loblaw) I am sharing my love of Portuguese and Spanish with my family. Melissa stated she will plan on making Arabic part of the curriculum for Home Schooling. So that will be good. Tahib (Arabic for good, as far as my transliteration is concerned).

-p.s. When I read Vidalia some of the books in Arabic I just say the basic phrases I know (e.g. I want water please/What's your name?/Happy Birthday/ Where are you from?/Let's go, etc.)

New Sister-In-Law

Guess what my main birthday present is? A new sister-in-law! Yep, they chose the date to coincide with my birthday, obviously in honor of me, right? haha.

Melissa's brother Jeremy made an excellent choice!

It is with open arms and open hearts that we welcome Crystal Harding Mikhail into the family! Here is their announcement:

So far, this is the oldest I've ever been.

That statement can be said by absolutely anyone at absolutely anytime and be 100% accurate. Well, unless someone makes a recording of saying that, than I suppose it wouldn't be accurate.
Anyway, Happy Sunday Everybody!

3 Years!

Three years ago today, Ryan and I got married.

It’s a little strange to me that it’s only been three years.  It seems like much longer.  I have a hard time remembering how it was before Ryan existed.  

I decided an appropriate way to celebrate our marriage (on a blog) would be to share the statistical information of the last three years.  I’ll start with the obvious:

·         3 years of wedded bliss

·         4 years since we met

·         1 child

·         2 pregnancies (Don’t get too excited.  We kept one, we lost one.)

·         3 vehicles

·         8 moves

·         2 bachelor’s degrees

·         1 real job

Words cannot describe how lucky I am to have Ryan.   I love you!  Happy Anniversary!

Things To Do In Lincoln #20

Memorial Stadium.

My brother-in-law, James, is a big sports fan.  So, we took him to see Memorial Stadium (where the Husker's play).  Sadly they weren't doing tours when we went, but we were able to see the trophy area.  I'm super impressed with somebody's creativity.  They had lots of displays and one of them was a video presentation and even I, not a sports fan...nope, thought it was awesome.

So much driving!

This was a road trip.  So we did a lot of driving.  I suppose it just comes along with the territory.  I was glad to join my family half way-ish through the drive and be done half way-ish through as well.  We left on a Sunday (we went to sacrament meeting, got everything packed up and left) and arrived at my grandpa’s house in Toronto around 7 a.m. Monday morning….maybe it was 8.  I can’t remember.  We didn’t stop for the night or anything.  The way home took 25 hours (including our brief stop at Niagara).  We left at noon on Friday and arrived to Lincoln around 2 on Saturday.  Vidalia was a trooper.  She got really tired of her car seat (and her stroller for that matter).  She’s such a good rider.  I hope she’s just as good on our road trip to Utah in a week.

Niagara Falls

On the way out of Canada we made a quick stop at Niagara Falls.  I love Niagara Falls.  It's fun to look at.  This particular day was ridiculously hot and super humid and for whatever reason, no mist was to be felt.  That may have shortened the time we would have otherwise spent there, but I think everyone had a pretty good time.