She Speaks For the Rest of Us

I know what it looks like, but I promise we don't willingly submit Lana to such extreme abuse. As we got closer in line everything seemed to be OK...that is until her turn came up. At that moment we were already committed. It took about a nanosecond on Santa's lap before the shutter opened fire to capture the horror. Maybe next year...

Louder Than Words...

Okay, this has got to be one of the funniest pictures ever! That's me on the right. I don't want to incriminate anyone so I'll leave the identity of the person on the left anonymous.

Create a caption for this pic and post it as a comment. The winner will be recognized as a superior human and I will dedicate a paragraph to them on this blog!

Just Listed

We just put our home on the market to see if it sells before we head off to Missouri for a while.

Narrowing the Name

Previously on TGT11 I posted a list of baby boy names that we were thinking about giving to our soon-to-be-born son. This has been pretty stressful for Christa. She needs to have everything figured out well in advance. I, on the other hand, would be fine deciding on his name at the hospital. Christa wins. We've decided on the following:

Beckham _____ Kelley

The middle name is still up in the air, but we've tossed Frank around in honor of my dad. Thoughts?

Why Beckham? We think it's cool and like the sound of it. Christa's sister actually suggested it.

Stuck

Lately Lana loves to climb up on chairs and just sit there. It's true. Sometimes she'll go into her play room and just sit on one of the chairs in there. She doesn't do anything or make any noise. Just sit. Here posture is perfect, too. I could learn a thing or two. After the pictured predicament I think she'll learn to pull chairs away from under the table before she climbs up.

Plymouth Rock

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving last week. We had kin over for the feast. Mom, Niki & Joe, Dane, and Christa's sister Kimberly. I didn't take many pictures, in fact, this is pretty much it. After we demolished a whopping 2,347,809 calories Dane showed us all up on the Wii. Kimberly rocked the free world on Guitar Hero. And Black Friday adds were tossed to and fro (alright, who split up the Target add?). Thanks to everyone who helped out and brought food more than fit for human consumption. We didn't go around the table and say things that we are thankful for as is the custom with many American families. So here it is. I'm thankful most of all for my family. I wouldn't trade them for the world. Not even a rock and roll lifestyle where Ozzy opens for me! I love Christa for putting up with me. Lana is the best blessing ever. And I can't wait to welcome Beckham into the world. Cheers!

Trunk or Treat

Last night we graced the ward Trunk or Treat activity with our presence. Lana was a butterfly, Christa was a witch, and I was an emir. It was pretty fun. One of the funnest things was not being recognized by other ward members. Success! Another fun thing was skirting around calling the guy that dressed up as Fat Bastard...Fat Bastard...in the cultural hall of the church. "Wow, did you see Joe? He's the uh...Fat Ba...er...uh...the fat Scottish guy that yells 'Get in ma belly!'..." in the distant background I hear a thundering "Get in ma belly". "Yeah, that guy." finishes I.

Chili, cornbread, dry ice cider, and dough nuts were on the menu. It's a stretch to open your mouth wide to eat when you've got a 'stache glued to your lip. A little more spirit gum did the trick. Lana wasn't interested in eating much so we decided to go run around the halls. The gym was like a freakin' sauna so it was nice to get out. While we were in the foyer folks started heading out to their cars to pass out tricks or treats. Some redneck lady straight from Jerry Springer's "My Husband Left Me for the Sheep" episode wearing a black Staker-Parsons construction sweatshirt managed to holler out that my costume was offensive as she ran out the double doors. Wow. I wanted to say about 53 things, but she disappeared so fast and I didn't want to ruin the fun. I don't value the opinions (or the existence) of those who contribute to society by wearing a heavy path between their couch and their refrigerator for 87% of their lives. Nope. My costume rocked!

After everything was said and done I'm most proud of Christa. She's not the Halloween type that gets excited to dress up as something different. Being five months pregnant doesn't help. But, she pulled it off. In the space of 24 hours she put together a pretty rockin' witch costume. The only snag was the tights. The Halloween store didn't exactly cater to the maternity crowd. A little Martha Stewart snip here and a McGyver trick there and she was sporting some sweet purple and black stockings that stayed where they were supposed to stay. I tried to get her to sport some hideous latex witch nose, but that idea was quickly cursed.

Lana is the cutest butterfly ever. See for yourself.