I'm an idiot.

I've come to the realization that I'm an idiot. While I realize this may not be a surprise to some of you, I've been so good at self delusion for a such a long time that it came as something of a shock to me. Here's how my epiphany came about:
It all started about 5 minutes ago, when Erin and Katie said "Bye Ben, wish you were coming with us!" and got into a truck and started driving to Alabama. My thoughts went something like this: I could be going with them, but two days ago it seemed like the whole thing was going to flop. So when a request for a Burn Boss to go to Las Vegas came in I started to think about pulling myself off the Alabama list and going to Las Vegas. Then yesterday morning my boss came in and said the guy from Alabama wasn't returning his calls, and he wasnt' sure it was going to happen. So I said to pull me from Alabama and I'll take the Vegas assignment. So he did. Then the guy from Alabama called and said everything was a go, people should leave on Friday. No biggie I thought, I'm just waiting for my resource order and I'll be heading out. So I waited, and waited, and waited. Then we called dispatch and said what the heck, and dispatch said "Sorry, we filled the request with somebody else." Crap. Any chance I can get back on the Alabama thing? No, Ben, you said you'd rather go to Vegas so everybody's driving and you won't get back in time for Faith to go to Mexico if you drive. Crap. I'm an idiot. That's what I get for trying to trade up. My boss called me this morning and said I can go in March, but I've got training every other week in March, so that's not happening. Oh well. Nothing else is going on, Dylan's doctor discovered a heart murmur at his check up the other day, so he's going to a pediatric cardiologist in Spokane next Thursday. I like the small town thing, but having to drive for 3 hours to get decent medical care is kind of lame. Hope everybody's doing well.

There would be a picture of Simon sledding, but he spent most of his time at the bottom of the hill trying to convince somebody to pull him back to the top. We finding a spot to sled right below our house, as we discovered that Simon's snow shoes don't fit him anymore, his boots are to big to fit in the bindings, so we couldn't go where we were planning to. I'm not sure when or if I'll be going to Alabama now, when I got to work yesterday I was told I was leaving Wednesday morning, then an hour later it was Thursday or Friday, then an hour later it was Friday or Saturday, and at the end of the day it was sometime between Friday and Sunday. I'm kind of doubting I'll go now, if I don't leave by Monday I won't have enough time to get 14 days in before I have to be home so Faith can go to Mexico. The guy in Alabama we'd be working for wanted everybody to come for 30 days, and my boss had to convince him I be a big enough help to bring down for 14 to 21 days. Dumb@s%. That's not a link by the way. It looks like one right now. Anyway, I won't be too sad if I don't go to Alabama, because I'd come home and Faith would leave, then she'd come home and I'm leaving a couple days later for Portland (make note Ken, the 28th, I'll call you later) then I come home for 5 days and leave for Tucson, then I come home for 5 days and leave for Redmond, then it'll be burning season for us, so I'll jump right into to long days and weeks of working, then it'll be fire season, so this next couple weeks might be nice to spend at home. Hope everybody's doing well.

It's true what they say, nostrils really are the gateway to the soul. I wanted to put a sunny/summer type picture on today, as I am soon leaving the winter weather for the bright sunny south! That's right, next week I'm heading for Alabama to show those boys how to light the woods on fire. Don't know what day I'm leaving, all the details are supposed to get worked out this weekend. I don't know how long I'll be gone, either. I told my boss I had to be home on the 10th or 11th, as Faith is leaving for Old Mexico on the 12th.While she's gone I'm buying a Nintendo Wii and a new gun, but don't please don't tell her, I'd hate for her to go to Mexico with a black eye she got because she argued with me. That's about it, we're going snowshoeing and sledding tomorrow. Chances are I'll forget the camera, but I swear that right now I fully intend to take some awesome pictures, and lets be Frank, it's the thought that counts. That's what Faith told me when I said I was going to buy her flowers but the store was out. And let's be ourselves now, I can ride that horse for a long time. Hope everybody's doing well.

Here's Simon making his cake and blowing out candles on his birthday. The morning of his birthday I went to his room at 530 in the morning and said "Wake up! It's time for birthday spankings!" Simon hid under his blankets, so I grabbed his foot and drug him out squealing like a pig. I told him "You get five spankings 'cause you're 5 years old." As I bent him over my knee to deliver the blows, he said "Wait, Dad, wait! Hold on!" I said "What?" and Simon said "You can't give me spankings because I don't turn 5 till after my birthday is over." Unable to argue with that logic, I let him go. Oh well, there's always next year. I had some video of him in his Clone Trooper costume, and of him making his cake, but it keeps saying failure to contact blog whenever I try to load it. Nothing much else is going on, Faith's getting excited about her Mexico trip which is coming up in a month, and I'm getting excited about taking a week off work. Have fun.

Hope everybody's doing well.

Here are Simon and Dylan with their Toy Story toys they got for birthdays/Christmas this year. And here are the boys making cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve.


We had a pretty good Christmas, it was all laid back and quiet until Simon opened up a Nerf gun. That makes noise. And doesn't take batteries. So there's no hope of it running out of batteries and not making noise anymore. Thanks Amanda. New Years Eve was pretty mellow as well, we let the kids stay up late watching movies, Faith and I stayed up late enough to watch the ball drop then went to bed.
We got up and decided to go sledding this morning, so I made some lunch for us, grabbed my back pack and headed out the door. Found a nice little hill, sledded for awhile. Simon and I were about to go for a walk when Faith said she was hungry and wanted her lunch. So I walked down to the pathfinder and grabbed my back pack and walked back up to Faith and the boys. Read this paragraph down to here again, I'll wait. Notice anything? Like how I never said that the lunch ever made it into my backpack? So we got to come back home. Luckily it's only about a 10-15 minute drive, but then we got home and the kids came in and stripped all their snow stuff off, ate their lunch, and started playing Red Light Green Light. Oh well. We're going to try again this weekend. Hope everybody's doing well.