Scott's Idea of Heaven

If you ask Scott what his favorite place in the whole wide world is, today the answer would be, "The Jelly Belly store!" Aunt Allison came up to visit us, so we decided to make the trip to Fairfield to the Jelly Belly Factory. When we drove up to the building and saw ALL the Jelly Belly signs, cars and figures, Scott thought he had died and gone to heaven! We did the factory tour, which was really fascinating. And then we obviously had lots of fun in the Jelly Belly shop trying new flavors and loading up with enough Jelly Bellies for the next several weeks... The best new thing that Allison and I discovered are the "JBz", which are like flavored M&Ms: chocolate in the middle and a variety of yummy flavors for the candy shell. My personal favorites is the chocolate strawberry. And if you are interested, the newest Jelly Belly flavor is pomegranate. It was really yummy!

It was a really fun Saturday adventure, but I will admit that the sugar crash Scott experienced as we got close to home was not so fun... And I am sure we are going to hear lots of requests to go back to the "BIG Jelly Belly store" in the future.

We Love You, Daddy!

It took several attempts, but we finally got a perfect picture to give Daddy for Father's Day! We celebrated by letting Daddy take a long, long nap. Also, in an effort to return the favor for the spectacular Mother's Day I was able to enjoy, my friends and I sent our husbands on a surprise adventure. First, they went out to a very lovely part of Rancho Cordova (insert sarcasm) to a shooting range. They shot pistols and shotguns and really had a great time. Drew, of course, has lots of experience using guns, but the other two dads had never been before. We figured Father's Day was a perfect opportunity to try something new and very manly.

After shooting, we sent the boys to Claim Jumper where they could eat themselves silly. Ironically they all ordered a burger from the menu called "The Widow Maker". So after a very fun and successful Mother's and Father's Day this year, I think we have established some new traditions!

So what does SAS stand for anyway?

My acquaintances know I have a job, other than being Mom... My friends know I teach and do something with numbers... My good friends and family know I work for a company called SAS and teach something about data... But that is probably about all anybody (including my mother) understands about my career. So if you have ever thought, "SAS? Is that the shoe company? Or maybe a European airline?" and are curious as to what my job is, read on!

SAS is the oldest and largest privately-held software company in the US. It was started by a couple of guys at North Carolina State who needed a tool to analyze some agricultural data. SAS originally stood for "Statistical Analysis Software" but since the software now does so much than just statisics, the acronym was officially dropped. Here are more details on the history of the company: http://www.sas.com/presscenter/bgndr_history.html

I was first introduced to SAS during my first semester in graduate school. I was told I had to take a class to learn the SAS programming language. I just about dropped out of the program right then and there because the idea of writing code truly freaked me out. But I learned in the world of statistics, there are a bunch of smaller, semi-helpful software programs out there to analyze data, and then there is SAS - the granddaddy of them all. Any career in statistics will most likely include a solid foundation in writing SAS code.

So I took the class and did fine, but really had no clue what I was doing. But since that experience, I learned in the real-world how SAS is used in just about every industry you can imagine. My internship during grad school was with AT&T, and I was asked to analyze a model that would predict how likely customers were to accept offers for additional services. SAS was the only tool I could use to collect the various types of data I needed and do the analysis to answer the question. I used SAS in my master's project to analyze data for the BYU and USA men's volleyball teams to help them determine those skills that were most predictive of a win. At my first job with Intel, I used SAS to help the engineers determine if the tools they were using to make the masks (think of a mask as a photo negative used to etch a pattern on a silicon wafer that will eventually become a computer chip) were accurate and clean. One of my specific tasks at Intel was to set up a SAS program that would flag masks that officially passed inspection, but has some unusual measurements. My knowledge of SAS had improved significantly, but I asked to go take some advanced training classes up in San Francisco to help develop this program.

As I sat in class, I thought, "This guy (the instructor) has such a great job. He gets to teach interesting stuff to different people from every type of work you can imagine." After class, I asked a SAS employee in the lobby for directions back to the freeway. Turns out he was also a SAS instructor and was a very friendly, chatty guy. Through our conversation, I learned that SAS was looking to hire another instructor in SF. I said I was definitely interested in finding out more, and he passed that on to the instructor for my class, who was the western regional manager for SAS Education. The next day after class, I had an informal interview. A few weeks later when the position officially opened, I did a more formal (but still pretty easy) interview and was hired!

That was 6 years ago. I absolutely love what I do... Now I teach and write classes for SAS part-time. My managers have been extremely supportive through the major life changes I have gone through since my hire date, including marriage, 2 pregnancies and a move. Some of my classes are on-line and I can teach from home. Other classes are in a traditional classroom, but most of the time they are local here in Sacramento. And when I work, my mom is my babysitter! It couldn't be a better arrangement. I have taught students from all over the world and from every industry you can image.

I doubt anybody has read this far, but if you have, thanks for reading while I ramble on about my job! And if you want any cool stuff with the SAS logo on it, just let me know. Here's my little bio on our website: http://support.sas.com/training/us/instructors.html#s

The Next Ken Jennings

Scott has the most amazing memory I have ever seen in a kid or an adult. We realized he had a freaky photographic memory about a year ago when he would be in the tub, playing with his spongy letters. Each letter is one of 5 random colors. While Scott would be looking for a letter, he would say something like, "Where's the red B?" or "Where's the purple V?" He knew the colors of all the letters in the tub. A few months later we added a second set of spongy letters to the tub (slightly different than the first set) because he was frustrated he couldn't spell words that had more than one of a particular letter. Now he know the colors for each set of letters.

Since then he has showed us that he also knows the colors of all the letter magnets on the refrigerator. He also has a set of plain old wooden blocks with colored letters on a pair of opposite sides. Not only does he know the color of each letter, but he knows which letters go together. In other words he could see a letter "M" and without looking know that there is a red "C" on the other side.

Throughout the past year Scott has been pretty entertained typing words he knows in Microsoft Word. Last January, just before his 3rd birthday, I showed him how to change the color of the text. He caught on pretty quickly and started typing this:

It didn't surprise me that he was typing "babyeinstein" since he had been doing that for a while, but I realized that he was being very deliberate about the colors he was choosing. While he finished typing, I ran downstairs and looked at the intro screen on the Baby Einstein DVD and wrote down all the colors. When I came back upstairs to see the final result, I saw that the colors were all exactly correct.

The past few months Scott has been really into numbers -- specifically addresses. First he was excited to know that his house was "1773". Then as we would go to other places, he would always notice and remember the addresses. He tells me that he wants to go to "1777" (Tanner's house) or "1240" (the church). He sees an address once and it is locked in his brain. About a month ago we were driving in the car and he asked me what Aunt D's (Cindy) address was. I didn't know so we called and Cindy told me it was 307. Scott said, "No, it is 12345." I just thought, ok - sure - it's 12345. And the discussion was over. Then 2 weeks later, Mom was in the car with Scott and he saw a sign with 307 on it. He said, "307 - That's Aunt D's number."

So I am thinking I should start him now watching Jeopardy and maybe by the time he is old enough to be a contestant, he will have memorized enough answers to make a fortune! I think it is a great plan, but guess we should still plan to save for retirement and college, just in case :)

Baby C's First Pigtails

Charlotte finally has enough hair that I can do something with it! Check out her first pigtails:

How do you force a 3-year-old to eat?

I can't figure out how Scott has so much energy when the kid does not eat! It is a serious battle every time we attempt to have dinner. Today we tried this game: I had him write on our white board 12 things he could have for dinner. Of course each item had to be numbered, since I was trying to play to his numbers obsession. By the way, the reason it looks like he wrote a "c" after each number was because he was trying to add a close parenthesis.

So once the list was created, I asked him which numbers he wanted for dinner. He responded, "1, 2, 3!" So tonight he enjoyed a gourmet dinner of Dino Buddies (chicken nuggets), noodles and green beans. And HALLELUJAH, he ate every bite! So if any of you out there have any other good ideas to get this little boy to eat, I would love to hear your creative suggestions. The numbers thing worked tonight, but no guarantee it will work tomorrow...

Oh, and while we are battling Scott to get him to eat, here is Charlotte digging in the trash, trying to get every last Kix out of the cereal box. Are these kids related?

The Best Mother's Day Ever!

Drew scored major points this weekend... He realized that although it was Mother's Day, the best way to celebrate was NOT to spend it with my adorable children, but instead to get out and have fun with other moms! So Drew coordinated with the husbands of my friends, Keri and Laurie, to send us out on a surprise "adventure" Saturday night. All I knew was that at 3:30pm, I was to go over to Laurie's house. I thought maybe the men would just be watching the kids while we went to the mall to shop. But no... those boys were much more creative! Once I arrived at Laurie's, her husband gave us a paper with instructions of places we needed to go and people to ask for, all according to a specific schedule. Our first stop was to pick up Keri. So with three crazy moms in the sweet Prelude, we cruised Douglas Boulevard to find our first destination. All we had was an address... Eventually we found a bead store where we were to go in, ask for Esther, and make our own fancy jewelry. Check out my cool necklace. Not bad for a first attempt!



After that, we were to go to another address for dinner. We ended up a a place called Pizza Antica in Granite Bay. It is a brand new restaurant with really cool, yuppie pizzas. We loved it! My favorite was the cherry limeade drink. And to finish off the night, we went to an Italian place for dessert. Not only were the activities and food SO great, but the three of us had such a great time chatting and being girls, without having to chase our cute little kids around. Now of course Laurie, Keri and I realize we have to come up with something REALLY good for Father's Day... Stay tuned!

I Met Lavell! Oh, and Allison & Ted's wedding luncheon was lovely...

Besides all the graduation festivities, we were able to enjoy a really nice lunch at Magelby's in Provo to celebrate Allison and Ted's wedding. The event was mainly for Ted's family and friends, but even with just the immediate Syphi Family invited, we filled up at least half the room. Of course there was more singing and roasting of both Allison and Ted, but the highlight of the event for me was meeting Lavell Edwards! And he was smiling! Probably because he is not coaching anymore...Here is the proof:

The Graduation Pilgramage to Provo

Another year, more graduations for both of our families! Kelly graduated from UVSC with a batchelor's in Criminal Justice and Gary (Drew's brother) graduated from BYU with a master's of Public Administration. It was really fun to see all of Kelly's family again and as well as most of the Syphi gang.



We also were able to get the Syphi all together to celebrate Ethan's 6th birthday at Taylor and Sara's house. Thanks to Rachel, we have lots of cute pictures of the grandkids all playing together:

Thank Goodness for In-and-Out!

I feel very sorry for all of you living east Nevada and Arizona, as you do not have access to an In-and-Out Burger... So after Charlotte's 1st birthday doctor's checkup where she measured 6th percentile for height and 10th percentile for weight (that means she is teeny), we decided to try to fatten her up a bit. And what better way than In-and-Out! And true to her genetic bloodlines, she loved it! Check out her first experience with eating fries:


And of course Scott had his favorite meal: pink, brown and white milkshake, fries and chupup. Is it bad that as the mom of an EXTREMELY picky eater, that I consider this to be a very nutritious meal? I count it as two vegetables and a dairy...

Our Favorite Scott Words

This is for all the family and friends to participate... So what are your favorite words that Scott says? I'll list my favorite, but feel free to add any you remember:

The clear #1 favorite: Chupup (ketchup)
Bwoo (blue)
Yeahyo (yellow)
Numbins (numbers)
Whoa (four)
Smarshmallows (marshmallows)
Choppawhips (chocolate chips)
Popasicle
Yucky, Yucky Me (Charlie & Lola episode "Lucky, Lucky Me")
"I'm rounding!" (running in circles)

Baby C is 1!!!

Today we celebrated Charlotte's first birthday! She is still so teeny, but so darn cute! After our Easter Egg hunt, we came inside and got the little princess all ready for her big show. She was way more into the little cupcakes than Scott was when he turned one! You can see from the pictures she did a good job of making a mess.

Allison & Ted's Wedding

The Princess sure had her day... Allison was in SPECTACULAR form for her big wedding day! We headed down to Pasadena the day before the wedding, just in time to miss the decorating party at the Stake Center where the reception would be held. Miraculously, the entire Syphi gang made it to the LA temple with time to spare. The sealing was absolutely beautiful and I will never forget the calm, confident look on Allison's face. Oh, and Ted looked good, too :)


Then the party began... Although the reception was at a Stake Center, it was like no Stake Center I had ever seen! It was an English Tudor-style building with beautiful landscaping all around. And the cultural hall looked awesome in all the burgundy, plum and fuchsia decorations. The dinner was fabulous, the desserts even better (surprise), but the highlight of the evening was the musical entertainment. Allison did a couple of numbers (spectacular, I may add). An old friend, Mike Moore, sang a little Harry Connick - which Ted realizes is the only other man he needs to worry about in Allison's heart. A trio of women did some great songs including Wishin' And Hopin'. And last but not least, we heard the traditional Roast With Love from the Syphi Siblings. This video was taken at the wedding luncheon in Provo a month after the wedding, but this was the same song performed at the reception:


And at the conclusion of the evening, Allison and Ted rode off on a motorcycle -- with Allison driving, of course. What else would you expect???

Ted is a wonderful guy and absolutely perfect for Allison. We are so excited for them both!

Our First Real Getaway

Drew and I came to the realization that since Scott was born, we haven't spent a single night away from our kids together. It was WAY overdue... My parents bought a timeshare through the Westin at Ka'anapali Beach on Maui, and were able to refer their friends and family to take advantage of a fabulous vacation package for only $750. That's a great deal for Maui. So we took them up on the offer! With the kids thrilled to be hanging out with Grandma, Drew and I took off for a wonderful 6-day vacation.

It was so relaxing! Since we have been to Maui before and done a lot of the touristy things, we could skip that stuff and just enjoy the beach and the pools and the good food... So here are the things we added to our list of favoriates on Maui:

1) Go see Warren & Annabelle's Magic Show. It was amazing AND hilarious! Totally worth the money. I am still thinking about some of the tricks he did and have no clue how he could have pulled them off. The show does sell out, so get tickets early: www.warrenandannabelles.com/

2) Have dinner at Ruth's Chris Steak House. Wow. Expensive, but the fillet was to die for.

3) Order the popcorn shrimp at Bubba Gump's in Lahaina. The atmosphere is crazy and fun, and this was the best shrimp I've ever had.

4) Get a massage! Drew and I spent one afternoon at the Westin Spa. We both had a massage, Drew got a facial, and both of us just enjoyed relaxing in the quiet room, reading and sipping herbal tea.

5) Order Lava Flow drinks wherever you eat! The first night we arrived our waiter suggested a virgin Lava Flow. It was awesome! We had at least one a day.

6) Go to Honolua Bay. There are actually two bays right next to each other, and since they are up on the north shore, they are a little more secluded. The first bay had great waves for body surfing, and the second bay looked like it had great snorkeling. We weren't able to try it out, but we'll go back next time.

So did we miss the kids? Well, sort of... We knew they were having a wonderful time with Grandma, so we could really just enjoy ourselves without worrying about them. And 6 days was just the right amount of time to be away. We loved it so much, we also decided to buy a timeshare through the Westin! My parents have really loved theirs, and we feel really good about it being a totally worthwhile investment for our family for the rest of our lives.

Scott Turns 3!

Feburary 26th was Scott's 3rd birthday! We tried to talk about the fact he was turning 3 years old, but he kept telling us that he wanted to be 1. Not quite sure why... A few months ago we had taken Scott to Chuck E. Cheese for a fun night out and he absolutely loved it! So I thought that would be the perfect location for his big birthday rager. We invited his little friends T (Tanner) and E (Emily) and their families, as well as Grandma and BaBa. At first I thought we would just do pizza at Chuck's, but the more I thought about it, I realized that none of the kids would eat pizza... The most exciting dinner Scott and his buddies could image would be fries and "chupup" (aka ketchup) at In-and-Out. Emily and her sister Molly were THRILLED to go to what they call "the french fry store."

So we had an exciting dinner with fries, chupup and milkshakes and then we were off to Chuck E. Cheese! Scott's favorite things to do were play in the hamster maze that travels along the ceiling and play Skeeball (just like Grandma). He actually was pretty good at Skeeball, as long as we let him climb up close to target.

Eventually we had cupcakes for all the party guests. Scott and Grandma had a fun afternoon frosting all the cupcakes and putting everyone's name and sprinkles on each one. Tanner just had his birthday in December, so he was more excited about blowing out the candles than Scott was.

Then came the presents... T and his brother, Parker, gave Scott a cool Cars big rig that included Lightning McQueen and a few other cars. I would tell you the other cars' names, but we haven't actually seen the movie start to finish. Scott just identifies them by their numbers: 86 and 43. Emily and her sisters, Molly and Baby Heidi, gave Scott not one, but TWO Charlie t-shirts! The story behind this was at Christmas time, Scott told me he wanted a shirt like Charlie wears in Charlie and Lola (one of his favorite books and cartoons). It is just a baseball shirt with Charlie's name on it. So Laurie, E's mommy, bought 2 t-shirts from Old Navy, swapped the sleeves so they looked like baseball shirts, and ironed on the letters C-H-A-R-L-I-E. Scott was so excited! It is now 6 weeks after the party and he wants to wear his Charlie shirts just about every other day. So besides the fun presents he got from his friends, Grandma and BaBa got him a small trampoline and Mommy and Daddy gave him a T-ball set.

All in all, it was a very fun and EASY 3rd birthday party!

A Very Common Site...

If you have been to our house sometime during the past 6 months, you have most likely seen a little boy running around with no pants on. Scott has done really well potty training, but wants nothing to do with pants. So we see this site quite often, although this video was unique in that he decided for the first time to try and put his underwear on by himself! He did a pretty good job for his first attempt :)

Charlotte is on the Move

Charlotte is now mobile! Put a phone or a remote in front of her, and there's no stopping that girl...

The Next Generation's Choir Director

Watch out Aunt Allison and Grandma D! Scott is ready to take over as the next Syphi Family choir director... When Baby Santa finishes, they play the Hallelujah Chorus during the credits. Scott has to stop whatever he is doing, look at the TV and bounce his hand to the beat. And be sure to watch his grand finale:

Scott's Impressive Dance Skills

Scott spent forever today just standing at the refrigerator, playing the song each of the letters in sequence and doing this silly little dance. He was so entertained!

Baby C and Baby L (Elle)

We had a lot of fun with Jeff, Kelly, Elle, Cindy & Ryan all here visiting the last few days. Aunt Kelly taught Scott to say "Baby Elle", which is really easy since he has his letters down cold. Scott was driving in the Pilot with Jeff and Kelly and just kept saying over and over, "Baby L, Baby L..." And now that his fun aunts and uncles and cousin are gone, if we mention Baby L, he becomes very sad.

And since Baby L is such a great name, Scott also decided "Baby C" would also be appropriate for his little sister. And he thinks it is hilarious if ask if her name is Baby A or Baby C or Baby X... You get the idea!