Johnny Verbeck Reprise

Growing up as a Hales, we song many different songs. One of these songs was Johnny Verbeck. You can google and find various different versions. This morning, while in the shower, I started singing some additional verses. By noon, I had the following done. (And yes, we grew up singing Rebeck.. that can work too.)

JOHNNY VERBECK REPRISE

It has been 20 years since Johnny’s demise
And now is son, Junior, is making a reprise
He found his father’s sausage making machine
He fixed it up, added some gears, and made it really clean

Oh, Johnny Verbeck, Johnny Verbeck, how could you be so mean?
I told you, you'd be sorry for inventin' that machine
now all the neighbor’s cats and dogs will nevermore be seen
For they'll be ground to sausages in Johnny Verbeck's machine.

Now that it was working, he wanted to test it out
He needed to make some sausages for his sour kraut
So he grabbed some stray dogs and a few rats
He mixed in a couple of birds and a Siamese cat

Oh, Johnny Verbeck, Johnny Verbeck, how could you be so mean?
I told you, you'd be sorry for inventin' that machine
now all the neighbor’s cats and dogs will nevermore be seen
For they'll be ground to sausages in Johnny Verbeck's machine.

Junior made his dinner; he put it on his plate
He also served his daughter, and his wife Kate
They took a bite of sausage, it made them really ill
In two days it killed them all and now they’re buried by the hill

Oh, Johnny Verbeck, Johnny Verbeck, how could you be so mean?
I told you, you'd be sorry for inventin' that machine
now all the neighbor’s cats and dogs will nevermore be seen
For they'll never be ground to sausages in Johnny Verbeck's machine.

Temple Night

Mark and I try to go to the temple at least once a month. It helps us be better people. It helps us grow closer together. And it strengthens us spiritually.

Last night we went to the Jordan River Temple to do sealings. We ended up in a room where the ordinance was spoken as well as signed in American Sign Language. It was wonderful. The witnesses were both deaf. And five of the ten patrons were deaf.

Interestingly enough, last month we ended up in the deaf endowment session. Two months in a row? Crazy.

I told Mark it's a sign, that he should take a class.

After we finished, the two witnesses almost ran up to Mark to start talking to him. Mark had signed our last name and he had done one or two other signs throughout the hour we were there--so the witnesses wanted to talk to this young man that they'd never met who apparently knew sign. Mark had to tell them he only knew his alphabet and a few things. Mark took a few "classes" from a friend at BYU who had just returned from an ASL mission.

Anyway, it was a super cool experience.

Oh, and it was also a great way to start out our third year of marriage--by reviewing the covenants we made two years ago.

Two Year Anniversary

Mark and I celebrated our two year anniversary on Monday. We dropped Zachary off at our friends' house and went to dinner at Olive Garden.

Mark totally spoiled me with gifts. He got me an upside-down tomato planter for our little patio. Maybe this year I can actually have tomatoes that are bigger than a shooter marble. He also gave me a gift certificate for a professional massage. He won it in a drawing! And, to top even those two perfect gifts, he made us a video of pictures and video clips of our last year together.

Seriously--I think I won when it comes to finding a soulmate.

I LOVE YOU MARK!!!!

"Hales" or "Haleses"

So, you commonly hear the name "Jones" pluralized to "Joneses." I've thought about my married name off and on for quite a while. We pluralize our name as "Hales." No adding the "es."

I figure we are like deer, sheep, moose, and quail. We are who we are, singular and plural.

I brought this up to Mark a couple nights ago and he said, "I've never thought about that before in my life." Ha! Way funny.

So, there you have it. We are plural without the "es."

P.S. In case any of you forgot the lessons about possessives and pluralizing, pluralizing is not achieved by adding "[appostrophe] s." Thank you. Adding "[apostrophe] s" means you are making it yours.

Zachary - 8 Months

So, I'm late on posting this...but here is as if I was writing this last week.

Dear Zachary--

YOU ARE EIGHT MONTHS! Eight! I can't believe you are already 2/3 of a year old. Yup. You just keep on growing and growing. And so is your hair. I love your hair. I love to let it be messy. And, on occassion, I love to comb it and gel it in place too.

You are still crawling. But, you're so fast at your crawling now. Sometimes I'm in one room and you follow me to the next, almost as fast as I walk from room to room. And, sadly, sometimes, I don't pick you up and you are chasing me while you are crying. I'm not trying to make you cry, I just need both of my hands to do whatever it is I'm doing.

You learned how to sip through a straw the other day. Yes. On Friday, May 14, you learned how to drink through a straw. My friend, Melanie, mentioned something about how most babies don't learn to sip through a straw until they are over a year. Maybe I'm remembering wrong. But, I'm surprised that you can do it. The big straws, like the one in my mug, are hard for you--only right now though.

You also cruise, but you seem to have no intention of letting go. A lot of people though you might be walking by 8 months. But, you are not interested in going solo yet. That's fine by me. You are also not interested in your push 'n' ride toy, except to spin the spinny things on it.

You love your baths! You like to be in the bathroom standing by the tub when I am filling the tub. And, you are very good at helping get undressed. You know how to pull your arms out of the sleeves and your legs out of your pants. I actually like watching you do this because you are just doing it without effort.

You're still friendly with people at church. That makes me happy. But, I and your dad are still your favorite people. And that makes me even happier. I love that you reach for us because we love reaching for you too.

You are pulling things out of outlets already. So, we've put the outlet covers on. They are hard to get out! At least for me they are! Ha! You are also pulling drawers out to see what's inside. Thankfully you haven't yet started pulling things out of the drawers themselves. Soon, I'm thinking.

You are really good at feeding yourself. We give you Cheerios and other small things like that. You love them and eat them up. We have also given you many different foods to try. You seem to like your veggies better with a little bit of onion powder sprinkled on them. I don't blame you--they can be pretty bland.

One day your dad and I took you to the park for lunch. You weren't sure what to make of the grass. I don't blame you.

Thanks for being such a good, happy boy. We laugh a lot. We love to "race" down the hallway.

I love you! Your dad loves you!

Love,

Your Mom

Toilet and Toilet Paper

Is anyone else scared for me that Zachary is already so interested in the toilet and toilet paper?





And just as important as the previous question is this: Is anyone else scared for me that Mark didn’t stop Zachary from making a toilet paper mess?

Scissors and Clippers

Mark keeps telling me to cut his hair. I've had a good excuse--I didn't have clippers.

Well, since my mom is a beautician, she gets a discount on clippers and such. The last time she was up, she got some clippers and she sold them to me.

Sooooooo........ I did my first hair cut. On Mark. On May 15, 2010.

He kept saying, "If you mess up, we can just buzz it shorter." Comforting.

I've also been really nervous since my mom also makes fun of bad haircuts. What if I gave Mark a bad haircut? I'd never hear the end. I vowed if that happened, I would immediately sell the clippers back to my mom and end my haircutting profession.

It took a little while, but I did it. I cut Mark's hair and it turned out pretty decent. I am not ashamed. Here are the before and after pictures.


Not exactly sure why Mark was making funny faces in these pictures. Maybe because I told him he would have to clean up all the hair he flipped around. Sheesh....