Gotcha! Ha! That’s what I thought when I say this spoof. Pretty smart if you ask me.

I am excited to see Iron Man 2, though I think Theo is even more so (though he won’t be seeing it anytime soon). I printed out a poster of Iron man a couple of months ago (because I’m a geek like that), and Theo has really gravitated to it. Susan said the other day while at the gas station he kept pointing at the Iron Man advertisement saying something over and over, and then she finally figured out he was saying “iron man”. The show would probably be right up his alley. The other day he came into the bedroom while I was putting my socks on and with his pajama sleeve pointed it at me (his hand drawn in so it made a large barrel) and proceeded to “shoot me”. I guess us boys are just drawn to futuristic gadgets and weaponry.

When nothing else is on TV and I’m just flipping through the channels often the travel channel delivers. One of the shoes that I really like is Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations, and maybe it’s the fact that one of the places he visits the most often is Vietnam. Having 2 children from Vietnam secures the country deep in my heart. The other night while watching Susan and I just smiled and said how much we can’t wait to go back with our kids when they’re a bit older. I miss the food, smells, sites, the noise. It’s a beautiful country.

Unfortunately we aren’t buying this beauty (I wish). The other day after my haircut I thought I’d drive down Jefferson Ave. (a street in Ogden that has some incredibly hugh old homes and in the past few years undergone some major rehabilitation), and couldn’t believe my eyes. There have been numerous houses on this street over the years that I’ve entertained the idea of buying with the cost ranging from $225,000 for a dump to $698,000 for the house that’s actually just to the south of this one (it’s fully restored and anywhere else in the US would be double to triple that).

Last night I took Susan and the kids on a drive by after dinner to see it (Susan made me take the above photos). But there are major reasons I wouldn’t want to live on Jefferson and thus why this house is not going to be ours. One, it’s in a ghetto, and I mean ghetto. Prostitution, drugs, crime, is all within walking distance (granted we only live 10 or less blocks away right now from this house). Jefferson Ave itself is really beautiful and there are now only 2-3 house on the street that look as bad as this one; everything else is restored to it’s former beauty. I’m sure as time passes other parts of the neighborhood will improve, but how do you get over the fact that right now it’s scary and you fear for you family’s safety? Dang it. I’ve always wanted to live in a victorian beast. This house probably has more rooms and space than we have need or would ever have need for. I was joking with Susan that we could all have our own bedrooms plus our own offices. I really do wish I was braver. I’ll probably never get a chance to buy a victorian restoration project for the price of dirt again.

Love her.

I’ve got a feeling that 30 will be a good year for me. Here’s to thirty, flirty, and thriving.

It really is amazing to think that a year ago we were celebrating Theo’s birthday with sponge bob cup cakes and wondering what our little man would be like. He’s better than we could have ever hope for. He’s a real sport and so easy going. It’s tough not to to love the kid even with his constant drooling (no he’s not teething the kid just drools). Happy birthday Theo. I hope 2 is your best year yet.

I have to admit there’s still a lot of getting used to the second kid. I remember when we got Gem life was pretty upside-down trying to find normal again, and with Tuan (Theo) it hasn’t been much different.

We do have a good times though, and here’s some evidence (yes it’s yet another photo and video of my kid, but they’re cute).

And a video of Gem’s ABCs (bless her heart she really can sing them just she gets on camera and I think half the alphabet goes out the window).

Nothing too exciting for our July 4TH—BBQ with great friends and neighborhood pyrotechnics. Both Gem and Theo had the time of their lives (Gem was in heaven riding bikes and scooters down the sidewalk).

Growing up I was very fortunate (still am) to have a great father. He has done so much for me over the course of my life and I could never say thank you enough. Today as I was thinking back on the many great things he’s done for me one of my favorites is when he became my little league baseball couch because no other team in Pleasant View wanted me (or the other dozen looser kids in the neighborhood). I’ll never forget how he coached our crap team that summer and with his positive coaching and constantly telling us, “it’s just a game” and “we’re just here to have fun” he turned our little team of misfits and untalented kids into the team to beat. We didn’t loose a single game that summer and I know 100% of that was because of my dad.

The photo above is from one of the many fishing trips he took us on, and even though I don’t necessarily like to fish now I certainly enjoyed the trips with him and my brothers (FYI: in the photo the blond kid on my left is not my Brother it’s my cousin TJ). Rodney you are the worlds greatest daddy-o.

On another note I love my kids and even though they are monkeys most of the time and I do love them. They both make me really proud and I hope I’m being as good a father as my Dad is. This video is of the 2 monkeys coming home from church. Every Sunday Gem insist on jumping on this big metal plate, and now she’s got Tuan in on it too. Somewhere in their monkey hearts I think they’re wishing me a happy father’s day.

We both thought the Carmen typeface looked smart and would work perfect for the phrase “Did you think to pray”. The print comes in loads of colors and both Susan and I have discussed doing a limited edition larger print (think poster size), but first I guess we’ll see how is sells.

If you’re looking to bring a little “holy spirit” into your home head over to Susan’s store.

Just when you think no one reads your crummy blog you find out that Aunt Marla does. Of course I see the stats and I know there are people out there on the big ‘www’ who read my blog (whoever is in Stockholm, Sweden, Hello), but most the time you can’t put a face to the numbers. Well yesterday at a family BBQ Susan’s Aunt Marla told me she’s a faithful follower of my weblog. And since today is her birthday I want to electronically wish her a Happy Birthday. Happy Birthday Marla!

These past couple of days we’ve been letting Gem walk out to the bus all by herself, and she’s pretty proud of herself. Today is her last day of preschool for the school year. Congrats Gem! We love you kiddo.

The other day the kids and I hung the hammock for the first time this year. You’d think a hammock would be quiet time and relaxing, and Tuan totally gets the idea of the hammock (he just wanted to fall asleep next to me), but Gem on the other hand can’t seem to lay still long enough for me to snap a photo of her and Tuan together. She’s always climbing up to the hooks of the hammock, jumping down, and swinging until she falls out. Very good times, well until the last time when Gem jumped and took Tuan with her and he came up with a face full of dirt.

When I held Gem it was a really good feeling. She just busted out crying and held tight. One of those rare moments you get where you truly know your loved. But after all the flights and airports being photographed is not what you want. So please forgive the tired greasy look.

During the lunar new year this place is crawling with thousands of people, but our journey was during the off season and consequently it was strangely quiet. All along the path way to the pagoda (which is actually more of a cave (I think there’s something lost in translation there) there are vender stalls which the majority were empty, but the evidence of thousands of people hiking the trail and sleeping along the trail are totally visible (like in most parts of asia people just through their trash all of the place—Imagine Yellowstone, Zion canyon, or Yosemite with trash dumped everywhere and you get the idea). Despite the trash though and the stir fried dog it was amazingly beautiful and a great chance to see more than just he city.

We’re home now and I’ll do another post about that soon but wanted to get our last day of the trip up before too much time passed.

We went back to the temple of literature the other day with Tuan and the other adoptive families traveling with us. One of the things we’ve discovered with Tuan lately is that he’s a narcoleptic the minute we get in a moving vehicle. I’m starting to think the plane ride home might not be so bad.

It’s been a few days now with Tuan and he’s still loving mom best, but he’s starting to warm up to me more and more. Tonight while we were out walking I asked him if I could hold him and he got a big smile on his face and hid behind mom (he was afraid I was going to grab him).

All and all he’s been a great kid. I really can’t say enough good about his orphanage/ nanny and how on target he is with other kids his age. He can play on his own, flip through books, and even use the TV remote all on his own (I think they had him pretty much potty trained too, but we’re not risking that one). He is very sweet and cuddly. If he wasn’t a whopping 24 lbs I’d say Susan’s got it easier than I did with Gem (carrying little Gem around for 3 weeks was cake where she weighed 17 lbs). Anyway, we’ve been in the hotel room quite a bit the past few days, but hopefully tomorrow we’ll start sight seeing again.

Yesterday was quite the experience going out to Tuan’s orphanage. All I can really say is that if your kid’s going to grow up in an orphanage Tuan’s is top notch. He is loved by so many care givers and nannies.

It was really fun to see our little boy, but just as we thought he wanted nothing to do with us. Which actually took a lot of pressure off and allowed us to enjoy being around him and all the other orphanage kids. It was a very good day. Tomorrow he’ll be ours.

We have yet to meet our son. Tomorrow morning we’re actually going to head out to the orphanage. We’re very excited even though our Agency rep. said yesterday that he doesn’t let anyone hold him except his nanny (here we go again, Gem was the same way).

Anyway, here are a few photos of our morning trip to the “temple of literature”.

Last night we received 2 new photos of Tuan. When I opened up the email the first photo (same as the first in this post) I thought to myself, “oh how cute”. I then opened he second photo and said, “oh no here we go again.”

Adopting a toddler is no easy task. Looking at the second photo I just think of Gem and how much she hated us at first. On the day we got Gem Susan held her for as long as she could before being physically exhausted from trying to hold a kicking and squirming kid, and then I held her and ended up holding her for almost 3 weeks straight.

Nine days to go.

All Gem has been able to talk about is the Easter Bunny. We even tried to used the Bunny as collateral (if you don’t be good the Easter Bunny won’t come), but it never seemed to work. And yesterday the Bunny did not disappoint Gem. She has been wanting a new pair of sunglasses for a while now. In fact when she got the Easter bucket she kept looking for a second pair of shades.

The past couple of months I’ve definitely thought of our son and wondering how life will change with 2 kids, but the past few days my head seems to be spinning. I keep wondering if Gem will kill the poor kid in the first few hours or if they get along. Gem is very much all about her all the time and we can’t pay attention to anyone other than her without hearing it from Gem’s cries and whines.

I just keep hoping that all her talk about baby Tuan will pan out and they quickly become good friends. It’d certainly help in the 2 kid transition. I guess time will tell right?

In about 10 days Susan and I will be boarding a very long flight to Hanoi (can’t say I’m too excited for 24 hours on an airplane). We learned last week that our paperwork has finally got moving and we have a date set for our Giving and Receiving ceremony (that makes Tuan ours on the VietNam side of things). So Hanoi bound we are! We can’t wait to have Tuan with us. Gem will have to wait a little longer than us, but we’re all very excited to have a fourth member of the family in the house. Anyway, lots to accomplish in next 10 days. Thanks for all you support.

Gem is a riot to have around. She can be a little hot tempered at times, but there are other moments where you can’t help but to just love her. My favorite is she came up with the whole calling me “daddy” on her own. No help from us.

My apologies for the heavy breathing. The camera’s microphone seems to be right under my nose, but then again maybe I’m just a heavy breather.

It’s been a busy week. The first half was spent working with and getting her prints ready for her two boutique shows this weekend. I’m pretty proud of all her hard work. Hopefully it will pay off and everything will sell like hot cakes.

Anyway, for those who would love one of our prints or one of Susan’s sweet stuff animals click one of the images above to be taken to her etsy store.

Yesterday, my family decided to have a Clay Pigeon shoot, and Gem was there to observe. She even brought her own gun, but after not being able to hit a single clay pigeon she turned in the towel. I don’t know any little girl who likes guns as much as my little girl. I think her perfect play time would be to dress up in high heels and sling a gun around the house shooting out the lights.