Ira and Beck

IRA
11 months
*weighs 19 lbs
*Crawls everywhere now that we have let him.
*Smiles constantly and giggles a lot at Beck.
*Loooooves Beckham and will follow him around and try and play with him.
*Says uh-oh and dada (But I know he means mama).
*Waves and says hi
*Still has no teeth. Already loves the food that is no good for you.
*Hates any form of sleep and goes as long as possible without it.
*Likes to tango with the top of the stairs. So far we have been lucky and I guess it is baby gate time. Beck got to 12 months before his fall down.



BECK
2 1/2
*Started to use his new potty and is so excited to show everyone the pee in it. Get's mad if you try to wash his pee out.
*I won't is what he tell me when I ask him not to do something.
*Loves his airplanes and cars still. I love listening to him play with them. He is uses different voices for the different cars. Usually his other play car is Papa or cousin Ben.
*Loves to swim. His friend Brigham has taught him to jump in the little pool and land on his bottom. They spend a lot of time doing that.
*Loves his tramp and wants to jump a lot, way more than mom or dad does.
*Loves to be with his GEGE(Great Grandma Walker)He thinks she is just about the greatest thing in the world. They play cars and airplanes and swing on the porch eating Popsicle's. Not to mention she never ever tells him NO! She says he is too sweet to tell no too.
*He loves being HIS boat at HIS lake Utah.
*Today he wanted some of the medicine that he took when he was sick last week. I told him he did not need any because he was all better. He responded by telling me that he was just a little sick so he needed some.
*When we tell him that we love him his response is always "You love me huh"
*Likes to play with all his pals and thankfully he has many. I think his mom likes her pals that come with his pals even more.
*Loves to vacation and go on tips(trips).
*When he gets hurt he quickly tells me that candy can make it better.
*He likes his room with his stuff.
*Takes several baths a day because he thinks his boats must always be played with in the water as well as his seaplane.
*Loooves a little sip of coke (I alwasy tell him just 1 sip)
*Beck has no need for food. He will eat a pancake and spaghetti and pizza. Of course he loves snacks (fruit rollups)
*Likes to sing Child of God, Take me out to the Ball Game, Sunbeams, Love to see the Temple, Do as I am doing. If I sing the songs and put in a word that does not fit he quickly corrects me.
*He understand everything and knows his letters and numbers and can count to 20. He know his left hand and right hand.
*Likes to ride his bike to the park.
*Started his gymnastics class with his friend Brigham.
*Beck is grateful his dad goes to work to buy him toys.
*We can't forget the babba and blanket at bedtime.

Wheller Farm

We had a great time visiting the farm. It was fun to be with Brit and Lindsay and their kids.



Avery, Beck and Aiden

Wes, Ira and baby Lola

5 Concerts I Wish I Could See Again

5. My Man Friday & Attaboy Skip - The Bread Factory - Provo, UT
Just thinking back on the many My Man Friday concerts I went to makes my sad they are done...those were great days. Ska was alive and well in Provo. The reason My Man Friday was so good is their swing-ska style made for great dancing. Markham and I have some great memories at those concerts. This concert was particularly good because Attaboy Skip opened. I just remember leaving the Bread Factory dripping in sweat and exhausted. Great stuff.

4. The Suicide Machines - Youth Center - Smithfield, UT
Although I really like the Suicide Machines, this concert was more memorable for the facility than the band (although credit must go to the Suicide Machines for playing after seeing the venue). Smithfield is in the middle of nowhere north of Logan, Ut. The Youth Center in Smithfield used to be an LDS church (probably 50 years ago) and the concert was held on the basketball court. There was no stage set up, so the band just played on the court. Once the concert got going, the crowd basically surrounded the band, so there was a circle around each player (they couldn't really even see each other). There were wires going everywhere underneath everyone's feet and of course, partway through the concert, somebody pulled out the plug on the mic, forcing the band to say..."you guys all know the lyrics anyway...you sing it." Incredibly memorable.

3. The Pixies - Kingsbury Hall - Salt Lake City, UT
When I went to this concert, I was not expecting it to be as good as it was. The Pixies have a unique sound, that was awesome to see in concert. They rarely spoke to the crowd between songs, but it didn't matter...their songs more than made up for it....and they have so many great songs that there was never a let down.

2. Toad the Wet Sprocket - Abravanel Hall - Salt Lake City, UT
What can you say about this concert. One of the greatest bands ever, in one of the greatest venues ever. I have seen Toad a few times since, and they have been good, but hearing them in Abravanel Hall was an experience I will never forget. To make things even better, they played one song from each on of their CDs and then cycled back through the discography over and over again, so I was able to hear plenty of songs of my favorite CD - Coil. A funny sidenote about this concert is that their old drama teacher was attending the concert and they explained how they were on a Mormon mission and they received permission from their mission president to attend the concert. Out of respect, Glen edited the lyrics of the few songs they have containing swear words.

1. Elliott Smith - The Ogden Theatre - Denver, UT
I had the privilege to see Elliott 4 times throughout his career (DV8, the Fillmore in San Francisco, the Ogden Theatre, and at the University of Utah campus). The other 3 times, I saw him in smaller venues and was able to see him much closer than I did in the Ogden Theatre. In the Ogden Theatre I was in the upper deck, but the concert was amazing. Elliott had a bigger stage and it was more like watching a symphony than watching a garage-band artist. The Ogden Theatre is kind of like Kingsbury Hall. I remember one song vividly - Everything Means Nothing To Me. The spotlight was on Elliott and he was playing the song on the piano with incredible emotion. I loved this concert...I wish I could see it again.

Honorable Mentions (in no particular order)
Live - The Delta Center - Salt Lake City, UT
Right after Throwing Copper. Damn at Otter Creek was awesome.
Pietasters & Mustard Plug - Bricks - Salt Lake City, UT
Everybody left for the Pietasters (because Bouncing Souls played before them). It made for some great skanking.
Big A Show (1995) - Stretch Armstrong, Moonpools & Catepillars, Cake, Primus, Neil Young, Ben Folds Five, Everclear, Howard Jones, Bush - Wolf Mountain - Park City, UT
1st concert ever. Great lineup. A guy got stabbed right in front of us during Bush and then a drunk lady proceeded to tell us that is why we should never drink.
The Aquabats - Omni - Provo, UT
A water main broke, flooding the venue. A kid broke a big window in the riot that pursued. Long wait for the Bats, but it was worth it. The Bats played Christmas Roll (Pinch & Roll) and had the whole crowd sit down for Captain Hampton. On a side note, once, while I was at a volleyball tournament in Kaysville, I was getting a drink when Ryan Millar and Casey Jennings (husband of Kerri Walsh) walked up to the fountain to get a drink. I was wearing an Aquabats T-shirt and Ryan Millar acknowledged it and asked Casey if he had seen them in concert. Casey said no and Ryan proceeded to tell him what a good act they are and that he had to go see them in concert.

Potty Training

I guess it was time to start. Beck thinks it is great to pee on the potty and loves to show everyone. He has pretty much potty trained himself. Lucky for me. We have not even tried to conquer the nighttime yet. All in good time. Way to go Beck Boy!

Our Lake Utah

We love Lehi for one main reason. We are 15 min from the Lake.

Irena Sendler

Sorry...more politics.

The Georgia Russia Case Study

This has been brought out in many news sources (I first heard in listening to Bob Lonsberry), but I thought it was interesting enough to re-hash. I haven't posted much about politics because although I don't like Obama, I can't get too excited about McCain either....and to be honest, I think most of the anti-Obama stuff floating around is pretty superficial (in most cases, examples of the same offense could be dug up on the McCain side of things). In saying all of this, I do think the recent criticisms of Obama's response to the Georgia conflict is valid. Allow me to explain.

In school, we were often evaluated using case studies. Case studies were basically 10-20 page documents that presented a business scenario, but withheld the outcome or solution that was implemented. As students, we came to class each day prepared to argue how the company should respond. Fast forward a few months to full-time employment. My company, before interviewing potential employees, presents similar case studies related to our industry and asks the applicant to submit a formal report about how they would respond. I believe case studies are a great way of evaluating students, potential employees, and in this case presidential candidates, because they show how the candidates might respond when actually presented with similar situations.

On August 8, Russia invaded the country of Georgia. As can be seen in this article, the candidates had two slightly different responses. On the day that the conflict broke out, McCain immediately said that Russia "should withdraw their forces." Obama had a slightly different take. He "urged the two sides to show restraint."

This highlights the stark differences in foreign policy of the two candidates. McCain doesn't put up with crap. He has experienced the negative consequences of corrupt governments and jumps to stop them before they get too far down the road. Obama takes more of a touchy-feely (diplomatic) approach. His solution is to repeatedly urge corrupt governments to act properly while hesitating to identify the governments as corrupt in the first place. In his words, we cannot "bully the world into submission". I recognize that there are pros and cons to both approaches (you don't want to be weak, but you don't want to be a warmonger), and I am not thrilled about McCain's stances on many things...but all things considered, I do like McCain's stance on foreign policy.

Seriously So Blessed

Okay it is time to share the wealth of laughs that come with this great blog. You have got to check out this blog. It is hilarious and is a mock of Blogs. Especially the Utah blogs. Anyhow it will make you laugh
http://www.seriouslysoblessed.blogspot.com/

Clap Your Hands

Last night, we went to see Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. It was free, so that was good; however, it seems that free concerts bring out a lot of yahoos. Moreover, it seems that it is extremely hip among those yahoos to tattoo a star on their wrist. Interesting. It is hard to explain, but the crowd made it somewhat difficult to concentrate on the music (not because of the said yahoos, but other factors such as people going in and out of the crowd, people more interested in each other than the band, etc.). Clap Your Hands was really good. Their music is especially good in a concert setting (great dance music). I did, however, find myself being one of those people that...well...is just anxious to hear the hits. I thought Satan Said Dance was the best song of the night.

Happy 27th Jon

Happy 27th Birthday Jon

Just because he thinks blogs that do this are soooo lame I thought what better way to celebrate than do something that he will despise. Oh well we love him and wanted to share a few reasons why we think he is so great!

Obviously he is a wonderful husband and a good dad.

Super Duper smart!!! Completed his Bachelors, Masters in Engineering as well as a MBA at BYU by the time he was 25 yrs old. That does not mean he know everything though. I at times am still very right.

Go Cougars!!! Don't worry Jon has quite a collection of very fashionable BYU gear.

Can fix anything he sets his mind too. Seriously he learns how to do so much on his own
it is amazing

Apparently Jon loves flowers as much as his son Beck.

Loves his cabin

Jon loves to fish especially Knotton or Alaska.

Jon is a hard worker. He never complains about going to spend his day away from his family at the office. Not to mention the work that awaits him at home.

Jon is a great water skier and learning to be a good wake skater. He has not had as much practice as he needs this summer. I guess that is what a home and yard does to you.

You will never ever, ever, ever catch Jon in a bad mood. He always has a smile for you.

Very politically savvy. He spends a lot of time listening to talk radio as well as reading articles. He knows a lot about this country and is well informed voter. So beware if you ask he may a few strong political opinions.

Jon loves being able to play volleyball with his high school pals once a week.

Jon has good taste in music. He likes most bands until they become popular. Tonight Clap Your Hands and Say Yah are giving a free concert in honor of his birth.

As much as he does not believe, I am sure his Young Men think he is pretty cool.

Jon has a good sense of humor, although he does not think I am all that funny so his humor may be in question.

He is younger than I but I am very grateful that he just looks old for his age. I am sure many of you have noticed this.

He had begun his 2nd season of golf. Just one more step into the boring life of a business man.

Can I just say Ruben and Ed.

Enjoys traveling and fortunately is pretty willing to go often. We all loved going back to the DR with him and to see the excitement on his face as he showed us all around the amazing place. Not to mention his Spanish sounds great.

Beck and Ira think he is awesome. Beck told me on Dad’s birthday he will tell him “Happy Birthday”. So there you have it Jon.. Happy Birthday! We love you dearly.

Salim Haman

Today, I read the news about Salim Haman, Bin Laden's driver, being found guilty of providing material support to al Qaeda. It was not the verdict that peaked my interest, but rather an awesome quote mid-way through the CNN article:

"He was taken into custody in southern Afghanistan in November 2001. Though the car he was driving contained missiles, he said from the beginning the car was borrowed and the missiles weren't his. He repeated his assertions Thursday."

So there you have it...if you ever get caught with a few missiles in your trunk, just use the classic pothead excuse. Hey man, this isn't my car...and I don't know how that pot - errrrrrrr - those missiles got in there.

Lake Powell

I thought I would never see the day that my husband Jon would pass up any amount of time at Lake Powell. I guess old age has begun to get the best of him. He was not up for another quick vacation even if it was to Lake Powell. Beck and I headed down for a few days with my family while Ira stayed home with Dad. Beck Loooves Lake Powell and was so sad to leave. He was very brave and would dip his face under the water. Sometimes I wonder what our family did without Beck for entertainment.

Alright Shipley family it is time for a trip to the Lake.

Signs that Your Wife Goes to Costco Too Much

Jess: Beckham, guess what tomorrow is?
--Silence--
Jess: Tomorrow is church-day.
Beckham: Tomorrow isn't Costco-day?