Ryan's Believe It or Not

This post is a week overdue, but for those of you who weren't yet aware, Timothy was ordained a High Priest last week and sustained as 2nd counselor in our ward bishopric. If your mind is able to digest this heavy wiener schnitzel of information with relatively little discomfort then I invite you to gawk at other recent oddities occurring in our family. Note: Do me a sentimental favor and think of Jack Palance's voice when you read this. I used to watch him host Ripley's Believe It or Not on TV, and his voice will be forever connected with the narration of odd phenomena in my head.

Rheanna has jumped into the new world of 4th grade extra-curricular activities with particular gusto. She was allowed to join the school choir, signed up to be part of the chorus in the school play, and she is in her 4th year of soccer. But what is most surprising is that she chose to join the cross country team as well. The reason her choice causes perplexity is due to her previous affinity for playing goalie on her soccer team for the last two years. Her parents felt quite certain that the main reason she liked it so much was the fact that when you are goalie, you don't have to do a lot of running! Whether this is true or not, she has thus far put in a solid performance in this new sport and continues to improve her placement and running time with each meet.

Ian, who has long been known for the fairness of his skin, managed, for much of the summer, to spend large amounts of time outdoors without the protection of sunscreen. As a result, and if you look at him in the right light, you will behold upon his person the slight markings of a tan.
Keller seems, by all outside observances, to be a happy and docile child. While this is mainly true, he often exhibits quite a different side to his family when he finds them displeasing. For over a year now, his favorite expression of contempt and disgust for another family member has been to suddenly shout at them, "You're fired!" His parents are completely baffled as to where he picked up this particular phrase, and can only surmise that a fateful viewing of a commercial of "The Apprentice" may be to blame. Perhaps, upon witnessing Donald Trump hurling this statement at others with such anger, Keller may have concluded that this must, indeed, be the ultimate insult. If we are to judge by the reactions of outrage from his sibling victims each time they are "fired," he might actually be right.Could this be the face of Keller in the future?

It has often been remarked that Meriel, due to her heightened ability to attract accidental injury and her ingenuity in incurring her parents' wrath, might not live to see her next birthday. Against all odds. . . . . . . she did.

Mitchell, though demonstrating a baby's typical cavalier attitude towards discomfort and death by putting objects such as playground wood chips in his mouth, seems to feel a bit weirded out by the feeling of grass on his knees. When placed on the lawn to frolic, he avoids all knee-to-grass contact by scurrying about on his hands and feet. It uncomfortably reminds his mother of a spider. Perhaps it would also remind her of the ghost girl in "The Ring" if she had actually seen that movie.

Irene threw her old, old friend, Caution, to the wind, allowing Rheanna to become involved in three extra-curricular activities and Ian to romp outdoors unprotected. She also secretly laughed a couple of times Keller "fired" someone, and kept her patience in check enough to allow Meriel to see another birthday. She released Mitchell from his stroller prison during soccer practice to discover the grass even though she knew it would mean following closely behind him all night and finger-sweeping his mouth every 45 seconds. But doing so allowed her to discover his spider-crawl.

She also recklessly committed herself to supporting her husband in his new calling. While this final one might not be so shocking, what will be shocking is if she can do it without complaining. But she feels that she has so many good examples to look to in her friends and especially in her family that by using them as inspiration, and by placing much hope in divine intervention, she might actually be able to pull it off.

. . . . AND

Despite her previous post wishing the pool goodbye for the winter, she decided to take one last swim
. . . . in October.

BELIEVE IT, OR NOT!!!!!