www.micahandlindsey.com

Every fall brings many things…..beautiful leaves, cooler weather, and unfortunately many Saturdays filled with endless football!  Here is father and son watching the UCLA game.  I secretly think that Micah hopes Scout plays for UCLA like he did!  Notice the UCLA colors on Scout. 

I got up at 4:45 am.  We headed to Los Angeles around 6:15 and didn’t have very much traffic.  We stopped for breakfast and got to the studio early — a whopping 5 minutes early which is amazing for my family.  When we got there, all of the other families looked nice — already dressed and ready to go.  On the other hand, our family was still in sweats and grubbies (except the always ready-to-go Trilby).  To my mom’s disgust, we dressed out on the street with Scout’s baby blanket covering us. 

When we got in, my mom and the kids were sent to a “green room”, and we had a “rehearsal” to give the producers an idea of our energy level that morning.  They also went over all of the rules and a little strategy.  One thing they said that hit home was that when we picked the two people for the fast round, don’t just pick people because they want to be picked…pick the best people.  (This was an interesting piece of strategy that any lame rod would know, but for our family’s benefit, we were all glad that Tristen heard it.)  After that comment, and while Brook, Megan, Trilby and I were giving secret thumbs up signals, Tristen said, “I don’t care what they say, I am going up.”  

I am proud to say that our family was the first to be picked for the show!  Our first show went pretty well.  John O’Hurley loved our family and so did the producers.  They said we make great TV, and that was evident when Tristen introduced us all.  She said, “Hi, I am Tristen, blah,blah,blah….this is my ‘bossy’ sister Lindsey, my ’single’ sister Trilby, my ‘nicest’ sister Megan, and my ‘littlest’ brother Brook.” Then she told the host how good looking he is and he kissed her hand.  Not wanting to be the “not kissed” sister, I crossed my hand over Tristen and had him kiss my hand too.  I guess my family is what I know, so it isn’t unusual, but apparently our family is a bunch of “hams”.  In fact, the casting director came by and told us we were making her look good.  Our game was pretty competitive, and it literally came down to the last question…and thank goodness for Brook - we stole the round and ended up getting to the fast round. 

Of course Tristen went first.  She did OK, but got really flustered on one answer so she passed. Her excuse — “I kept thinking of Mormon answers!” The question was ”Name something a family should do together.”  Her answer was going to be family home evening, but she knew it wasn’t going to be up there and got flustered.  At the end, John O’Hurley announced that she ended up with 83 points. She then told him, “my bossy sister is going to KILL me when she gets out here!”  I did — going first, she should have at least gotten us half of the points.  In fact, because she has all of the opportunities to get the #1 answers, she should have well into the 125 point range.  Luckily when I went out, I was really focused and calm.  When they were turning over my answers, there was one left to turn over.  I needed 29 points to win, and Tristen had already given the number one answer that had 48 points attached to it.  So if you do the math, I really needed to give the #2 answer that had a lot of the rest of the points.  It was tight, and when my answer flipped over, by the skin of our teeth, 33 points gave us the W-I-N!

We had a great day, topped off by shopping in L.A. and a great dinner.  Too bad the second show didn’t go as smoothly, but the producer said to stay tuned because they want to have us back for the “tournament of champions!”  Sounds great if Brook and I do the fast round!

Can I just say 20K…..

Remember how I was not allowed to take my mom to her surgery???  Well, Tristen was appointed and screwed up!  She drove my mom over at 6:00am, walked her in and then walked right out to take a nap in her car.  The kicker is that she wanted a “good” nap, so she turned her cell phone OFF!

After fully recovering, nobody could get ahold of my mom’s “contact person”, so the nurse had to come in and ask if she had been dropped off by herself again.  She disgustingly answered, “No…this is the sister of the girl who dropped me off in the street last time!”  I guess it is your turn Megan or Trilby.

Weighing in at 14 lbs. 9 oz…..Scout is four months old!  He currently is twice as hungry as he usually is, he can kind of scoot.  As long as he can get his foot caught on something and push off, he definitely has the strength to get places.  He also is getting more of a personality.  He smiles and coos quite a bit now, and he has a full blown screaming tantrum if he is hungry and can see his food in sight.  He can also stand completely up with my fingers as grip for a very long time. (He has actually done this for a while.)  He is so fun, and a great sidekick to always have along!

Every once in a while I can’t find Scout or Micah, and find them down in his office working away.  The cutest part is when Micah is talking to Scout and kind of gives him a play by play of what he is doing.  I love it!

My mom has to get surgery tomorrow, and there has been this palpable tension over the last few days.  I haven’t quite figured out what it was all about until this morning.  My sister Megan called and talked to my mom.  During the call my mom started laughing, so afterwards I asked what was so funny.  She told me that Megan was the third person to ask who was taking her to her surgery, because they all wanted to make sure it wasn’t me — how rude!  I thought it was funny that Tristen was taking off work, Trilby is coming home early from her job, and even Micah’s name has been mentioned for some pitching in, but I have never been asked or even told about the surgery in the first place! (I heard it through the grapevine) 

Apparently it all stems back to three years ago.  My mom was getting a different minor surgery and I was elected to take her.  Because it was minor (she defends it with, “but I still had to go under!”), I didn’t think it was a very big deal to go into the hospital with her.  And instead of having to go through the hassle of getting a ticket, driving through the whole parking lot, and then waiting in the long line of cars to go out….I just pulled a fast U-Turn and dropped her off on the sidewallk outside of the hospital.  I thought nothing of it until I came home a few hours later to ridicule, mean phone messages and looks of disgust by everyone.  Whoops, I guess I should have gone in.

Everyone thought I had learned my lesson on being compassionate, until a few months ago.  I was taking my mom to a doctor’s appt. and found that the whole area and parking structure was under construction.  I turned around and went to an adjacent parking lot where she could walk to her building.  When we pulled in she looked at me and was silent.  I asked her if it was a problem if she just walked, and to my surprise she got out, started closing the car door and said, “YES”!  Whoops, I should have gone in.

So I guess I am lucky???  At least I am off the hook for taking her anymore.  But does she really want Tristen to take her?  Last time Tristen had her, she made my mom write out her will on a little piece of paper she scrounged up….and had it “witnessed” by two other patients waiting to be admitted.  Interestingly…Tristen ended up with everything.

Scout just in the last week has discovered his hands and is starting to grab things.  The ironic part is that I NEVER wear jewelry besides my wedding ring, and I just recently got a necklace that I will wear all the time.  He has already found it and always has his little fist tightly wrapped around it, and every time Skylar has him he comes away with a handful of hair.  He is also starting to grab at toys and objects which keeps him pretty entertained for a bit!  It is very exciting!

For Lindsey’s 31st birthday dinner, she went, as she likes to say, “out of the box”–the cereal box that is.

First, we started with dessert.  Pat made a delicious pineapple upside-down cake–Lindsey’s second in as many days–and we devoured it instantly. 

Once the cake was sufficiently settled in our stomachs, we moved to the main course which was both a meal and an event.  But not a bit healthier than the cake. 

To end all childhood debates, we created the first-ever Sugar Cereal Bowl.  The competition that would determine once-and-for-all which Sugar Cereal is the greatest. 

 The six judges were selected from thousands of candidates; each possessed a sensitive palate and an iron stomach–or so they claimed.  Each judge had two bowls, one spoon, and a selection of milks that included 2%, skim, and vanilla soy.  In each pairing, judges could eat as much of each cereal as needed to determine their favorite of the two.  Excess milk and cereal would be deposited into the Junk Bowl between rounds.   

16 cereals were separated into two regions and four divisions, the pairing selections for the 1st round were selected randomly as follows:

Wheaties Region
Tony the Tiger Division
Honeycomb
Apple Jacks
Sugar Free Cinnamon Toast Crunch
Cocoa Puffs

Count Chocula Division
Peanut Butter Cap’n Crunch
Froot Loops
Cinnamon Toast Crunch
Chocolate Lucky Charms

Special K Region
Snap, Crackle, & Pop Division
Trix
Reese’s Puffs
Cap’n Crunch
Fruity Pebbles

Honey Bee Division
Apple Cinnamon Cheerios
Lucky Charms
Cookie Crisp
Cap’n Crunch Berries

Divisional Semi-Finals
The competition got started in the Tony the Tiger division, as Apple Jacks beat Honeycomb by a unanimous 6-0 vote, and Cocoa Puffs narrowly defeated Reduced Sugar Cinnamon Toast Crunch in a 3-3 tie breaker (Lindsey’s pick won). 

In the other half of the Wheaties region, Froot Loops beat Peanut Butter Cap’n Crunch by a 4-2 margin, and Cinnamon Toast Crunch easily defeated Chocolate Lucky Charms 4-1 in the Count Chocula division.

The toughest division appeared to be Snap, Crackle, & Pop with four strong contenders–including both of Lindsey’s pre-competition favorites, Reese’s Puffs and Fruity Pebbles.  Reese’s Puffs defeated Trix 4-2, and in the upset of the competition, Cap’n Crunch defeated Fruity Pebbles 3-2.

Apple Cinnamon Cheerios somehow snuck into the Honey Bee division (named after its sister cereal’s mascot), but there would be no nepotism here.  In back-to-back landslides, Lucky Charms defeated Apple Cinnamon Cheerios 6-0 and Cap’n Crunch Berries defeated Cookie Crisp 5-0. 

Divisional Finals
By the time we reached the divisional finals three of the six judges had relinquished their positions.  Calin, Trilby, and Tristen had all dropped out due to stomach ailments, taste bud numbness, or any of another dozen excuses that none could back up with scientific evidence.  Only Micah, Lindsey, and Skylar remained to determine the Sugar Cereal Champion.

In the Tony the Tiger division, Apple Jacks destroyed Cocoa Puffs 3-0 to earn its place in the Wheaties regional finals.

In the Count Chocula division, Froot Loops smeared Cinnamon Toast Crunch 3-0 and earned a trip to the Wheaties regional finals.

In the Snap, Crackle, & Pop division, which was suddenly wide open, Reese’s Puffs narrowly defeated Cap’n Crunch 2-1 and saw its way to the Special K regional finals where it would meet Cap’n Crunch Berries who had waltzed into the regional finals with a 3-0 victory over Lucky Charms.

Regional Finals
The regional finals were both heated battles, worthy of all the pre-taste hype surrounding the event.  Froot Loops was the first to reach the Sugar Cereal Championship by defeating Apple Jacks 2-1 in a fierce battle that was not without its share of controversy.  Rumors of judge tampering ran rampant after Skylar appeared to change her vote to match Lindsey’s; slow-motion replay could neither confirm nor deny the accusations so the results stood as reported.  However the voting process would be changed to a blind vote for the remainder of the competition.

The Special K regional final was an epic slugfest.  Cap’n Crunch Berries defeated Reese’s Puffs 2-1 setting the stage for the long-awaited Sugar Cereal Championship.

Championship
The Championship was a battle of cereal heavyweights.  Froot Loops, the lone survivor from the Wheaties region, squared off against the Special K region champ Cap’n Crunch Berries. 

Lindsey had voted for the winning cereal in each of the preceding 14 matches, so odds makers anxiously awaited her vote.  Tension mounted when she revealed that she had voted for Cap’n Crunch Berries, but in a late charge Froot Loops cornered the final two votes to claim the first-ever Sugar Cereal Championship. 

Talk about a perfect birthday!  You made it so fun, nice and relaxing…just the way I like it. XOXO

Exhausted after a long day’s work!