Random thoughts (just for fun)...

Keeping it simple this post-just some random thoughts and things I've learned over the years...

1. The answer is supposedly 42. Still looking for the question
2. The number one reason I'm glad I'm a guy? Pregnancy/childbirth (as in I don't have to experience either directly)
3. The number two reason I'm glad I'm a guy? I can sleep through my alarm and wake up 25 minutes before I'm supposed to be at work and still get there on time (and it takes 20 minutes to drive). And that's with taking a shower.
4. Your first child is hard-you have no idea what you're doing. Your second child is even more difficult as you're trying to divide yourself equally between the two. Your third child is just chaos, and after that it doesn't make that much difference. Or, in other words, once you and your wife are outnumbered by your kids, you've lost. You might as well give up and just enjoy the ride.
5. If you wait until it is convenient or if you can afford it to have kids, you never will. So go ahead.
6. Being a parent is gross. I could never have imagined the quantity, quality, frequency, and sources of bodily fluids that I would experience as a parent. 
7. Being a parent is awesome. Not much beats coming home from work and hearing the kids scream "Dad's home!". That's just cool.
8. No matter how poor we may be, if we have ice cream we feel rich.
9. Exciting milestones as a parent: 
1. Child smiles
2. Child crawls
3. Child walks
4. Child talks
5. You wish your child would just sit down and be quiet
6. Your child is old enough to babysit his/her siblings and you and your spouse start dating again
7. Your child is old enough to become the family chauffeur
8. Your child leaves home
9. (and from Bill Cosby) Your child disproves evolution as humans are the only species that allow their children to come back home
10. You retire to an RV and spend the rest of your life mooching off of your kids
10. My favorite quote: "He who takes offense where no offense is meant is a fool. He who takes offense where offense is meant is a greater fool.
11. With apologies to Ben Franklin, necessity is not the mother of invention. Laziness is the mother of invention. 
12. I was in 5th grade when I decided to learn to play the trumpet. My main reason was because we read in the scriptures that angels will be playing trumpets when Christ returns. No mention of strings or woodwinds.
13. Going by one's middle name is both a blessing and a curse. The best blessing is when telemarketers or bill collectors call the house and ask for me by my first name. I tell them there's nobody here by that name. 
14. Boys are easier to raise than girls. But girls have cuter clothes.
15. I like being involved with the Boy Scouts. I love being involved with Cub Scouts. The main reason being that if I act dumb, the cub scouts think I'm cool. The boys scouts just think I'm dumb.
16. The first mountains I saw up close were the Austrian Alps. Kinda ruined all the other ones for me. Although nothing beats the Appalachians in the fall. 
17. Bacon does make everything better, but just plain bacon is pretty darn good too. 
18. Speaking of bacon, one of the more over-looked blessings of Christ fulfilling the Mosaic law is the fact that we can now eat pork. I need to remember to include that in my prayers occasionally.
19. I'm a cynical optimist-I hope for the best, but I don't expect it.
20. When my wife and I first decided to have children, we told the Lord that we would take as many as He sent us as long as we could take care of them. In hindsight, I should have clarified that to mean take care of them well--as in vacations to Hawaii every year kind of well--but we have been very blessed.
21. Phlebotomist has to be the coolest word in the English language.
22. "Some Kind of Wonderful" has one of the best movie endings ever. Maybe the best.
23. Han Solo shot first
24. Star Wars > Star Trek
25. I love road trips. We have a beautiful country, and the only way to really see it is by driving.
26. I used to think 40 was old. Not so much now.
27. Blueberry wafflecone ice cream-I found it once and it was amazing. Also had a ruby red grapefruit sherbet that was pretty good too.
28. The animated version of "The Hobbit" is an abomination.
29. So is Disney's "The Black Cauldron"
30. And don't even get me started on "The Seeker" (I never saw it, but "The Dark is Rising"  is one of my all time favorite book series and this movie made a mockery of everything good about it.