Toone Family

Remember a few posts back when I introduced our family and described Lily's occupation as "Human Tornado?" Well, today that title fit. Take a look at my little sweetheart here. What the heck is that on her face? That was the question I asked when I first caught a glance of her. The answer wasn't far away; the case of watercolor paints in her chubby little fist outed her. I guess they just looked so delicious, she couldn't resist. Not long after she decided to sample the paint, she decided to give one of my chairs a kiss. Thank goodness this stuff is washable. (It was the second case of vandalism for this particular chair; it was recently the canvas for some of Lily's "artwork." Her medium? Blue pen.) Anyway, I cleaned her up and served lunch to her and Amanda. I don't know why I didn't just leave the paint on; I could have saved the paper towels and the time it took me to wipe her down, because it wasn't long before she looked like this:...

For many years now, I have been writing a sitcom in my head. When I hear a completely random and hilarious story, I always make a mental note to myself to include it in the sitcom. These stories come from family (actually, primarily from my sister Krista; I sometimes think her life actually IS a sitcom), friends, complete strangers and, of course, my own childhood, adolescence and (sort-of) adulthood. Never mind that I don't know anything about TV writing; this stuff is pure gold and is going to make me rich one day. A few of my favorite episodes: -- The one where your fifty-something manager at work, who describes herself as a "bobcat" in the bedroom, generously offers to let you borrow some of her lingerie for the approaching Valentine's Day -- The one where you randomly receive a Christmas card from an old acquaintance who, amidst the usual updates on work and kids, goes into GREAT DETAIL about the birth control failure that resulted in her most recent child --...

(This post was written by Logan) I typically don’t post on Kara’s blog, but after reading her last post, I really felt that I needed to clarify a few things. I was just going to leave a comment, but apparently to leave a comment, you need to have a blog of your own, (either that or you need to sign on as a guest which involves giving the blogger people your name, phone number, email address, mailing address, age, grade point average, blood type, social security number, bank account number, and credit card number. They also ask you to undergo a fingerprint analysis and a retinal scan.) I didn’t want to go through all that, and I happen to know Kara’s login and password. So I figured I’d just log on and make a post of my own. For those who enjoy reading Kara’s posts as much as I do, I apologize for interrupting your reading pleasure. Since this is a rebuttal to some unsubstantiated claims made in Kara’s last post, it will probably make more sense if you read her post before you read this...

So there I was – dutifully eating my spinach salad with low-fat dressing, contemplating tomorrow’s walk with the kids and wondering if my thighs and my skinny jeans will ever come to any kind of understanding with one another again – by all accounts, minding my own business. Suddenly, Logan walks through the door after a long day at his nerd convention (all right, it was actually the National Council for Teachers of Mathematics convention) and plops this little item down on the countertop. What is it, you ask? Oh, it’s just a 10-lb. bag of M&Ms. Wait a minute. A 10-LB. BAG OF M&Ms?! ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME?! Affixed to said bag was this note: Dear Kara, I have become aware of your recent commitment to lose your baby weight in an attempt to avoid purchasing an entirely new wardrobe. While that effort might be applauded by your mortal friends, we here in Hades think it’s deplorable. Therefore, I have taken it upon myself to send you this little bag of “pick-me-ups” an...

Guess what I did today? It's something I haven't done voluntarily for nearly seven years. It's something I loathe. It's something I think I can no longer avoid. It's exercise. I don't really understand why people list 'exercise' as one of their hobbies. To me, that's like listing your hobbies as 'brushing teeth' and 'tying shoes.' What's so great about it? I don't have anything against exercise per se; I know that it's good for you and everyone is supposed to do it. BUT I DON'T LIKE TO DO IT! As I've tried to lose the weight from my third (ginormous) baby, I've realized that it's not coming off as easily as it did with the other two. I suppose this was to be expected -- though that doesn't make it any easier to take. Anyway, I decided that I'd have to come up with some way to exercise and still supervise all of the children. This is no small task. The only solution I've been able to ...

For those of you who don't like to hear people talk about how much they love their spouse, just stop reading now. I left my laptop out last night, and Logan came across the Word document I typed it in before pasting it into the blog. He added on a bit to the segment "What people say about me." Here's what he said: (This is Logan writing now.) A lot of people have commented to me about how “amazing” Kara is. What they mean by that is how much she is able to accomplish with three small children, a church calling that requires a lot of time and leadership, and the most beautifully decorated house on the block. I’ve also heard people say how sweet, and calm she is and how she “takes everything in stride,” which makes her a welcome addition to my family of neurotic freak-outers.What I love about her: Besides the fact that Kara is absolutely beautiful, she is constant and kind. Despite frustrations that are sure to come with all the stuff on her plate (I’m not talk...

It occurs to me that I haven't done much in the way of introducing our family. Drumroll, please...

Logan Full name: Logan Thomas Toone Age: 28 Occupation: Secondary Math Curriculum Supervisor, Student, Husband/Father Extraordinaire Hobbies/Interests: Working on cars, watching movies, eating out, hanging out with family, gardening, figuring stuff out (i.e., "The basement needs to be finished. I've never done framing, drywall, electrical work, plumbing or carpeting -- but I think I'll just do it myself.") Likes: seafood, sudoku puzzles, his Blackberry, going back to bed after eating a pancake breakfast, rock and roll, BYU football, road trips, getting his hair cut Dislikes: homework, radishes, driving to USU three days a week, hospitals, stuff that's broken, messy houses, when his sock is wrinkled inside his shoe, "social adventures" (his term for when I take him somewhere that he'll be expected to, you know, talk to people) What people always say about him: People always comment on what a hard worker Logan is -- and they're right! They also say...