The Extended Golds

A Man Blog

It’s becoming more trendy, you know.
I am waiting for my cute hubby to start one too.
(Because you know I am protective of my copyright
and there is no way he is posting anything on mine without
the consent of my attorney)
But for now I will just enjoy the fact that
my brother in law, Jordan, is jumping on board.
I can’t blame him for wanting to join our world.
It’s way more fun than that roller coaster ride.

His blog is by a SAHD…that would be Stay At Home Dad
for those of you new to this technology.

I don’t know of one other stay at home dad, so I think you should check it out.

Even if it is just for the ESPN stats….oh c’mon ladies,
you know you can’t live without those.

Cook with common sense

Mom’s advice for the day is cook with common sense.

And if you’ve don’t got any, watch your mother in law while she cooks mac n cheese.

I used to always put the pasta back in the sauce pan and then add the rest of the ingredients in one at a time.
It was horrible.
The bottom would burn and the cheese would be clumpy and the pasta would crumble.
I may not have common sense on my own, but I do know how to watch and learn.
And, trust me when I say that I learned the much more effective method.
Leave the pasta in the colander. Then melt the butter in the empty sauce pan, add the milk and cheese, whisk, and wha -la…it’s creamy sauce. Not clumpy or burnt.
And, THEN you add the pasta. And, it won’t crumble.
It’s as simple as well, should I say it? It’s as simple as mac n cheese. And so was this post.

Vu Gi Na

My kids love their Aunt Amy, and her influence was priceless at our house a few weeks ago. Meaning. something that she taught one of the girls was good for a great comical moment.

It has to do with the post title, just in case you were wondering, but you know I have to give all the background first. I was reading on Scribbit this morning about words that Michelle Mitchell detests. It got me thinking of this experience from a few weeks ago.

I while back I wrote a funny post about the different terminology my siblings and I teach our kids to use for their body parts. (I can’t tell you how many google searches have led people to my post title Conversation Pieces) Who knew it was such a hot topic? We just had another similar conversation (yet, not quite as racy) for a good 10 minutes with our friends at a cookout on the 4th of July.

So, in this previous post I made it very clear that we try to teach our kids the correct scientific terminology for the human body parts. Our girls know the word vagina, but we don’t really use it. To the utter detest of my sister, we use the word crotch whenever we are talking about down there.

So, I was somewhat shocked and very amused the other day at our house. Bella was climbing on her sisters while still wearing her nightgown. She was just trying to get a better look at the GameBoy and Abigail wasn’t being nice. Abigail was getting a little irritated with the pestering and she sounded pretty foul as she screamed out, “BELLA, nobody wants you climbing all over them in a nightgown with your GINA in their face.”

I guffawed, “Abigail, where did you learn that?” She sensed my shocking tone and tried to calm me down with, “What? She knew exactly what I was talking about because a HUGE smile had crossed her face. She just wanted to make me say it too, hence the question.

So, I gave her what she wanted, “Gina”. (My apologies to Gina as this is the same spelling as her name but you all know this needs a long I sound) “Oh, (while trying to play it off) that’s what Aunt Amy calls it.”

What does a mother say to that? What any decent family member would, “Oh…o.k. well I don’t know if I like you saying that, it sounds pretty slang, but if your Aunt Amy taught it to you, then I guess it’s o.k.

Abigail replied, “Mom, what’s slang?”

Belonging

Here are the family photos from our Atlanta trip.
Unless you are family, you don’t have to scroll down.

I know none of you care that much, and it doesn’t offend me.
I wouldn’t care about your family photos either.

But, you may care about the title of the post: belonging.

I am so proud to belong to such a wonderful family.
I don’t know if they really claim me behind my back,
but I feel like I belong.

And, I love LeGrand’s family, with all their quirks and all.
(Isn’t that what marriage is about, embracing your in-laws quirks, like you do your own family’s?)

Anyhow, we had a little bit of a family dilemma for this photo shoot. Should we include Logan’s girlfriend Jillian or not? She’s not “officially” part of the family yet.

(Side note: I am cracking up right now. Logan and Jill had a little joke this past weekend. Whenever they would put words in “quotes” it was code talk for “we were really making out” – You know…”We were watching a movie”, “we went for a walk”..you get it) S

o, when she is “officially” part of the family, do we all have to make out with her or should we just take the quotes out from around that word now?

We decided to take photos with and without her. You can never be too safe. Jillian took the news like a champ. It didn’t seem to bother her. Maybe she doesn’t want to “belong” with the rest of us crazies? Logan was a little upset. I think he really wants her to “belong”. (And, if you put it in quotes, then he really really wants her to “belong”, if you know what I mean?)

Only time will tell who belongs and not. (Golly, for all I know, they could kick me out of the family any minute, like after reading this post) We all really like Jillian. We hope she will belong forever. But, just in case she doesn’t, we will have the photo we took without her. And, it will make for a funny memory, no matter what happens in the future.

Anyhow, with all the family discussion on whether or not we should include Jill, it got me thinking. What does it mean to belong?I think that every family should take pictures without a member of it from time to time, just to remind them of how important each individual is to the family. Belonging is a wonderful thing. Belonging in a family is the perfection of God’s plan.



See how Logan is looking a little mad without his main squeeze?


We unintentionally left Jill out of our girl picture too. Don’t we look so much better with her?




The Rest of Tennessee
During this past weekend, several of my in-laws took
the opportunity to tell me that
they think that I knock on the State of Tennessee too often.

And, they don’t appreciate it.
I guess they think that I never say anything good
about their beloved home state on my blog.

I thought that I would try to regain my grace in their presence.

I love Tennessee.

Trust me, if I didn’t love it here,
I think I could make my husband miserable enough to take me back where I came from.
There are a lot of other women who have done just that.

Sure, I know I show a lot of the quirky sides of Tennessee,
and natives don’t always appreciate it.

But it’s not because I want to demean people
or show the state in a negative light.
But, I do it because it’s funny.
I would do the same thing if I lived in Utah or California.
Two words: hippies and polygamists.
But, just because I would show the extremes
it wouldn’t mean that the rest of the state wasn’t somehow lovely.
So, I am repenting, and asking for forgiveness. (I am really good at this)
I have made a goal to show you all the REST of the State of Tennessee.
(not just the bad parts)
I thought it no better than to start with one really nice feature of the South.

The rest stops.
(or Rest Areas as they are officially called)

Seriously, you have never seen such deluxe rest stops, unless you have visited.
They are SO nice.

People actually plan their trips around which rest stop that would like to visit.

I am still trying to adjust to the notion.
You just don’t go to rest stops out West.

The only people that visit rest stops in the West are, well, the likes of polygamists and hippies.
In the rest of this country, rest stops are scary.

They are not a place you want to visit, much less, use their bathroom, especially with children.

So, if you are a Western transplant and you join the family for a picnic at a rest stop,

even if it is the Sabbath, and you are avoiding eating out, you feel dirty somehow.

Downright shameful.

So shameful that you just try to go unnoticed by snapping photos from the background.

Look, Michelle loved enjoying lunch at the rest stop on Sunday.


And, do you know what?

When you leave a Tennessee rest area, you actually feel rested.
And the rest that you get in a slower paced state like Tennessee is priceless.

And, it is the perfect place for a Western transplant to live.

P.S. In my defense, when just searching,

I found way more good posts about Tennessee than bad ones.

I think TN Natives can be a little sensitive and defensive at times.

But, that’s not an insult, just an observation.

And, I would like to say, in my defense,

that I know Californians and Utahans can be defensive too.

I am loved

My mother in law is the BEST!
I got my mother’s day gift in the mail today.
I can die happy now. I can finally be like Cally, is some small way.
I am an owner of a Lisa Leanord “mommy necklace”
sporting the initials of the loveliest girls in the world.
A for Abigail, S for Sophia, and I for Isabella.
And E for me being Ecstatic!
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much.

After she dies.

The girls and I have a little game that we always play. The girls grab silk flowers from the flower tower and pretend they have picked them for me. I always act surprised and say a huge thank you, and from my prior instructions, they always go and put them right back. They don’t know it, but I always think about how gracious my mom was whenever I did the same thing with her real geraniums. I often will also think of the little church song that I sang to my mom:

“I often go walking in meadows of clover, And I gather armfuls of blossoms of blue. I gather the blossoms the whole meadow over; Dear mother, all flowers remind me of you. “

So, on with the funny story. We were at Wal-Mart yesterday. As I approached the craft section, I was trying to herd the girls in and said to Bella and Sophia that they needed to help me find a Mother’s Day gift for Grammy. (I already got something for my mom.)

Bella and Sophia are very obedient children and they love their Grammy and so they immediately began to look around for something to give her. Right as I said this we just happened to pass by the flower arrangements for Memorial Day. In answer to my plea for help with Grammy’s mother’s day gift. Sophia grabbed the one below and said: “Here mom, Grammy will love this.”

You should have seen the innocent bystanders face when she heard me reply, “Oh wow, Sophia, Grammy would love that, let’s wait and give it to her after she dies.”

Sophia got shy when I pulled the camera out. Here is Bella showing the flowers to me.

Jill

My future sister in law, Jill just started a blog too…I told you I was influentual! Jill and Logan have been dating for a whole looooooooong 4 months now.

I wonder if Jill will change her mind about him when she sees this picture. She will probably just love Logan more, since she loves to laugh. I think her and I are going to get along just fine, don’t you? Her blog name is livingonlaughter. I sure hope my imsofunny will give her a reason to live on laughter and not on boredom. I have been boring myself lately.

Really, her and Logan are just “dating”, but you know where that leads when you are young and Mormon….you can only hold out so long!

We all just found out that Jill’s real name is Jillian, and we LOVE that name.

So, go over and warn Jillian about the crazy sister in law she is about to get herself hitched to.

And, don’t forget to only call her Jillian. Hey, if I can become Ali to avoid confucsion with all the other 10 Alice’s in the fam, she can certainly stay Jillian. Right? Don’t you think that is reasonable?

A Korean Kid

No one but me was that entertained with LG’s version of Hey Jude, but everybody has got to love a Korean kid who can’t sing his l’s. Cute!

This video is in honor of meeting my new niece, Lily (or Riry, as they say it in Korea) for the first time. My sister in law Amy and her husband welcomed sweet Lily into all of our lives almost exactly a year ago. And, she is a fireball. It has been so fun to spend time with her in the past few days as her and Amy just arrived into the States.