Temple Lights

Ok, I know there are no lights in this one but thought it was a cool pic.

Holy Santa Batman!

We went to Shani’s school today and we couldn’t believe it……. Santa Claus was there!!! Finally a decent photo of the kids with Santa!

The Polar Express

Well the Polar Express has come and gone and it was fun. We drove up on Saturday and the kids were so excited that they put their cloths on along with their coats and beannies and did not take them off till bed time. About 15 miles before we hit Flagstaff it started to snow a little which was cool. We got to the hotel and checked into our room where Bodin and McKinna did a little exploring. Bodin opened up the closet and yelled “Awesome, a surf board!” pointing to the ironing board, too funny! Then they found the luggage holder and tried to jump from the bed to the holder which only has three straps across it, knuckleheads!!!

Our train ride wasn’t until eight so we went to the “Restaurant” (cafeteria) and ate gourmet food buffet style. It was finally time to get on the train and we had to wait in a line in the open air where there were 30mph gusts of very cold wind hitting us, the kids loved it. We got on the train and started to head to the North Pole. On the way there we each got a cup of the richest, creamiest, hot chocolate in the world along with a scrumdiddlyumptious cookie!! Ok, I have had better in a box in our pantry but the kids loved it and made it worth every penny. We reached the North Pole where Santa was waving to us. We left the North Pole and made our journey back to our hotel that was millions of miles away but we went through a cool hyper speed tunnel and made it in approximately 45 minutes. On the way back we sang Christmas carols and who appeared?? Santa Claus!!! The kids were sooooo excited and they each received a bell from his sleigh just like on the movie. We got back to our hotel where we were all ready for a good night sleep.

We knew it was going to snow so the next morning Shani was the first up and saw it snowed about 2 inches. Once the kids got up Bodin ran to the window and yelled in a very excited voice “Dad, there is snow eeeeverywhere” I know bud. “Dad, there is even snow on the road” I know bud, isn’t that cool. “Dad, there is even snow on the cars!!” That is awesome bud! On the way to breakfast it took us about 10 minutes longer to get there because the kids had to stop and play in every bit of snow they saw. We checked out and went about 5 miles up the road and let the kids play for a bit which was fun. Thanks to my dad letting us borrow his truck we made it out alive. The roads were packed with snow and very slick. I had to use 4x4 for most the time driving out of Flag, thanks again Dad.

A first time for everything!

The other night McKinna and Bodin were showing off their gymnastic moves by doing cartwheels in the living room. Me being the bully I am would catch their legs in the middle of the cartwheel and push them over. You could almost see Bodin’s hamster running at full speed in his head as he got the idea to push McKinna over in the middle of her cartwheel. Bodin puts on his biggest smile because he can’t wait to see his sister fall to the ground and ruin her acrobatic act. Bodin times McKinna’s cartwheel and makes a mad dash to push her over. Well….. Bodin’s timing was a little off and his smile turned to a look of excruciating pain as McKinna’s foot came up between Bodins legs and nailed him in his FRANK AND BEANS dropping him to the ground crying. YES MINE WERE HURTING TOO AFTER WATCHING THAT, IT’S A GUY THING! Poor Bodin is lying on the ground probably in the worst pain he has ever been in and his sympathetic dad is on the couch laughing so hard that I almost fell off the couch! Shani, laughing with me, looks at me and tells me “You’re a guy, help him!” Help him?? What was I going to do, hold his frank and beans for him, I don’t think so!

A little while later when Bo finally calmed down and the painful make you want to vomit feeling went away he decided he was good to wrestle but with a little more caution this time around. I was so proud, my boys first kick in the nuts! One of many to come.

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

I got home from work Sunday night and the kids couldn’t contain themselves, they wanted the tree (fake, sorry) up! I have never seen Bodin so excited, maybe too excited as he got in trouble for not being able to calm down (dang DeSpain genes). After the kids helped put on the ornaments, we are now minus a few, I had to go back over the tree because the kids seem to place all the ball ornaments in one place as you can see in the pic. Bodin has also made it a tradition to break one of the snow globes every year, we are so proud of him; he is only four you know. I would also like to thank Donna Schaub for the fantastic stockings she has made us every time I manage to slip one pass the goalie!! Thanks Donna, they look great!

Best anniversary yet! Take notes all!

Well, well, well! Ok, I knew our 11th anniversary was coming up and I was determined not to screw this one up. I started early thinking of what to get her. I finally decided to get her a bouquet of chocolate dipped strawberries from edible arrangements. I had to be sneaky about it because Shani likes to watch our bank account dwindle and I know she would see I spent money and where it went. So the day before our anniversary I went online and order the bouquet. I thought this was great because she would receive it in the morning, snack on it all day, then I would take her out to dinner at her fave restaurant, and then if I did good we would play twister J. So the day of comes and I call her around 10am or so to see if she received anything yet but no dice. I call the place up and ask when they will be delivering the goods and they told me some time in the afternoon. OK, no problem, she can still snack, go to dinner, then twister. I call Shani again around 2pm or some time around there and still no fruit, WTC! (What the crap MOM) I remain calm about the situation because we still have a good dinner planed with no kids, they were going with grandma to a football game. Anywho, at approximately 4pm I get a call from edible arrangements to make sure someone would be home because they were going to deliver now, good thing Shani wasn’t waiting all day for them.

I get home a little after 4pm and still no delivery. I get dressed for dinner and we wait and wait and wait some more. I call the place again and ask them what is going on because we have dinner plans and this is starting to take away from it. Lady says she is sorry and the delivery lady should be there any minute. RIIIIIIGHT! 10 minutes go by and still no delivery. I call again and let her know I wasn’t happy and that I needed to leave because we were already late. Then the lady asked me if I would like them to leave the bouquet on the porch, WTF!!! (F=Flip MOM), or with a neighbor and we could get it from them in the morning. I informed the lady the bouquet was for our anniversary and I would like to have if for our anniversary and not the next day. By the way, the bouquet was not cheap. If I would have known it would have taken them this long I would have picked the damn thing up my self on my way home from work!! 5:40pm arrives and brings us the bouquet. I told Shani she had better answer the door because I was D.U.N. done!!!. Shani lets the lady know we weren’t happy and send her packing, go Shani! (If you don’t know the wrath of the DeSpain girls, especially Shani, watch out) So now I am pissed, but at least there is still dinner and…well…TWISTER!!

We go to Shani’s mothers house, drop the kids off and head out to dinner. At least we will have a good time eating. RIIIIGHT! We get to Power and the US60 when we receive a phone call. Apparently McKade is screaming and Shani has the diperbag, goooo Shani! (No I was not mad at her) Well we can’t let our already malnourished Barbie sized child starve so we turn around and head to the football game back in Queen Creek. Now I am really pissed, super hungry and twister is no longer on the mind! L I decided I could still take Shani for some classy food so I stop at TACOBELL for some eats from the drive through and wouldn’t you know, the line is a friggin hour long, what is this Disneyland!! I drive to another Tacobell and same story. We finally ended up going through the drive through of Panda Express (no complaints here) and head to the football game. We arrive at the school and eat in the car because Bodin’s favorite place is Panda and we would not be able to eat. So being the romantic guy I am I pull a candle out, pour two cups of Mountain Dew and we slurp a string of chow mein just like on Lady and the Tramp with the spaghetti. Ok, Ok, I hit the over head lights and we shove Orange Chicken and rice down our throats and sucked down one of the worst tasting Mountain Dews I ever had. Needless to say, we spent the rest of the night at the football game with our kids. Love ya babe, happy anniversary!!!

It's that time of year and Flu season is here!!

Where do I start?? After promising the kids a new toy if they don’t cry when they get there flu shot we were off to the free clinic (they didn’t see us coming). As you can see by the first pic we got there and everything was fine except Bodin was already getting worried by all the screaming kids that had already received their shot. As the time got closer for them to be center stage Bodin was starting to cry at the anticipation of the shot and it didn’t matter what you said to him or what toy you promised him. We watch Landon go first and the boy didn’t even flinch when the needle struck his arm, he was done and happy. Van was next and got railroaded by the shot but I can except this because he is only one years old. Bodin was up next and he was already bawling (there goes his toy) before they even wiped his arm down. They sank the needle into his arm and sent the flu gushing through his veins as he let out a yell but no more than the other kids that had already received theirs.

By this time McKinna was hysterical and it was now her turn, this is where it gets interesting, or funny, or very embarrassing. She started screaming “NO, NO, NO” as she sat down in the chair so I bear hug her. This sets her off more and she starts screaming “NEVER, NEVER, NEVER!” I kinda look around and all eyes are on us. I grab McKinna’s arm a little tighter while she is still screaming “NEVER” to the lady administering the shot. McKinna’s next move puts her into the Cobb Hall Of Fame as she raises her left leg and is about to shove it up the poor ladies nose who is so patiently trying to give her a shot. With my cat like reflexes I wrap one of my legs around hers and I have her in this Anaconda like snake hold before she releases leg of death on this poor lady. Good thing I was a Martial Arts Instructor for the Marine Corps or that lady could have been dead!
McKinna freaks out even more and starts wiggling her arm around so she can’t get the shot. I grab her arm with both of my hands and pin her other arm down by my forearm so she can receive her now well deserved shot. At this point I didn’t even care if she got the actual serum, I just wanted her to get stuck now!! So we have her pinned down and here comes the needle. McKinna freaks out even more because she is watching the needle of death inching closer and closer towards her arm so she starts jerking her arm any which way she could and I almost get stuck. Sooooo, being the calm, cool, collective person you all know I am I Yell “IF I GET STUCK I’M GOING TO BEAT YOU!!!” in front of every mother and child in the room. GOOOO BEN!!! (Number one in the hall of fame) McKinna freezes for a moment and finally gets her shot. I look up and every set of eyes in the room were fixed on me so I say the first thing that comes to my mind “Sorry everybody”, yaaaaaa that made it better! We leave the amputee clinic, I mean shot clinic, and get in the car and the little turds had the audacity to ask if we were going to Target to get them a toy!!!!!! Oh no you didn’t! Needless to say, we went home with crying kids.

Caption this picture!!

I think he looks like one of the pygmy mummies on "The Mummy Returns"

P90X update

Well, at the bottom end of 7 weeks of P90X workout. I don't notice much difference from the pic but the all around view (360 degrees) I can definitely tell a difference. Arms, shoulders are bigger, back is more defined, all around feel better. I just hate the days where I don’t want to go to the Gym, it makes you want to skip some of the sets you are suppose to do. I Still highly recommend the P90X no matter how much fun people poke at me for it!!

Movie night at the park

Queen Creek hosted a movie night at a park on a huge screen on Saturday night. They were playing Transformers so we packed up some blankets, hot chocolate, candy, the kids and headed for the park. We watched most of the movie but it got freaking cold out so we left early. Good family activity though, the kids loved it.

Mini-me chronicles, Hulk edition

Got home from work today and was changing into something more comfortable (Yes Amy, without a shirt on!). Bodin meets me upstairs in his underwear and asked what I was changing into so I tell him shorts. Bodin says “Shorts without a shirt on?” and I say ya. Bodin “Oh, that’s what I’m going to wear too”. Later, Shani tells me Bodin was mad at McKade because McKade has hair on his arms like I do and he doesn’t. Little does Bodin know, when he groes up he won't want as much hair as I have. This picture was after we wrestled so he was pumped up being the Hulk!

A mini-me is kinda scary!

WE VOTED, GO MCCAIN

We voted at approximately 10:00 am at our church and there was no wait!! Hope everything goes my way otherwise I will have to stock up on guns that will later be deemed illegal!

Happy Halloween!

It’s that time again……. Happy Halloween everyone! We carved our pumpkins tonight and had a blast, well, the kids did. I had to make sure I didn’t cut the cats head or whiskers off! Then again, a headless cat would be pretty cool for Halloween. After all was said and done I think they turned out good. The kids were unsure about the guts inside the pumpkins but had no problem when the camera came out. And guess what MOM, no swearing was involved!! Shani did help carve the pumkins, however she did not make it into the pictures because she was taking the pictures.

Gold Canyon Candles For Sale

Our brother-in-laws brother is going through a really rough time with cancer right now. There is not much that we can do to help them, but my sister and her friend have started a gold canyon fundraiser for him and his family. All the information you may need is available if you go to www.lorinmerkley.blogspot.com. I know that it is a tough time for everyone economically right now, but this would really help a family that should not have to worry about medical bills etc. right now.

I LOVE U GRANDMA!

I’ve wanted to take the kids to see their great grandma for a while so Wednesday after McKinna got out of school we drove to the other side of Phoenix. It was a really fun trip talking with Grandma, Aunt Michelle, and Scott. I learned more about my mom’s side of the family that day than my mom has ever told me. We are very interesting!! My Grandma has these old slide show pictures that you load into a binocular looking thing which lights up the slide. The cool thing is the slide has two of the exact same pictures in it, one for each eye, so when you look through it the picture takes on this 3D image, it is really awesome.

I was fixing a plastic sand box for my Grandma and Bodin looks at me and say’s “What is that big bug on you dad” pointing at my shirt. I look down just in time to see a scorpion (good size one) climbing from my left peck to the top of my shoulder. Scott was standing next to me and I don’t think I have seen anyone move so fast in my life. Why he moved so fast I don’t know, I was the one with a scorpion climbing up towards my neck thinking “Great, I am going to get hit in the jugular.” After contemplating whether or not to flick it off or shake it off I finally grabbed my shirt and gave it a quick tug and it fell off. The whole time I was contemplating, it seemed like the whole world went into slow mode (kind of like the first Spiderman movie when he gets his powers and the bully at the school tries to beat him up). After shaking the scorpion off my shoulder a white ninja appeared out of nowhere and took out the scorpion with one foul swoop, it was actually Scott with a shoe, then he disappeared into the house and did not come back out side!

Time with Grandma was fun but sad as she is getting really old and has a hard time getting around and trying to say what she wants to say. I could always tell when I talked to her on the phone but it really hit me when she answered the door with a walker. She is really important to me and I lover her a lot! I walked around the property with Bodin and could see me with my cousin Danny when we were really young playing, catching lizards, and exploring. I told Bodin some of my stories and how we use to crawl through the drain pipe at the front of the property. I showed Bodin the drain pipe and to my surprise he asked if he could crawl through it but after the scorpion incident I wasn’t sure it was a good idea. I miss the days where I had noting to worry about except how to get the snake or lizard out of the brush. I always loved going to grandma’s house! The kids loved her house and property as well and begged to come back again.

A few more pics of McKade

P90X update

OK.... It has been three weeks since I started P90X and I feel great. Awesome workouts that leave you wondering why in the heck you are doing them in the first place. I have stayed at the same weight but feel I am getting stronger and bigger. My biceps feel and look bigger to me, pull-ups are shooting through the roof but the pics don’t really look all that different. The ab-ripper-X is a killer and I do feel stronger and harder in the midsection. Let me know if you think I look better, worse, or the same! The one by the door is the new one.

OUT!!

Couldn't resist

McKade was in a deep sleep so I had to take the opportunity to take some pictures. They all turned out pretty good but we like this one the best!

Finally home!

We are finally home from the hospital. Baby and mom are doing great. McKinna and Bodin can’t get enough of McKade and want to and be around him every second. They are driving us nuts!!

McKade Benjamin Cobb

Shani had been having contractions since about 10pm last night but was kind enough to not wake me till 4:30 am this morning. Noticing she was in pain and being the smart guy I am, I figured she was having some serious contractions. If you know Shani, things aren’t serious till she is puking her guts out. After the first round of pukes she decided it was time to go. We go the kids ready and off we went. Dropped the kids off at Brie’s house (thanks Brie) and headed to the hospital but not before another puking rally by Shani along the way in a near by school parking lot. Then while driving she had another round, and when we arrived at the hospital she let it go one more time. I am going to get killed for this when she sees it.

We get into a room and she was already dilated to a 6 and at 80%.. For some reason we kept getting more and more nurses and doctors in the room. Come to find out the baby’s heart rate would drop really low every time she had a contraction. They kept checking her to see if she would dilate but only a little at a time. Finally the doctor said if the baby’s heart rate drops low again we are going to have to take it C-section and my heart dropped. Now, I might not be the brightest color in the crayon box but, approximately 8 - 10 docs and nurses in the room, all have game faces on, baby’s heart beat low, and the mentioning of c-section got me putting two and two together and I knew something was wrong so I started to freak out tearing up and getting very angry (you won’t like me when I’m angry). They kept talking their jargon, again me putting two and two together, I blurt our (not knowing if I yelled it or not) “Isn’t there something you can do”. Ya, I was really helpful!! The doc checked Shani again and she was at nine so she decided Shani could try and push. Baby’s head comes out and I hear doc say, “that’s what I thought was wrong”. I look down and the umbilical cord was wrapped around McKade’s neck which was giving us the problem, guess I shouldn’t have given him a middle name of Benjamin and things probably would not have been so complicated. Approximately 5 pushes and baby was out.

I am glad to say both mom and baby are doing great. Thanks to all who could make it out and see us.

Why in the heck have I been up since 4:30 am!!

Hmmm........

AWW HELL

Well, got up this morning in time to see Shani and the kids off since I don't have to work till 10 am. Shani was about to leave and I hear the phone ring. I look for the phone but couldn't find it right away so the answering machine pickup and it was my mom singing Happy Birthday to my wife. OHHHHHH SH(CRAP)! I find the phone, pick it up before my mom hangs up and run it to my wife who is just about to pull out of the drivway and I can already see the look of death on her face. Again OHHHHH SH(CRAP)! Shani gets off the phone and I try my hardest to tell her Happy Birthday and give her loves but it was too late, I was already in the dog house!!!

Just to clear things up, I did know it was her birthday and we celebrated it with her fam last night. I just forgot first thing in the morning and would have remembered a little later.

So I call my boss and inform him of this morning’s event and that I will be in a little late because when I come back from the gym this morning I noticed I had a flat tire!!! S. O. A. B. (I know it’s SOB but I had to put the A in there cuz I’m pissed!) My boss, thankfully very understanding, gives me to go ahead to get off early so I can take Shani out to dinner to try and make up. Oh ya, I am also having flowers sent to her work and they had better be damn expensive!!

P.S. If you leave a comment on this one, please be gentle!!!

Hardcore Ghetto Gangstas

Yo yo, this hardcore ghetto gangster image takes a lot of practice!! (Bloodhound gang).

Shani brought these light up glasses home from school a while ago. It was a cool night and the kids wanted to go out back to play but mom would not let them go out without a jacket on. She sends them to me looking like this and I had to laugh. Got the camera out and told them to get gangsta!!

Thanks for the help Brie!!

Sooooooo..... Shani and I were watching Handy Landy and Van the man so Brie could ace her test. She arrives to pick her kids up and tells me she agrees with Sonia (THANKS FOR HAVING MY BACK SONY) that my BLOG is messed up and hard to read. She also tells me I need to have a better background for my layout. SORRY MISTRESSES OF THE BLOG WORLD!! J/K. Just wanted to thank the both of them for pointing out one of my many flaws of not being able to run a proper blog sight. For real though, thanks for the help Brie, now hopefully I can fit in with the IN-CROWD.

Bodin...... Then and now

McKinna... Then and now

I MISS HAWAII!!

We spent four years here having to look at horrible views like this! Don't know why I would ever go back!

I like this pic

YOU'VE BEEN BOOED!!

We had Sutton over for the night so he tagged along as we BOOED his own house along with some other friends of ours (CHASE). The first time they knocked they ran back to the car with the bag of goodies still in their hands, too funny! We went to Sutton's house and they ran up to the door and Bodin fell on his butt and they rang the doorbell and left him there! Then they got into the car and Bodin could not close his door and we could see them looking through their front window, Shani and I were dying!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

The countdown to the Clone Wars!!

Bodin has been waiting for weeks for the Cartoon Network to air the Star Wars Clone Wars cartoon. We let him turn the TV on about 1 hour before it started and the dang channel had a countdown timer on it. You would have thought it was Christmas when it was time for the show to start. As soon as the Star Wars music started Bodin started doing this funky end zone dance that went on for about five minutes into the show!! What a knuckle head!

Had to take one of Grandpa Bill's tortoises!














We also went to Grandma’s house. McKinna and Bodin had to climb into the big tree in the front yard which made for a good picture place. I tried to get Shani and her big belly up there but she (threatened me) refused.