New Phones

Hi kids,
Daddy here. Well Mama and me finally decided to upgrade our cell phones. We got the brand new Samsung Galaxy s5. Let me tell you this might be one of the greatest inventions the human race has ever come up with.  This is the first picture I took on my new phone.

 We are eventually going to turn in our old iPhones but you guys have been so busy playing games and texting each other with phones that don't even have service, which I don't even understand, that we haven't got around to it yet. This is the first blog post that I've done simply by talking. Every so often a technology comes around that even blows daddy away. And the ability to blog via talking is pretty sweet . Lord knows what they'll have by the time you guys are my age. I'll post again soon. I love you guys.

Daddy

Easter

Hi Kids,

Daddy here. Well well well, ,we have spent quite a bit of time at St Joe's in the past few days with the boys serving in all the Tridium.

Holy Thursday Mass was Mama and Daddy's 15th wedding anniversary. 15 years, seems like a lifetime ago. I count myself as been very blessed to have her in my life for all this time. She is such a beautiful, wonderful woman, I hope one day you guys will be able to appreciate all she has done for us all, and continues to do every day. She is incredible, and she said yes when I asked her to marry me. How much luckier does a man get? We also thought it was pretty neat that we got communion from Deacon Mangas, as he was the one who married us all those years ago.

On Good Friday, I took a half a day off and after we went to Mass we hit the ol Midway of Fun and got haircuts and stuff.

On Holy Saturday morning the boys and I had Mass practice and then the Reagans came over for a BBQ. We had some awesome brats and some laughs. Then, we headed to the big one, the Holy Saturday Mass. The boys were both alter servers, and they did great. When I heard glass breaking, I looked straight at Jake, but he was not involved! Whew! I was the Exultet and had a very long reading, but I think I did O.K. I also read the second reading with was the one from Exodus with the chariots and charioteers that makes Mama laugh so much. Izzy fell asleep and after the whole big, beautiful production, we headed home. We stopped at Safeway and Alex and I ran in to get some stuff and speculated what it would have sounded like if Bob Moad had read the readings. "A reading from Expedia. Moses put his had out over water, Jews walked in. It was dry. Eg.....the Egyp......the horse guys went in after them.......they died." We were cracking each other up. Then, when we got home, we watched The Ten Commandments on TV. The one from 1956. And Al was offended by the special effects, denouncing them as, "Bush League" and "I've got an app on my tablet that can do better than that."

On Sunday, we had an easy morning and then headed over to Grammie and Papa's house for the Easter celebration. Everyone was there that day: Seth, Jula, Violet, Tia, Uncle PP, Grandma Dorthy, Uncle J & Henry. We had a great day of food, baseball, beers, candy, more food, and family. We are so very blessed to have so many wonderful people in this family. I love it when we all get together. I hope you guys understand the importance of spending time with your family and remember these times when you get as old as I am. I look forward to our next adventure. I love you guys.

Daddy

Midway of Scum

Hi Kids,
Daddy here. Well the time has come for the Mansfield family to hit the Ol Midway of Fun in the Mall parking lot. This year was a kind of passing the torch year, as Al is too big for most of the rides and SteveO is getting there too. Iz, however had a blast!

It begins

All in all, another great year at the Midway. Beautiful day and we even went over to the mall and hadsome pretzels. I just love hanging out wit you guys. I love you,

Daddy

Cap!

Hey Kids,
Daddy here. So, we traveled down to Corning this weekend for Jake's soccer game. The Strikers made a game of it for a while, but ultimately lost. It was easier to take because we softened the blow of the loss with lunch a a Mexican restaurant with Coach Jason and Heather and some of the guys from the team. Then, we came home and Iz and I got a few chores done and we had a nice relaxing Saturday night. Sunday, after church, the boys worked extra hard and cleaned the disaster area known as their room. It looks great, so as a reward, we went to see Captain America: The Winter Soldier. We got there kinda late and had to sit all the way in the back, but we all agreed that the seats were great. The theater was full of dads and their kids which made it extra awesome for us, so we could cheer and yell as everyone else was too. The movie was totally awesome, we loved it!! We got the heads up from Cagle to stay for both of the secret endings, and they showed Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch!!! OMG! Cannot wait for Guardians of the Galaxy and Avengers 2! As much as I love seeing these movies, you guys make it so much better. I'm so very glad I can share my love of this stuff with you. Thank you guys for being my movie buddies. I love you.

Daddy

Man Days!

Hey Kids,
Daddy here. Well, I'm back from the Man Days trip and glad to be home. Doc and I did Man days this time up in Bellevue, Wash. as he is doing a contract job up there. We went to eat at this terriyaki place and it was awesome. I had the crispy beef.

It was super good, but we had stuff to do! And by stuff, I mean, nothing! It is Man Days after all. We did however make it out to the Space Needle.

A Beer at the top of the Space Needle, not too bad old man, not too bad.

Doc is as amazed as I am

Just a selfie with my tall tall friend, that's all.

And Pike's Place

But all too soon, it was time to get on the road and head home. As we got on I-5 my phone said "Stay on I-5 southbound for 679 miles", ugh

Good lookin day.

Do people really need these anymore?!

We definitely need these though!

Anyway, it was great, but Daddy is glad to be back. When we got home, you all ran up to me and gave me a big hug and told me how much you missed me, I wish you guys would do that forever. It really makes it all worth it. I love you guys.

Daddy

MDXIV

Hey Kids,
Daddy here. Well, this past weekend we spent more time getting the house all ready to sell. Mom and I really hope it sells this time so we can get outta here and get a place more suited to our family. Coming up tomorrow is the Kindergarten play'Goldilocks and the 3 Bears' and Iz is Goldie. Of course she is! Seriously, no one has ever looked more like Goldilocks than that girl. I can't wait to see her perform.

After the play, Daddy is catching a shuttle to Sacramento and flying to Seattle to see Doc for our Man Days celebration. Doc just bought the brand new Xbox 1 and we are gonna get our game and food on. Doc says there's this awesome wing place close to his apartment and a sweet Mexican spot across the street. Should be a good time, I'll take pics and such. I love you guys,

Daddy

Old Man

Hey Kids,
Daddy here. So in the last couple of weeks, we've had some big to do's in the Mansfield house. The SteveO turned 10 on Feb 16th and we had Jack and Nathan come over for a sleepover. We went to the batting cages and saw the Lego movie. As the movie said, "Everything is awesome!" It was pretty good. Doc and I said the worst part of the movie was when the lights came on at the end and we realized that we were not 10 years old.
A few weeks later Mama threw me a big ol party for my 40th birthday. 40?! Really? Izzy looked at the grays in my beard and said, "Daddy, you're gettin old." Well I'd rather have that than the other thing, so that's OK. We had a huge party at Grammie & Papa's house and had a blast. Al will remember the Buckler NA beer, /shudder. Jake and Iz will probably remember being able to stay downstairs all night and hang with the adults.
Then just 10 days later, it was Mama's birthday. We went out to Cattlemen's and had steak and mashed potatoes, so good. The guys next to us are ordering and when the waitress asked which kind of beer he wanted, Jake said, "Coors Light." I'm like, he's not asking you, also, you're 10! We got Mom a nice Christ the Teacher Icon from Church and had Kathryn and Irwin come by and clean the house for her. I think she was pretty happy.
So all is well in the house. Mom and I hope we can get it sold in the next few weeks and get into a bigger place for all our people, haha. I'll post again soon, I set a reminder in my phone so I'd remember. What can I say? Daddy's gettin old. I love you guys,

Daddy