Messy Bessy

Here's the painting story that Dave didn't tell you. David was a very focused and dedicated painter- He only took a break to eat some dinner. But he did have a hard time keeping the paint on the walls. I lost count of the number of times I heard my friend Barb shout, "Corbett, you're fired!" because he dripped more paint on the carpet- or rolled it on the door.
Apparently they don't teach proper painting techniques at Baylor. But even Barb had to hand it to Dave when it came to choosing the cute colors for our baby's new room. Now we just need to get the rest of it together before the little one decides to come!

Thank goodness for great people!

To help us get ready for the baby, many friends came over today to help us paint the house and prepare the nursery. The work we finished today would have taken us days on our own. Here is a picture and Clay and Celeste Stephens. Clay is standing on a step-ladder, and, as you can see, Celeste is sitting on Clay's shoulders in order to reach the top corner of the kitchen wall.

Perhaps only days now!

Since y'all have been asking about the pregnancy . . .

Cambrea was dilated to a 2 at her appointment on Monday, was starting to become "effaced" (whatever that means), and began losing her plug today. Oh, and we decided on a first name: Colin, after my dad. No middle name yet--still working on that one.

By the way--I won my first jury trial on Wednesday, bringing my overall record to 7-1. It was nice to do something other than a bench trial.

Now that's some police work worth applauding.

The temperature in Kingman is about 105 degrees today. Without any humidity to stop you from drying out, the heat can really wear you down throughout the day. But that is where several Kingman policemen have been standing on our street today to help a family . . .

A new family is moving down the block from our house. People have many fears when moving, including the fear that the movers will play quote a reasonable price then arrive at the destination with a much higher price; when the family can't pay the new, exorbitant fee, the movers then point to something in the contract that they don't have to take their things off the truck until payment is made.

Well, that apparently happened to the new family around the block. I only know one side of the story, but the movers threatened to drive away with their stuff after asking an enormous fee. So the family called the police. They arrived at about 8:30 this morning to stop the trucker from leaving and are still out there now at 5:00. 7.5 hours and counting in the dry heat. The movers weren't willing to share their logs or any information--surprise. So the officers recently returned with a warrant to go over the logs then to go to the scales for a weight measurement.

Great job, guys.

What do y'all think?

Here is a hypothetical for those legally minded readers (though I think there are only 2 readers left since we haven't posted much lately):

Sammy is a bus-boy at a local restaurant. The restaurant has a standing policy that any tips given to bus-boys are not to be kept by the individual bus-boy, but are to be placed in a jar. The money in the jar will be counted at the end of each week, then divided among all bus-boys according to hours worked during that week.

Sammy receives a five dollar tip from a customer who was particularly happy with the cleanliness of her table. Instead of leaving the tip on the table, the delighted customer hands the tip directly to Sammy and says, "This is for you."

Sammy, feeling that he truly earned this tip and shouldn't have to share it, places the five dollar bill in his pocket. A manager watches Sammy place the five dollar bill in his pocket instead of placing it in the tip jar. The manager calls the police to report a theft.

The state law defines theft as follows:

A. A person commits theft if, without lawful authority, the person knowingly:
1. Controls property of another with the intent to deprive the other person of such property; or
2. Converts for an unauthorized term or use services or property of another entrusted to the defendant or placed in the defendant's possession for a limited, authorized term or use; or
3. Obtains services or property of another by means of any material misrepresentation with intent to deprive the other person of such property or services; or
4. Controls property of another knowing or having reason to know that the property was stolen.

Is Sammy guilty of theft or merely violating a company policy?

A choice experience . . .

At the bottom of the Grand Canyon, halfway between Kingman and Flagstaff, lies the tiny Native American village of Supai. There are only two ways of entering, both involve leaving your car at the top of the canyon. You can either hike about 8 miles through the canyon or take a ride in a helicopter.



We flew into Supai on this helicopter. This was our view:





There is a small congregation of the Church in this village. Members of the Church are flown in 3 times a month to speak during Sacrament Meeting. Cambrea and I were chosen to speak this weekend. We chose to speak on putting on the whole armor of God. After we landed, we walked about 1/2 mile to the little chapel in the middle of the woods.



As I reached the pulpit, I took just a moment to look out of the window. The view from the window showed nothing but green grass, beautiful trees, and gliding birds against a red and black rock backdrop. Here are some pictures I took from the porch:





It was a little room with standing room only for the 70+ congregation numbers. With a view from the window free of the marks of civilization and a room not aided by a microphone, the message, really the whole experience, felt purer, cleaner. For a brief moment, I felt how Brother Joseph must have felt as he preached in small chapels throughout Ohio, Missouri, and Illinois.

To top it off, after I gave me talk, a young man walked up to me with his wife and said, "Hermano Corbett, how are you?" He was one of the young missionaries that I had taught about 4 years ago in the MTC. What are the odds? As we talked about the MTC, there was only one thing that he specifically remembered. No, it wasn't my teaching, but one of my wife's delicious apple pies. I guess one was more forgetable than the other.

Things I Love About Dave

So I was reading everyone else's blogs today and I couldn't get over how big everybody's kids are and how grown up they all look. (Dave was especially wowed by Rebekah Wansgaard's hair because last time he saw her she was "rockin' the baby mullet." That's him, Jen, not me!) It sure made me anxious to have my baby so I have something interesting to post, but then I realized Corbett provides me with plenty of entertainment around here. So here is my "Things I love about Dave/Poke gentle fun at him while I'm at it" post.

One of the things I love the most about Dave is how much he needs me. We're not sure how he ever left the house before we got married because he always needs me to tell him where his keys are or where he left his cell phone. He just walks around with stuff and sets it down without thinking. Well, the other day, we were sitting down to watch American Idol, and we could not find the remote ANYWHERE. We knew Corbett used it that morning, so we started looking in all the random places we could think of. We finally gave up and went to watch TV in our bedroom. A while later, I got up to let the dogs in, and here's what I saw:

Apparently it sat outside all day.

Another thing that I love about Dave is the way he eats crunchy stuff. I'm sitting here listening to him right now. He's eating chips, and he crunches it twice with an open mouth before he closes his mouth and devours the rest. I laughed at him, and even though he knows he does it, he can't help but do it.

Everyone posted their list of obsessions- well, here's mine:
#1-5 How much weight I've gained since becoming pregnant and how much more I have to go.
So one of the things that I love the most about Dave is how he can look at my big, fat belly and not make me feel guilty because I had TWO pieces of cake last night. In fact, here's my big, fat belly at 26 weeks:

Seriously, though, I am really enjoying pregnancy. When we found out we were having a boy, I asked the ultrasound tech if she could see a soccer ball in there because I knew Dave was mentally reserving every weekend to go to our baby's sporting events. She laughed, but I seriously think the baby is kicking something around in there. It's kind of fun right now because now we can see him kick through my stomach and feel actual body parts moving. He really likes chocolate milk and Spicy Nacho Doritoes- just like his momma and daddy!