mi familia ridiculo

dear blog,

tonight i was at my parent's house for family night. as we were all sitting there, i suddenly remembered part of why i am so ridiculous. with everyone snuggled up on the couch, it went something like this:

* note-- the following story is edited for content.


dad: carly. can you conduct please?

(everyone knows that this is really not a question)

carly: richie, you are doing the song. maddie, will you pray?

richie promptly leads us in a rowdy round of popcorn popping.

maddie prays.

dad has the "lesson."

daddy: when you guys think of your grandparents what do you think of?

nickie: gardening.

richie: vitamin supplement pills.

maddie: grandma and grandpa's house always smells like pills!

carly: grandpa's gross gravy.

dad:... okay. but, when you think of any of your grandparents, do they have any fancy high-tech toys?

all: no.

carly: some ridiculous exclamation!

dad: what matters most to them do you think?

nickie: me.

maddie: traveling.

mom: (in a "you guys are ridiculous" voice) the gospel.

dad: that's right. we are a like your grandparents in this way. they treasure life and travelling and gardening and the gospel more than having fancy cars and 4-wheelers and gaming consoles. we have tried to be like your grandparents in this way, so just remember that--

dad is interrupted by chuckling--

dad: what is so funny.

rochelle: look at mav! nickie has been circling that pencil around his head for 5 minutes and he is still following it.

everyone looks and starts laughing also.

richie: how come we never get to go anywhere?

nickie: yeah! you (mom and dad) got to go lots of places with your families growing up!

mom: we've traveled as a family! we've gone to idaho and yellowstone and...

richie: we want to go to cool places.

rochelle: i'm going to mexico!

dad: (in the tone he teaches his 9 year old primary class in) when i was growing up we would go camping and backpacking to all the national parks.

nickie: ew, nevermind.

maddie: it would be so fun to go to disneyland!

dad: okay. we'll talk about this later (we all know this is not going to happen) carly...

carly: rochelle, can you do closing song. mom, closing prayer?

followed by a beautiful rendition of count your blessings (my favorite)
and a nice prayer by mom.


as you can tell--- they are sufficiently ridiculous. i love how even mom and dad participate in the sporadic laughter and even condone random comments.

but, what can i say? i love them.


love,
rochelle