....Joan's big mouth.

Good grief. Here come two of my favorite family members into town and what do they bring with them? Their beautiful children? Yes, but that's not all. Their wit and charm? Yep, but there is more. Their exciting news that they are moving to Utah in the next couple months? You got that right. But on top of all of that.......Joan brought this......."So, which one of you is resistant to having more kids?"

What kind of a question is that, Joan? I mean come on here. Isn't that a little personal? Kimberlee and I have had this conversation...believe me, we have had it more than once. We had it before we got married. So, I will tell you the deal for anyone that cares. The answer to the question is...ME. I am resistant. Why? Well, lets see....is it my lack of love for children and babies in particular? Are you nuts? Absolutely it isn't that. Anyone who knows me knows that I love children. I love our children, I could and would love more but.......

1. My beautiful wife bears the brunt of the load around the house. She has taken on the responsibility of learning to raise two children she didn't even know until two months before we got married. And even though my children are fantastic and very lovable, that is a huge responsibility for anyone.

2. Although I am extremely wealthy, getting children here is really expansive. I have very possibly the worst health insurance plan you can buy without government assistance. Raising children is even more expensive.

3. Kimberlee tends to have under-developed premature babies. (Scares me to death)

4. STRESS. My wife is such an amazing mom. She does so much with and for our children and makes me so happy with her efforts. However, it stresses her out and that stresses me out.

5. AGE. I am old. By the time our prospective children turn 18 I will be dang near retirement age. I was kind of hoping to have half my life left by the time my kids leave the house. I know this one sounds really selfish, but think about it. What can a husband and wife do when they are empty nesters in their 40's? ANYTHING THEY WANT. We could see Europe, Asia and all of those beautiful beaches all over the world. We could serve a mission or three. We could get season tickets to the Jazz and actually go to the games without dance, gymnastics, baseball, football, soccer, basketball or any other children's activity getting in the way.

6. Apparently children come in pairs even when they aren't twins. Everyone, and I mean everyone (including Joan) has told me, "well if you have another, you have to have at least two." I mean, jr. has got to have someone to play with.

So.......are any of these reasons compelling at all? Am I selfish? Am I cold hearted and too practical?

To prove that I am not......I will give equal time to the Pro's that have been bouncing off all those con's I just mentioned.

1. I love and adore children. I love babies. I am hopelessly attached to my children and am becoming so to my newest additions (Felicity and Malachi). I could and would love my new children.

2. I am a very patient and loving father. That is not to say that I am a perfect father. I do believe though that I am a very good father and I know that Kim is a very good mother. Children could wind up in a lot worse places than our home.

3. It would help teach our older children responsibility. Watching us raise babies and helping us care for them would be excellent for them. Not only that but by the time baby number one is weened Lily would be old enough to babysit. Felicity would not be far behind. Babysitting would not be a problem.

4. I always wanted more babies with my first wife.

5. I would love to see what a combination of Kim and I would produce. I am sure we would have beautiful babies together.

6. Finally and possibly the most compelling and also reversible argument. It would bring the family together. Right now it is hers and mine and we are trying to build ours. A baby would give us something that is all of ours together. I so much want to believe this is true. But I do see a possible dark side of this. What if any one of the four we have now senses that there is a deeper love for the only child/children that we have together. Real or imagined this could be devastating to any one of our four. I tend to lean much more heavily to the side that it would bring our family together, but........lingering doubt.

So, here it is.....my most serious blog to date. Sorry to those of you who read my blog for the humor. But in all seriousness I would love some feedback on this one. I don't particularly care which side you come down on. I don't know if I will agree with or be influenced by what you say, but I would like to at least hear some other points of view.

My wife has basically put this question away for the last few months and we are just focusing on making our family as whole, safe and comfortable for our children as we possibly can. But I am not getting any younger and with each passing day it seems that our family gets stronger and more stable. So maybe now is the time to..........

Please comment if you have something to say.

Oh, and by the way Joan......thanks for bringing it up, I needed to type all of this out to process it a bit anyway.

Thanks,

Jared

...Responding to my wifey's tag...

8 Things I am passionate about...

In no particular order....
1. My Wife
2. My Kids
3. Vitality (my store)
4. My formulas
5. My close friends
6. The Gospel
7. Fantasy Football.....I know, I am a huge Geek
8. Music......From Dream Theater to Neil Diamond and a whole lot in between

8 Books I have read in the past six months

1. This is not fair, I have 3 jobs and 4 kids and, and, and
2. The Complete History of Dream Theater
3. An inconvenient Book
4. A published study on Sensoril Ashwagandha extract (this was excellent)
5. 7 labels 437 times each
6. at least 500 pages of anecdotal evidence of various herbs for the following ailments; cold and flu, constipation, weight loss, appetite control, water retention, urinary tract infections, high cholesterol, anxiety and stress, energy and adrenal exhaustion.
7. Reading the Book of Mormon
8. Oh, and Joan and Kimberlee's blogs....they are my favorite

8 Things I often say

1. I love you
2. I miss you (been gone a lot lately)
3. What, your quitting? (lost a couple of employees this week)
4. Awesome, those are selling like crazy. ( Adrenal and Anxiety from RidgeCrest are setting records)
5. Excuse me ( been a little gassy lately)
6. Holy Cow, you are amazing (to my ridiculously motivated wife)
7. Hebrew Nationals (this has been the focus of a very intense series of messages between Joan and I) VERY INTENSE
8. Our kids are rotten/perfect...depending on the moment

8 Things I want to do before I die

1. Serve a mission with my wife
2. Become sealed to my wife
3. See all four of our kids become productive and faithful adults despite the unpleasantness they have all been through at their tender ages
4. New York City with my wife
5. See Switzerland and Germany
6. A Redskins game
7. See Brandon and Joan move to Utah
8. Have a nationally syndicated radio show and a book published

8 Things I have learned or remembered again in the last 12 months

1. That marriage can be completely fulfilling for both people involved
2. That being considerate is possibly the most valuable personality trait one can posses. Being considerate of your spouses feelings makes everyone happier and being considerate of your co-worker or employees is essential to happiness at work
3. Caring for the children the Lord has blessed you with is the most rewarding thing you can do
4. You can learn to love other people's children as your own if you use a gospel perspective. And although I am not quite there yet, I am getting closer by the day
5. Working for yourself is extremely rewarding and ridiculously challenging all at the same time
6. There really are only 24 hours in a day (even in a leap year)
7. I don't juggle as well as I thought I could (that is metaphorically speaking........oh wait and literally too)
8. I like to Blog and at least three very wonderful women enjoy reading what I write

8 People I want to tag

1. Mom
2. Joan
3. Already saw Kim's
4. Will
5. Alison
6. Craig
7. Britt
8. Brandon....I guess, cause Kim put him last...and he is sort of a funny guy, I mean, he is ok as far as that stuff goes...I think he is alright, I suppose.

So, there are my deep and often poignant thoughts about eights.

See ya

...It’s Delightful, it’s delovely….?

The Wizard of Oz. Don’t get me started. For all of the 35 years, that I have inhabited this earth, I have avoided "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz." My ex-wife, several girlfriends, and even my children have tried to strong-arm me into watching this show. Then it happened. The perfect set of circumstances. But wait a minute, let me go into more detail for a moment.

I have made it my mission to NOT see this movie. I mean, it is a cultural icon. Everyone is shocked when I say I have never seen it. I have always thought that it was part of what set me apart from the crowd. So, basically, I planned to go to the grave without seeing this movie. So, what was the perfect set of circumstances?

Well, it all started about 13 months ago, when I met the most amazing woman in the entire world. You see, she is a thespian (something else I never thought I would do, marry a thespian). When she found out I hadn't seen the Wizard of Oz, she vowed to change that within our first year of marriage. Of course, I had no intention of allowing her to break my streak. But she is an evil genius. Within weeks of us getting married she was going to heavy metal concerts, and without a complaint. I'm sure this is something she thought she would never do. She went to Trans-Siberian Orchestra, not once but twice and even agreed to force Brandon and Joan into going with us, as our Christmas present to them. She watched as I took Will, not her, to New York City on a business trip. New York City, home of Broadway. I won't say she did that without complaint, but certainly without too much of a fuss. So, then comes Julie's wedding in L.A.. A chance to go for a weekend to L.A., with my beautiful wife, and without kids....sure I said, let's do it. Then coincidentally (or was it) it just happens that the national tour of Wicked (the sequel to the Wizard) is in L.A. that weekend. So I get a phone call from Kim one day, while I am busy at work, and she says....."Hey, Wicked is in L.A., will you please take me?" Well, I am busy and I try hard to spoil my wife, so I say, "Sure babe, but I gotta run." Later that week she has got me listening to the sound track for the musical in my car.

RANT TIME:

Show Tunes. SHOW TUNES. I hate show tunes, or rather, I hate show tunes outside of a show. Sure they have their place, Gene Kelly "Singin' and Dancin' in The Rain", or even "I Dreamed a Dream" from Les Mis. But let's face it people, with very few exceptions, show tunes are only palatable within the confines of a show. Once isolated, they just sound like bad Lex DeAzevedo songs, sung by people who couldn't make it on the radio.

OK, back to my story. So Kim has me "preparing" for the big event (not the wedding) by listening to these awful show tunes on my way back and forth to work. I can deal with this, I mean, we are spending $100 a piece on these tickets (something she neglected to mention when she asked me to take her), so I might as well try to enjoy this thing right? But then the other shoe drops....."Honey", she says...."you would understand the show much better if you saw the Wizard of Oz".

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO."

"Kim, I have all but sworn an oath to never watch that movie. I can understand the musical just fine without watching it. I know about the Lion without a brain and the Tin Man with no courage and the straw man without a heart. I get all that. I know about the little people who get high in a field of poppies. I learned about that from Dr. Demento. I know about the green city and the red slippers. I know all about Kansas, I lived next to Dorothy for 2 years on my mission. Heck, I have even lived through a Kansas tornado. I even really like some of Toto's songs, they are a decent band. Please don't make me watch the movie."

"But honey", she says, "you really need to, it will make the musical soooo much better".

Then it all comes back to me, the Dream Theater concert, the TSO shows, the Metal concert with all of the female vocalists (I mean she even had Linsey do goth makeup for the occasion). Need I mention New York? I could have refused and stuck by my principles, but would that be fair? Nope. That being said, is it fair to be such a perfect wife that I have lost the ability to say no to almost any request? Probably not, but, either way, she had me squarely over a barrel.

I caved. Not only did I watch the movie, she didn't already own it, so I BOUGHT the dang thing.

Worse yet. I can't say it was a bad movie. I can't say it was a particularly good movie, but it wasn't too bad. Apparently, I had some of the details a bit messed up. But the basics were pretty much what I figured they would be. Dorothy was fine, I guess, but Toto wasn't a band, it was a dog. If I had to pick my favorite thing......I guess it was that I made it almost 36 years without seeing it.

Now, as for the musical, Wicked. WOW, what a great show! I really, really liked it. Heck, I'll even throw this out there for ya....I loved it. The singing was fantastic, the thespians, every last one of them, were great. The green witch, the hot blond witch, the wizard, they were all great. If the tour comes near you.....SEE IT. It isn't quite on par with a TSO concert, but it was pretty stinkin' good, and I would be happy to see it again. Heck, I've been singing "No one mourns the wicked" for a week. I've been listening, voluntarily to the soundtrack while preparing breakfast for the kids. It's absolutely ridiculous. How did this happen?.........

HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?

My oath, my principles, most of what I hold dear, I threw to the wind. Next thing you know, I'll be starring in community theater. My wife is truly an evil genius, and yet I love her. I understand her methods now, but I will still blindly fall into more of these traps as the years go by, because I love her. I undoubtedly, unequivicably love her.

And I wouldn't have it any other way.

Until next time.....remember, "No one mourns the wicked".....no one.........

...Traveling, Expanding and Missing

YES, traveling. It has taken its tole. And, since I never seem to tire of travel, it is a surprise to hear myself say that. Over the last 37 days, I have been out of town for 21. Maybe that isn't a big deal to people who travel all the time, but to me, it's a lot. Stack that on top of the 16 projects I have going on right now, remodeling and expanding my store, launching 2 new products for RidgeCrest and 1 for Myogenix and launching a new brand all together etc, etc. It's a lot to deal with, and I am really burned out right now, or at least I thought I was until today at RidgeCrest when I think I had a brilliant idea for my newest product. My new UTI formula just received a great new twist. But, I won't bore you with herbal mumbo jumbo. Suffice it to say, I am tired and glad to be home. This is what I have learned from my time on the road.

1. If I want to get a whole lot done around the house, all I have to do is leave. Let's see, so far while gone on business trips I have seen my beautiful wife beautify our home by.....completely re-doing our bedroom, painting our entire upstairs, putting in a huge garden and so on. What an amazing woman.
2. When I leave, I am missed. But not by my kids. It used to be, before Kim came along, that my kids missed me a lot while I was gone. Actually, they did quite a bit for the first 6 months of our marriage as well. But the last 4 trips I have taken, they don't seem to miss me a bit. Kim does such a great job with them that they just don't need me all that much. Now Kimberlee, Kimberlee loves and misses me greatly......that may have something to do with the kids.
3. No matter how good the power forward for the Jazz plays in the regular season, he never seems to play all that well in the playoffs.
4. Chicago stuffed pizza IS as good as it is cracked up to be.
5. When I dress like a pirate, I look fabulous.
6. When I dress like a pirate, 16 year old girls think I am hot.
7. I dress like a pirate everyday now.
8. There is only one Potbelly sandwich and it is amazing.
9. The Newport Beach temple is absolutely beautiful.
10. Not only is my store expanding, but due in large part to Potbelly's and Giordano's Pizza Parlor.....so is my stomach.
11. My kids are amazing. All 4 of them. And even though they don't love me enough to miss me while I am gone, they still love me quite a bit, and I miss them like crazy when I am gone.
12. I love what I do for a living, and some day it is going to pay off. ( I hope)
13. My wife is perfect for me, and I will tell you why: because I am a complete and utter cheeseball when it comes to romance. I like it gooey and cheesy. She does too. Thank goodness, cause I think I would drive certain other women crazy with the amount of cheddar that goes into my ideas for gifts and surprises. I'll let her tell you about the latest one, just know that I love doing it, and she seems to really love receiving it. What a team!
14. I AM OVER-OBLIGATED.

So, here I am, nearly a month gone by since my last blog. I would love to do one every week, but I just can't seem to find the time or inspiration, and as it is this blog is really not as entertaining as I would like it to be. Please, give me another chance, because in a few hours I intend to follow up with a much funnier subject.....Broadway.

Until then, I will be blogging on my radio show blog.

I love you all, or at least all of you that I love anyway.

Bye