George Robinson Bates

I have taken way too long to put this up. George was born on January 5, 2010. It's now February and I am finally getting some pictures out.

I underestimated the chaos that number four would bring to our house. We have three, what's one more, right? We probably won't even notice him. In fact, when I went to pick George and Rachel up from the hospital, I had this "going to Walmart" feel, like I'd done that before and it's no big deal. But number four is just like number three, number two, number one. Pandemonium. But good pandemonium. Like going to the fair pandemonium where the kids jump and scream and run from ride to ride, and the parents are nervously watching the carnies wondering which one wants to steal their children.

The Day the Dinosaurs Attacked

Sam wrote a short story for the Reflections contest at school. He won first prize for literature in the K-2 category. GO SAM!!!

The Day the Dinosaurs Attacked
by
Samuel Emerson Bates

Chapter 1—The Bolt of Lightening

One day while I was walking to school a rainstorm came. Lightening hit our flagpole. It went into the ground. A few days later we heard a big crack.

I ran to the flagpole. And their I saw a huge hole. Big enough for 38 hotels. Then I heard a roar. And there standing right before me was a T-rex. From the center of the earth.

Chapter 2—More Dinosaurs

As I was running from it I saw my friend Mark. At first he said hi Tommy! But then he saw. He told me a trick to get a way from it. Stand still and they cannot see you. We stood still and the T-Rex could not even see us and went away.

Then we went back to the hole. More dinosaurs came out! I saw they were heading for the city. When we got to the city most of the things were destroyed.

Chapter 3—the Trap

Then we went back to the hole. We set a trap of leaves and twigs. But first we put a weight thing that would set a chain reaction and cover the hole with dirt.

Then we got some bait. Every dinosaur fell for it. And then the trap worked.

The End

Our Year in Review

It's been awhile since I posted anything here. I'm failing miserably in my goal to keep this blog updated with high-tech Batesology. So here's a little recap of what we did last year.

2008 was a year of change for the House of Bates. The biggest and best change was the addition of a new member to our family: Henry David Bates. Henry was born on April 2nd of this year and is the fattest healthy little baby two parents could ever want. He has spent the last eight months learning the proper techniques for essential baby activities such as pooping his pants, spitting up on dad’s face, and crying at the top of his lungs at 2 a.m.

Owen started Kindergarten this year. Oddly, he hasn't been sent to the principal's office yet. In fact, he likes his teacher, Mr. Shawcroft, and is surprisingly well behaved. It makes me wonder what I am doing wrong at home.

Sam is in second grade. He loves his teacher, Mrs. Gremlich (I am not making that up, her name really is Mrs. Gremlich). He also started piano lessons.

Rachel is learning to juggle three kids and doing a fantastic job of it. She got a minivan at the start of the year, and both Sam and Owen are playing soccer. So now she’s a REAL soccer mom.

I got a new job and a new responsibilities at church. In August I left the Utah Attorney General’s Office and began working at the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office. I am a prosecutor on the office’s felony narcotics team, and I love it. Nothing beats watching homeless ID-thieving drug addicts getting cuffed and taken to jail, except maybe watching their girlfriends cry when it happens unexpectedly.

Shortly after starting at the DA’s office, I was called to serve as the Bishop of our ward. Let that be a warning to all of you out there that think you can avoid responsibilty by wearing a colored shirt to church and ignoring your home teaching assignments. I tried it. It doesn't work. It just makes you feel less prepared and more hypocritical when the call comes.

So that's the poo on the Bates family. We wish all of our friends and family a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

West Side Soccer

When we lived in Murray, Sam played soccer in an East Side soccer league. It was mostly little white kids falling down and crying. When we moved to Taylorsville, we joined a West Side soccer league. His West Side team, the Blue Dragons, has mostly Latino kids who are bred through careful genome manipulation to be superior soccer players. Seriously, these little kids pwn. The always win, usually in a bloody shut-out of 8-0.



The little kid in the white hat is the love child of Pele and David Beckham. He's a soccer ninja. And number 9 cries if he doesn't score at least five goals in a game. Sam has improved a lot playing with these kids. He got his first goal today. Woohoo!



Here's a team photo. I believe the coach on the right eats little babies for breakfast every morning.




Owen started playing this year too. He's still at that age where soccer is about knocking other kids down and running into the net. We are still searching for a genetically superior soccer team for him to join.

Assault!!!

We were at a family reunion, and one of Sam's little cousins knocked Sam's front teeth out with a baseball bat. No big deal. They were baby teeth and were getting loose anyway.

Rachel's Fabulous 34th Birthday

Rachel's annual murder-mystery birthday party. No ship, but plenty of fools.

Henry!

I haven't posted new pictures of Henry in a while. So here ya go.