The Big Day

He looks forward to it all year long. For a week leading up to it he couldn't help but check the weather reports as often as possible. When Sunday morning finally arrived he got out of his bed early, full of anticipation, and looked out the window... a few light clouds and lots of sunshine, perfect! All other activities of the day were mere formalities to be endured. When evening came, the dinner table was set and the family gathered around it. Amidst the chatter and commotion of plates being passed and food being dished it was likely that no one else even noticed the significance of the moment. But he did. One small tear gently rolled down Mike's cheek as he took the first bite of that perfectly browned and seasoned, tender and succulent morsel of sirloin steak.

BBQ Season had begun.

In Memoriam

Friends and Family, it was 18 years ago today that Riley Haymes Groves entered this experience we call life.

As he passes from boy to man today (at least in his ability to be drafted to war, buy cigarettes, and be tried as an adult for crimes) it is appropriate to look back on his now vanished childhood. Here are a few of my favorite memories:

- The day he was born when mom and dad called to tell us it was a boy (before ultrasounds were standard) the sisters were all very excited, and the older brother just said "I guess that's OK, but now I'll have to share a room with it."

- As a tot his eyes were so big compared to the rest of his head we called him Headlights.

- As a toddler we could say any words in the right tone of "who wants to go do this?" and he would excitedly yell "ME!" Mom didn't buy it for passing off chores on to him though.

- When he was 6 his sisters made him get married to the 7 year old girl across the street. It was a beautiful garden wedding.

- When he was 8 a friend of his and him went all around the neighborhood selling their autographs. They figured when they both became professional baseball players later in life those signatures would be worth millions.

- When he was 10 we could get him to do anything we wanted by threatening to have his older brother put him in the "Allan Tangler" wrestling hold. He tried to counter-threaten with the "Riley Wrangler" but it was just like the Allan Tangler and we were all bigger than him.

- When he was 14 he tried to slam dunk a Nerf ball into the basket on his door but hit his chin on the door instead and needed stitches.

- When he was 17 he tried to show up his brother and brothers-in-law in a basketball game but broke mom's plant pot in the driveway instead.

Now all of those silly, childish, and a little bit embarrassing things are behind him as he moves into adulthood (especially breaking mom's pot last week, thank goodness.) And we mourn the passing of time as the baby of our family is now all grown up!

Happy Birthday Riley!

Please leave any memories you have of Riley, if you've ever met him that is. Or you can just make up a memory too, that's cool.

Cake in a bowl in a ball?

This week on the Discovery Channel: Great Inventions that Someone Else Got Rich From.

Tonight we bring you a story about "could have been". Many of the world's best products and companies started with pure luck or mistake, and someone smart enough and brave enough to perfect the idea and take it to the general public. But what of those who had the luck but never made something out of it?

Such is the story of Shaina and Becca, two college roommates. One weekend a group had gathered at their apartment and Shaina had the idea to bake a cake to help feed the mass. She grabbed a chocolate cake mix, threw in the oil and eggs and had it in the oven in no time.

When the timer sounded, Becca got up to help Shaina, unaware of what her actions would lead to.

The cake looked perfect as the girls pulled it from the oven. Becca suggested that they let it cool for a few minutes before serving it to everyone. Shaina tried to wait, but her impatience got the best of her. But as she tried to get the cake out of the pan, the whole thing crumbled into a mess on the counter. Becca, in a moment of inspiration, grabbed a large bowl and said "let's just put it in this and we'll eat it popcorn style!"

Cake-in-a-bowl, as the treat was dubbed, became a favorite among the girls and their friends. They even tried mixing in or dipping frosting and other variations. Unfortunately, that's where their ambition ran out. They never realized what potential their treat could have with just a few refinements.

Years later, at a St. Patrick's Day dinner, Shaina discovered Cake Balls. Someone had taken the Cake-in-a-bowl idea and perfected it by adding cream cheese and a chocolate coating.

Now there are millions of online recipes and someone else has even built an entire company around producing and selling Cake Balls.

As delicious as these confections are however, for Becca and Shaina they will always be a little bitter-sweet as they ask themselves, what part of the Cake Ball fortune could have been theirs?

C is for Chocolate

Hi. My name is Shaina Burgoyne and I'm a chocoholic.
I enjoy chocolate in almost all forms and textures. I like white chocolate, dark chocolate and milk chocolate. I like swiss, italian or even good ol' Hersheys. I've had chocolate with crushed red peppers in it and liked that too. Chocolat is one of my favorite movies (all about chocolate and Johnny Depp!). But of all the varities of chocolate out there, I am especially fond of the chocolate that I can drink, specifically Hot Chocolate and Chocolate Milk. This time of year is always a little sad for me, as the temperatures get warmer and the sun gets brighter, and I know that it's time to put my Hot Chocolate Mug back on the shelf until next October.
To mark this turn of the seasons, I found a story that teaches us the true meaning of hot chocolate.

A group of graduates, well established in their careers, decided to go visit their old university professor, now retired. During their visit, the conversation turned to complaints about stress in their work and lives. Offering his guests hot chocolate, the professor went into the kitchen and returned with a large pot of hot chocolate and an assortment of cups - porcelain, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite - telling them to help themselves to the hot chocolate.

When they all had a cup of hot chocolate in hand, the professor said: "Notice that all the nice looking, expensive cups were taken, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress. The cup that you're drinking from adds nothing to the quality of the hot chocolate. In most cases it is just more expensive and in some cases even hides what we drink. What all of you really wanted was hot chocolate, not the cup; but you consciously went for the best cups... And then you began eyeing each other's cups.

Now consider this: Life is the hot chocolate; your job, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain life. The cup you have does not define, nor change the quality of life you have. Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the hot chocolate God has provided us. God makes the hot chocolate, man chooses the cups. The happiest people don't have the best of everything. They just make the best of everything that they have. Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly. And enjoy your hot chocolate.

Sentenced for 9 more months, no parole

We found out on Wednesday that it was time to renew our lease for our apartment and that we had to decide by Friday. So we listed the pros and cons of staying where we are or moving somewhere new. This morning we met with the landlord and renewed the lease until 12/31/2008/. So if you haven't visited us in our humble home yet, shame on you, but you still have time to make it up. And if you have visited us, you know it's worth coming again. And our address isn't changing, so all of you out-of-staters can still send us packages and letters!

But don't procrastinate! I'm hoping that by the next time the lease is up we'll have become ridiculously rich and run away to Hawaii. You can still visit us there.

Top Crossword Champs Set a New Record

Mike and Shaina Burgoyne set a new time record in the Online Crossword Challenge this week. The couple started competing as a team less than a year ago, but have shown great potential in the crossword world. They realized that potential Monday night as they completed the "Pedal to the Medal" puzzle in a record time of 6 minutes and 54 seconds.

"I think teamwork is really what brought us this victory," Shaina said in a press conference after the win, "I was at the keyboard, but Mike was watching the clock."

The Burgoynes say it is has become a tradition of theirs to do a crossword puzzle challenge almost every night. "Some games you feel like you're guessing on every letter, and then there are the ones like this where everything just goes right" Mike commented. Mike and Shaina hope that this current time record is broken again before long, and challenge any one else to try to break it before they do.

Winning Crosword Puzzle with record breaking time

Stay Tuned

Dear Readers,
I changed the background. That should be proof that I am still aware of my blogging duties. I apologize to those of you have been checking back once or even twice a day for the past six days only to find I haven't added anything new. I truly do understand how frustrating that is. I promise to post something new and exciting in the upcoming day or two, as soon as I can remember (or make up) something new and exciting that has happened in our life.
Until then, I appreciate your patience.

Best Regards,

Head Blogger

Your Opinion Please

When is comes to picking out what movie to watch, we usually narrow it down to 2 or 3 choices: Guy Film, Chic Flick, or Other. The breakdown of desire to watch a certain genre is almost always like this:

Mike - Guy Film 80% Other 16% Chic Flick 6%
Shaina - Guy Film 22% Other 3% Chic Flick 75%

And since Shaina's desire to see a guy film is never her top choice,but it is greater than Mike's desire to see a chic flick, that's what they watch 90% of the time. (8% of the time Mike is willing to see a chic flick but not because of the movie, he has alterior motives for after movie, and 2% of the time there is no guy film or chic flick worth watching at the time so they watch whatever is on the channel that they already have the tv set to).

There is some insight into why Mike has such a disdain for Chic Flicks. Many of them, he argues, contain a plot line where one character (usually the woman), despite good intentions, does bad things, specifically lying, that advance her relationship with someone she is interested in.

Examples:
While You Were Sleeping: Lucy lies about her connection to Peter because she doesn't want to hurt the family's feelings, but this lie helps her get closer to Jack.
Beau Jest: Sarah lies to her family about Dave and Chris to protect their feelings, but this lie helps her get closer to Dave.
Sabrina: Lionus lies to Sabrina about everything to proect the family fortune, but this lie helps him get close to her.

It is this underlying theme of deception for affection that most bothers Mike, and fuels his dislike of Chic Flicks.

We would like to hear other's thoughts on these related questions:

1. Why does lying to win hearts seem like such a common thread?
2. What guy films have this same thread in them, but we don't notice it because of all the explosions, chases, and deaths?

Please Respond!

On the job hunt??

Our trip to Denver was great! As much fun as we thought it would be. What we didn't expect was how being there would boost our resumes too! Here are some of the skill sets we picked up and defining characteristics we noticed during our time away:

Education:
- Completed a 20 minute course by Maddy on the foods we eat, visual aids provided by the Strawberry Shortcake coloring book.
- Attended an exclusive exhibit on Renaissance Art, successfully enjoying the displays despite having Hannah call out our names every few minutes just to make sure we were still in the room.
- Had an exclusive one one one training session on why Mormons are the best parents (their kids are never misbehaved) and why it is wrong to cheat on your husband or be rude to your mother-in-law. Presented by the random old lady in JoAnn's Fabric Store.

Experience:
- Survived a morning on Lookout Mountain by following deer tracks until we spotted a doe, and making a waterproof shelter out of logs and pine needles big enough for 2 toddlers to fit into.
- Provided counsel, advice, and text message deciphering to Ben, a single adult in the area, as he navigated his next move with "Highlands Ranch Girl."

Skills:
- Mike was proven to be the best "play horse" in the region, especially noted for his extensive portfolio including "dead horse, sick horse, and run away horse."
- Shaina is proficient in selecting all the wrong fabrics for completing a quilt, confirming that the quilter's first choice was the right one.
- Mike has high but volatile bowling scores.
- Shaina bowls a consistent 94 every game.
- Tested "Excellent" in swing pushing, the Ball in the Bucket Challenge, and putting together tricky hard princess puzzles.


Weaknesses:
- Statistically unable to win at group games, most notably hand and foot.
- Our departure may cause temporary crying and even the wetting of oneself. Time for full recovery is less than a day.
- Tendency to forget to take the camera on significant outings or put batteries in it resulting in a lack of fun pictures to post on the blog.

Now we're back to our boring work and school routines. But now that our resume is a little more impressive maybe we can find jobs that make us feel less inclined to desperately run away so much.

A word from our sponsors

I promise to write about our weekend in Denver later. But in the meantime, if you are in the Salt Lake area and need an idea for something to do this weekend, here's a suggestion or two:

Art:
A local artist (who happens to be one of our favorite cousins!) is opening an exhibit of some of her most recent works. It's a small exhibit in the back of a hair salon, but don't think that means that the quality of work on display will be anything less than what you'd find at a studio showing in NY. You gotta start somewhere.

See more at www.rachelmaydodge.com

Entertainment:
A favorite play has made it to the big screen! It's a great little romantic comedy that seems to be getting good reviews. It was filmed mostly in Utah with most of the crew and production staff being local (a few friends and family members helped). It's being tested here before opening nationally. It's a chic flick, but not too cheesy or unbearable. And you know that a good chic flick can have good consequences later!

Check it out at www.beaujestmovie.com

*Mike and Shaina were not compensated for their publicity efforts of these two events. If Rachel May or the producers of Beau Jest would like to change that, please contact the Burgoynes immediately.

V Day in D town

Saturday, Lunchtime:

M: So what are you going to do the rest of the day?
S: I don’t know, laundry I guess. Probably watch some t.v. You?
M: Homework.
S: Boy are we exciting.
M: Our life kinda seems stuck in a rut doesn't it?
S: You’re just too busy with school full time and work full time. I'm too bored with just work and then nothing to do afterwards. But we’re trying to save money, so we can’t really go do anything anyway.
M: Yeah, I guess we’ll just have to stay in this rut for awhile longer and just endure it.


Later that day:
(Shaina, out of pure boredom, is taking a nap on the couch)
M: Wake up I have to ask you something!
S: What?
M: Do you want to go to Denver?
S: When?
M: Next week!
S: Really?
M: Yep, I found a deal online and we can use my frequent flyer miles. We’d stay with Will and Sarah. So we’d hardly have to pay for a thing!
S: Ummm..
M: C’mon! Let’s do something spontaneous. Let’s break out of our rut!
S: I'm a planner. I never do anything spontaneously. Ever. ……..oh what the heck let’s book it!

So, it looks like we’re taking a spur-of-the moment weekend trip to Denver.
We’re unpredictable!
Living life on the edge!
Giving in to our wild inhibitions!
Watch Out - there’s no telling what we’re going to do next!

Wow, what a rush. I feel a little light headed.

Tag #2

So I usually don't fill these out and pass them on when they come through my email, but I figured that with a blog it's different. It's more proactive on the readers' side to come and look at what I wrote instead of me filling up their email boxes. Plus I was a little flattered that I got tagged 2 times on the same day by different people! So if you don't like these kinds of things, I understand and won't be hurt if you skip past them. But if you're bored or want to learn something new about me read on!

1. What was the best thing you cooked last week?
I made some home made fried rice that was really good with some costco egg rolls.
2. If money, time and babysitting were no object, where would you go and with who? Mike has already promised to take me on a cruise, to Hawaii and back to Italy so any combination of those with just my "traveling companion" Mike and me.
3. When was the last time you cried? Saturday, watching President Hinckley's funeral. His chair just looked so empty!
4. Five things you were doing 10 years ago?
1- I was a sophomore at West Jordan High School
2- I had my first kiss
3- I was enjoying life without braces or glasses (hence the first kiss I think)
4- I got my first promotion ever at work from cashier to shift manager
5- I was in my first car accident and got my first ticket!

5. Five things you were doing 5 years ago?
1- I was turning in my mission papers
2- Going on my first date with Mike
3- Working part time at the Creamery (I met Lavell Edwards, Merrill Bateman and Reno Mahe there!)
4- Hating everything Italian, especially the 202 language class I was in at BYU
5- Hanging out with the girls of Alta 312!!

6. Five things you were doing 1 year ago?
1- Planning the wedding
2- Working in the yard for the wedding
3- Saving all my money for the wedding
4- Working at the same place I'm at now doing the same thing I do now
5- Seeing Mike as much as possible

7. Seven of your favorite hobbies (in no order):
1- Playing Soccer
2- going to/participating in plays
3- camping
4- Playing card games
5- watching BYU football
6- sending letters and packages to people
7- Blogging

8. Five favorite foods:
1- Pasta
2- Chocolate Milk
3- Hot Chocolate
4- Chocolate Chip Cookies
5- Brownies

Five places you’ve been:
1- Italy and Sicily
2- Paris
3- New York
4- Mt. Rushmore
5- Yellowstone

10. Five favorite memories: (in no particular order)
1- When I knew I wanted to marry Mike
2- The day I married Mike (It really was perfect!)
3- Teaching Franca Cicciarelli and watching her get baptized and confirmed
4- Family vacations growing up
5- Mike's first Sunday Evening with my family

Tag #1

What is your husband's name? Michael Adam Burgoyne
How long have you been together? Well our first date was in 2003 but we really started dating in April 2006.
How long did you date? 9 short months, engaged for 5 long months, and now have 9 good months behind us.
Who eats more? Mike. Not that I can't pack it in when I want, but he is a guy after all.
Who said I love you first? Mike drove to Salt Lake from Provo at 11:00pm because he HAD to tell me that before he left early the next morning for a 2 week trip back East. Sweet, huh?
Who is taller? Mike is taller than me, and I may be a little taller than one of my sisters, but that's about it for both of us.
Who has more speeding tickets? He has 1 from that stupid part of Provo where you can only drive 20 mph. I've wiggled my way out of any I could've gotten so far.
Who is smarter? I got better grades in school, but he kicks my butt in scrabble, so how can you tell?
Who is more sensitive? I call it sensitive, Mike calls it moody.
When there is a fight who usually wins? The few we've had have been no-one-can-win-so-we-both-have-to-deal-with-it kinds of fights.
Who does the laundry? I do all the laundry, Mike takes out all the trash. We're both happy.
Who does the dishes? Whoever gets sick of the dirty kitchen first.
Who sleeps on the right? Mike's on the right I'm on the left and we both like to sleep facing our appropriate walls. So unromantic.
Who pays the bills? we have some coming from my bank and some from his for now.
Who mows the lawn? Wouldn't it be nice to have a lawn!
Who drives when you are together? Mike.
Who is more stubborn? I call it sensitive, Mike calls it stubborn.
Who kissed who first? He kissed me first, but he was so nervous he asked my permission and it was a horribly awkward kiss. We've made up for it since.
Who asked who out first? He asked first and 3 years later he asked first again (with the help of Becca, I owe her one!)
Who proposed? He picked the ring, planned how to suprise me with it, planned the after party, and popped the question. But I said yes.
Who has more siblings? I win by one! Unless being a twin counts for something, because Mike is one. But they're not identical, so maybe it's not that special after all.

Umm, oops.

Sometimes Mike has to go out of town on business. Shaina doesn't usually mind (unless it's for 4 weekends in a row and they've only been married a month). In fact it's nice to be able to watch all the TLC and chic-flicks she wants. Last weekend it worked out especially well that Mike went to New Jersey when he did because he was able to treat his mom to dinner and see an old friend from High School.(Yes, his mom still lives in Pennsylvania, but you see in the East it takes a lot less than 5 hours to cross the state lines).
To keep Shaina from getting too lonely, her sister-in-law Becca came over Saturday afternoon with toddlers in tow for some quality food, crafts, and girl talk. It was a calm and pleasant weekend for everyone!
That is, of course, until Shaina woke up Sunday morning and found her kitchen floor covered in water. She opened the freezer and yep, the frozen veggies were just soggy veggies. Must have been the freezer that busted, she thought. She called the maintenance number for their apartment complex and the guy said with all the snow problems he was dealing with it would be a good day or two before he could replace the freezer. What was Shaina going to do with the food until then?
Aha! Her girls camp skills kicked in and she had the brilliant idea of putting everything in the snow on the porch to stay cold. So she moved everything she could from the freezer to the porch and went to church feeling resourceful and clever. Her pioneer ancestors would be proud.
Later that day her brother showed up so they could carpool to a family dinner. She grabbed her contribution to the meal out of the fridge and noticed that it didn't feel as cold as it should. The fridge must have busted too. So she added the milk, cheese, eggs and other perishables to the pile on the porch, packed more snow around them and was off. Late that night as Mike was back, she was showing him all that happened when he was gone and how smart she was to put everything in the snow. She opened the fridge and noticed something she hadn't seen before. The little knob for setting the temperature in the fridge was turned all the way to zero. An image from the night before flashed in her head: little Eli going around the kitchen pushing every button and turning every knob that he could find.
She turned the knob back to 4 and heard the buzz of the fridge kicking back on.
She spent the next half hour taking the food out of the snow and returning it to the fridge.
If she had checked that knob earlier, she sure could have saved herself a lot of trouble. That Shaina just ain't so bright sometimes.

By Request

Some have asked that we post more of the lost but now found wedding pics. So out of more than 900, there are a few of the best in a handy-dandy slide show on our blog

(there on the side------>)

So sit back, relax, and enjoy! But watch closely, you may recognize more faces than you think!

Note: Near the end there is a picture of a very elderly looking couple. They are the Waites, and Brother Waite was the man who performed our wedding ceremony.

The case of the missing wedding pictures

When she first discovered the injustice of the missing wedding photos, she knew she wouldn't be able to rest until there was restitution. She knew the key to solving this was Mr. Barney, the elusive owner of Simply Photography.
She could only start with the few leads she had and try to build from there. Things weren't easy. Websites were out of order, phone lines were dead. And any government agency was protecting themselves with a "please allow 60 days for a response" clause. 60 days was out of the question.
She thought she had finally got a break when she got a hold of a new list of phone numbers and addresses from a contact at the local news channel's investigative team (Thanks Gephardt). But the information wasn't all positive. Simply Photography had filed bankruptcy in September. Even if she did contact them, there a was a chance that they would no longer have any of the files that contained the missing pictures.
Things were starting to look bad. There was still no response to any of the phone calls, a visit to the office where Mr. Barney was supposedly employed was a waste as he hadn't been seen there in 4 months. She was getting discouraged, but not ready to give up yet. Her last resort was to visit the Barney's home address and confront them face to face.
The morning before she was going to make her visit, she got an email from the Barneys. One of the government agencies she had filed with came through. A cd with the wedding pictures would be in the mail that afternoon.
The Burgoyne's got the cd a few days later, and to their joy and relief, this time it had the right pictures.



Another case closed, another happy ending.

Practice makes perfect and fish are cheaper than kids

About 4 months ago Mike and Shaina became the proud adoptive parents of a fish. It is a pretty betta with beautiful pink and peach flowing fins. But it's a boy. So they named it Dagger.
It seems to have a normal and happy life in its fish bowl for one, furnished with plastic flowers. Mike and Shaina could have been nominated for the Fish Parents of the Year award if it wasn't for this past month.
The temperature in the Draper area has been particularly cold the last few weeks, and in order to conserve energy and cash, the Burgoyne's have been turning the heat down in their home during the day while they are both at work and at night while they are sleeping.
One morning Mamma Shaina was giving little Dag his breakfast, thinking about how cold she was and she wondered if a fish could feel cold. She tested his water, it was pretty chilly. A good google search later that day informed her that Betta fish are native to Indonesia, go figure. And the water there averages about 75-80 degrees all year long.
Now the Burgoyne's are stuck with a parenting dilemma. How can they keep their Dagger cozy and warm like he should be during the bitter winter?
Mamma Shaina has tried a few things, but isn't confident they are the right solutions:


They did buy a space heater, it even has an automatic turn off so it wouldn't burn the house down. But what if they turn that on during the day and it becomes too warm for Dagger?

Unless they find a solution soon, poor Dag will either freeze or boil and go to the big fish bowl in the sky before it's his time.

art imitating life

Have you ever watched the show Scrubs?
Have you ever seen Mike and his friend Joel together? Or at least heard stories?

Both wives have noticed on seperate occasions similarites between their husbands and JD and Turk. (except that they are both white and neither are doctors).

Think about it.

Comissioner, put out the bat signal

The local authorities have just issued a request for the public’s help in solving a recent crime. They feel that considering the nature of this crime, quick and timely action is required to bring safety to the entire area and justice to the victims. Here is their report:

Victims: Shaina and Michael Burgoyne

Suspect: Simply Photography Co. and all associated personnel

Dates of criminal activity: 06/08/07 – present

Details of Crime:
The Burgoynes had hired the suspect to photograph the day of their wedding. A fair price was negotiated and agreed upon by both parties for the photography services as well as a specified number of prints developed professionally and a cd of all photograph proofs taken that day for the Burgoynes to use at their discretion. On the day of the wedding the photographs were taken. The week following the professional prints were developed, the proof cd distributed, and all payment received in full . In December the Burgoynes opened the proof cd for the first time. It contained 2 files: Bridals and Wedding. The bridals contained pictures of Mrs. Burgoyne taken before the wedding. The Wedding file however contained pictures of another bride, presumably another client of the suspect. No pictures of the actual wedding day were to be found anywhere on the disk.
The Burgoyne’s have attempted to contact the suspect in order to remedy the error, but have been unsuccessful. The suspect seems to have fled the area. The website indicates that the company has been shut down. The physical store is locked and inaccessible. The last known phone number is out of service. This leaves the Burgoynes without the pictures of their wedding day and without means for restitution of either product or payment.

The authorities fear that there is an unknown number of couples who have also been victimized.

If anyone has any information about the whereabouts of the suspect or where the missing wedding file may be they are asked to come forward immediately.

Our New Philosophy

During some lunch-break Christmas shopping today the following was observed:

A mild mormon mom was in the long check out line of a book store trying to keep her two small boys at bay. The older boy, maybe 5 years old, soon spotted the candy display. While the store patrons patiently waited to make their purchases, this tot verbally debated with himself the pros and cons of spending his entire $4 allowance on one large, luscious, chocolate Santa. With sprinkles. Fortunately for the boy the store was understaffed, the line slow moving, and he had plenty of time to think things over. Finally, after a lot of consideration and with determined decisiveness the little one turned to his mom and said
"You know, having chocolate is better than having money. I'm going to get it."

Smart kid. We're going to try to adopt that way of thinking in our home this Christmas Season. We hope you do the same.