That one blog

Sweeps

2011-11-16T12:56:00.000-08:00

I was watching tv last night and noticed how many idiotic shows are on now. I generally give most new formats a chance, although I can only stand to watch reality-type competition shows after recording them. I even record sports to skip through the commentary by increasingly inane announcers. I've found myself skipping through Mythbusters episodes just to get to whether the myth is confirmed or busted (or, perhaps, to see the explosion at the end).
But, there are a few shows that I can't stand at all, and hate that they are so popular:

Glee
Dancing with the Stars
Survivor
The Biggest Loser
Survivor
Extreme Makeover Home Edition
The Sing-Off

I laugh at shows all the time if they are not credible, or if there is a silly factual mistake, but I realize nobody's perfect. For some reason, I can't get past the above shows, despite trying more than once, to watch an episode. There are shows I dislike but haven't watched, but I didn't include those. I don't want to offend anyone specifically that loves one of the above shows, but I just had to put in writing that I hate them. I think they are stupid in premise and/or execution.

I enjoy home improvement shows that actually show you how to do something, even if that's not the focus of the show. I like comedies of almost every kind. I like action shows, if the premise isn't too ridiculous (Once Upon a Time is losing me), and I even tolerate a fantasy story if the plot is good or has a classic good over evil theme. (I like the Harry Potter series, and Lost, though I dislike the obsession fantasy brings.) I'm a sucker for dinosaur shows if the dinosaurs aren't obviously made of paper or something.

Also, I love Antiques Roadshow. I can't explain why, but I could watch episode after episode of that show.

Jury Duty

2011-10-27T18:00:00.000-07:00

I get to go to court fairly often as an attorney. But this week I had jury duty. I had had jury duty before, but never even been taken up to a courtroom for jury selection. Either some of the jury cases settled, or they simply didn't need all the people they thought they would. Now that I'm an attorney, I figure there is almost zero chance of me serving on a jury. I know a decent number of civil attorneys, a few criminal attorneys, and there are certain kinds of cases where I would have a hard time being impartial. I always thought it would be cool, though.

So this week when I went to jury duty, I took a bunch of work with me, and I expected to sit in the jury services room pretty much all day. My number wasn't very close to the beginning of the numbers they listed, so I thought I had little chance of being called up to a courtroom again.

However, this time, after the usual dead time while people show up late, and after the silly video about jury service, two or three marshals were already at the front of the room. They immediately lined up fifty or so people, gave them some instructions, and led them out of the room, up to a courtroom. The next marshal lined up another group, slightly smaller, and took them upstairs. Then a third. I was still sitting there, working, and surprised that three trials were actually going forward that day. The jury services coordinator assured us that more of us would be going upstairs soon. I thought that was unlikely, but noticed I was about thirtieth in line at that point.

Then another marshal came down to jury services and they called the next sixty numbers. So, I lined up behind a Kenny Rogers impersonator and went up to the courtroom. With fourteen people in the jury box and another fourteen or so people ahead of me, I thought chances were slim that I would move up and get into the jury for questioning. However, as people ahead of me were excused or challenged, the judge told us the case was simple and would last to noon the next day at the longest. It was a criminal case, and I was the third civil attorney to make it to the jury box. I was questioned about what courses I had taken on criminal matters, and I was not challenged as a juror. After the Kenny Rogers impersonator told a story about being robbed in a bar and the owner shooting both robbers, killing them both, he was excused. He ended his story by saying "There was no need for a trial." He seemed surprised to be dismissed.

The jury was set, and I was on it.

The case was a criminal case about gun possession by an ex-felon. The defense presented virtually no case. No witnesses, no evidence, and what seemed like a half-hearted closing statement. The jury had been selected just after noon, and the entire case had been presented by 3:30. The other attorney on the jury was randomly chosen as an alternate, so I was nominated to be the jury foreman. I half expected it and didn't fight it. We deliberated for about an hour and found the Defendant guilty. I felt bad having to be one who made the decision, but it was pretty much the only decision we could make.

After the verdict was read, the judge told us more about the guy and his circumstances. He was not a good guy in a bad situation, and he has enough other charges against him that this one didn't really make much difference.

I was glad to have the one-day version of complete jury duty, and to be able to see a real trial from that perspective. I had done mock trials that lasted almost as long, though without the jury selection part. It seemed identical to the mock trials I've done, and even in the jury room, the attitudes were just what I expect to see in a setting of less significance. I wish I had some great insight to share, or some amazing story, but it was very short, mostly boring, and anything I could say about it would be the same kind of things I would have said about jury service before.

Oh, you mean this gate key.

2011-10-13T18:04:00.000-07:00

A couple of days ago, Holly came home saying she got to go to a separate class for part of the day. She said it was her and a couple of the other smartest kids in her class. Kelsea and I weren't sure what she meant, so we kept asking her about it. Holly was the one who said the other kids were really smart, and said they were all kids who got all As or only As and Bs. We figured it was GATE, or whatever they called that program now, but we weren't sure.

Holly said they went to a different classroom with a new teacher at a specific time, and got to do different kinds of lessons. I asked what kind, and she said they were things to help them pay attention and follow directions. That made me think it might have been a remedial-type class, and I began to doubt that the other kids were all that smart, and I thought maybe Holly had some kind of behavioral problem that we didn't know about. Either way, Kelsea and I were kind of annoyed that we hadn't been informed of whatever this special class was.

I started thinking it was GATE again as Holly said how excited she was to go back, and said that they would get to go every week. I just didn't think that a remedial class could inspire that kind of enthusiasm. Then Kelsea and I began to wonder if you have to take a separate test to qualify for GATE, and neither of us could remember for sure. But we were even more convinced that if Holly was in GATE, we should have been informed, and if it was a remedial class, we really should have been informed.

I went to the school's website and found that this special teacher is the GATE teacher. So we think we have our answer. We haven't had the chance to ask Holly's teacher directly, but we're pretty sure she's in GATE. I'm not trying to brag, but Holly's pretty smart. Also Mia. I will brag about Mia another time. I specifically chose to blog about this so I could brag about my kids in a place that no one will read about it. We'll tell family about it individually. If we can ever confirm it with a teacher.

It is time.

2011-09-23T10:27:00.000-07:00

Name the movie.

We've had a handful of birthdays int he last month, and Mia started kindergarten. I was violently ill on my birthday, and we went to Chuck E. Cheese's for at least two other birthdays. The kids also enjoyed library story time recently. They made disguises for a spy-themed story time.

We are a happy family.

Back by popular demand

2011-08-09T07:30:00.000-07:00

And by popular demand, I mean that one person asked about this a couple of months ago.

Though we don't have a true "before" picture of our backyard, here is what I took right before the cement/grass project.:

Ah, our backyard in all its glory.
I really like this next one because the kids were running around in circles when I took the two pictures that got stitched together in a panorama, so it looks like we have five kids.

Not the best "after" shot, but the one with the garbage can and the wheelbarrow in the background instead of the foreground. The kids love their tricycle/bicycle path. You can see our vegetable garden off to the left there, but it hasn't done as well this year. We always get some peas, but have trouble with most everything else. I think the soil is terrible, and I'm going to do some serious work on it. Eventually. Hopefully before next spring.

On the fourth of July weekend, we went to Mt. Charleston and took a little hike to Little Falls. The kids were amazed that there was still some snow. I was a little amazed too. It was a good time.

I suppose I should blog again.

2011-06-13T12:01:00.000-07:00

I'd like to take this opportunity to update you all on our lives.

All spring, I'd been half-heartedly getting the backyard ready for grass. Our long-term plan when we bought our house was to have some grass in the backyard, and what we keep calling a tricycle path around it. This was important so the kids would be able to play outside in the safety of our own backyard. (More recently, they've enjoyed playing outside by digging in the dirt, as though our entire yard were a large sandbox. I've wanted to get the grass in so that the kids would get less dirty.)

I'd only been half-hearted about it because I decided I needed to get sprinklers in place before laying sod. I'm more than competent at installing sprinklers, but it's fairly difficult to dig trenches for sprinkler lines. So I'd occasionally get motivated and work on it, but then I'd get tired of it and wouldn't do anything for several weeks. (Or we'd get caught up in another project, like our laundry room).

So, about halfway through May, I finished with the sprinklers, and then said to Kelsea, "Now we're ready for grass," and we both laughed. Then we thought, wait, maybe we are. Could we be? Can we? So we called around and found out Lowe's and Star Nursery had plenty of sod waiting for us. A few hours of tilling and raking the next morning, and we went and picked up some sod and laid it out. (We had to get a little more a couple hours later).

Suddenly, we had grass!. The kids were amazed. The next step, of course, was the "tricycle path." I had designed the sprinkler spray pattern to coincide with where we wanted the tricycle path to be. To make this part of the story shorter than the first part of the story, and to bore you slightly less than you expected, I'll summarize. We put in the sidewalk "tricycle path" on Saturday. It was harder work preparing than actually putting it in, despite the use of wheelbarrows. So now the major part of our backyard is done, and the kids can race around on their bikes, trikes, and scooters.

That's not really the most important thing going on right now. We're actually expecting a baby in November. Mia has drawn at least one picture of the family, including a "baby in mommy's tummy." It's pretty fun to talk about changes and a new sibling with Holly and Mia. We told Jay about it, and he laughed and said "no," like we were telling a very good knock knock joke. He might start to believe it if Kelsea ever starts to show.

Other than that, and to further bury the important updates with the mundane, we got a new (to us) minivan recently. It was Kelsea's parents, and the transmission is supposedly going bad, but it's been fine so far, Kelsea likes it, and the kids enjoy the extra space when we go places. Jay generally begs to go places in the "blue car," but yesterday he realized the van was kind of blue too, and called it the blue car. That's progress.

That should do it for at least a month or so.

Good times

2011-03-03T09:38:00.000-08:00

So, for Valentine's Day, we went to the Blue Man Group.

It was very entertaining, if not quite what I thought it would be. I recommend it, especially with a two for one deal. And the close seats aren't necessarily the best seats. We had seats just outside the "poncho zone," and I think 7 or 8 rows back would have been just as good. They would have been in a cheaper section.

The Blue Man Group Theater is currently in the Venetian, so we walked through the Grand Canal Shoppes, on the Palazzo side, and I bought a tie at Andrew's Ties. Andrew's Ties is based in Milan, and most of the ties I bought on my mission came from Andrew's Ties, except for when I was in a city that didn't have a store. The ties cost more here than in Italy, (though at $45, less than a lot of designer ties) but they are excellent ties.

Also, for Valentine's Day, Kelsea bought me a set of CDs to learn Italian with. I guess the gift is for me, even if she's the one who needs them. I got her to use them a few times, but I had forgotten how hard it is to learn a completely new language. Pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar are not easy things to pick up out of nowhere. Fortunately, we have a while for her to practice.

I got Kelsea a custom box of Ethel M Chocolates. I missed last year, but every other Valentine's Day, I have given her fancy chocolates. I have to get the hand-packed boxes due to Kelsea's nut allergies, but she gets the best chocolates that way. I actually bought it a week or so before hand, and, rather than try to hide it from her, I gave Kelsea the chocolates early. They were gone by Valentine's Day.

Big plans

2011-02-09T18:00:00.000-08:00

For Valentine's Day this year, Kelsea and I are going to see the Blue Man Group. It's a big step up for us. We live in a city of entertainment, but you have to be careful what entertainment you seek. Normally for Valentine's Day, we try to avoid the rush of going out on the evening of February 14, and that's true this year as well, but mostly we end up going out for lunch, and maybe watch a movie at home. We got seats just outside the splash zone. It will be good.

In high school, I remember the big thing for school dances was to go to a show on the strip. I don't remember if Blue Man Group was around then, but that was the type of show that was popular. A family-friendly show that was popular with multiple groups of people. I never went to one. They always seemed too expensive, and I didn't drive in high school. Kelsea and I went to a magic show a year or so ago with free tickets I got for donating blood (I gave blood last month and only got a coupon for a free donut). So this will be the first time we're going out to a nice show on Valentine's Day. We're very excited.

Other big plans include a trip to Italy. This plan is less concrete at the moment.
I actually renewed my passport a couple of years ago (just before it expired), and tried to get Kelsea to get one. She didn't want to pay the fee at the time, especially without any real plans to use the passport itself. So it didn't happen despite my loving encouragement, and the fact that I actually got her to have a passport photo taken.

The church recently announced that a temple would be built in Rome Italy. The announcement was actually in 2008, but then there wasn't really any news about it. In October of 2010, though, the groundbreaking ceremony took place. I found out then that any building project in Rome requires a serious site survey for Roman ruins. If any were found, the temple project might have been delayed or rejected. Fortunately, no ruins were found on the site. As part of the news story, no completion date was given, but it was expected to be complete in 2012 (now expected to be 2013, still nothing official). That's when I got the idea to go.

I mean, I always wanted to go back to Italy. Of course. It's an expensive trip, and with three kids now, the logistics are difficult. But with the temple opening, I figured it would be a perfect opportunity to link our travel plans with a major event, some time in the future to allow us to figure out all those issues. I'm excited to go see some of the areas I lived in, and to see Rome as well. It will be fun to take Kelsea to some of the amazing places in Italy. I don't think we'll be taking the kids. Holly might be old enough to appreciate it (Mia maybe too), but I don't know if we'll be able to afford that. Without the kids, it will be like a second honeymoon, too. Awesome.

A basketball game. (Warning: this is a sports post.)

2011-01-04T17:44:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow night, BYU and UNLV will play each other in men's basketball.

I got my B.A. from BYU, and my J.D. from UNLV.

I grew up a mild UNLV fan. I enjoyed their basketball team. I always thought I would go to college there. I remember going to a few UNLV games as a kid. I have a vague memory of a football game, and I have clear memories of going to UNLV basketball games, including the one in UNLV's championship season where Greg Anthony broke his nose or cheekbone, or whatever it was, and had to wear that clear mask the rest of the season. In a biography I wrote about myself in fifth grade, I even mentioned how proud I was of the championship team (Kelsea has made fun of me for this.)

I grew up hating BYU. My cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents in Utah were all BYU fans, which was fine with me, but it bothered me that they just assumed I was a BYU fan too. I didn't have any particular problem with BYU, I just didn't see why I would be a fan of a school in another state that I had no desire to attend. I looked into it my senior year of high school when I decided I wanted to leave home for college, and it had the lowest tuition, some of my friends were going there. I figured that if I had a terrible time, I would at least know somebody on campus I might possibly hang out with.

I really enjoyed BYU. I had great roommates, and met some really amazing and fun people there (as well as some crazies and nuts). I wasn't much of a sports fan, but bought into the excitement of going to the games. I remember going to the homecoming game against UNLV with conflicting loyalties. I had never been a UNLV football fan, but it was those comments about BYU football that had so irked me earlier in my life. (I remember some comments about Ty Detmer in particular, and in my memory, I picture my cousin saying "Isn't he so dreamy?") Anyway, I also went to a BYU-UNLV basketball game my freshman year, and cheered for UNLV (though fairly quietly, as I was in the student section). It was easy then: UNLV was bad at football; and BYU was bad at basketball.

By the time I graduated, however, BYU had started doing a bit better in basketball, and my loyalty to BYU sports, and to BYU, had grown. On the other hand, I was tired of the college town feel of Provo. I was a little tired of the Mormon (over-)saturation of the culture, but I could deal with that. It was the fact that it was a small town with a big school in it that was getting to me. So I chose to move on to UNLV Law School.

UNLV students got in free to UNLV football and basketball games, so I went to a few. They were fun. Being a married law student at a football game is very different from being a crazy freshman at a football game. But I became a UNLV football fan, to a degree (I can only pay attention to so many terrible games a season). They're still bad, but I am a fan. I am remained a fan of UNLV basketball. Those are fun games to go to. I love yelling things at the refs, talking to the players and coaches like they can hear me, and getting into the game.

When BYU and UNLV play in football, I expect BYU to win, but I don't cheer much. When UNLV and BYU play in basketball, I generally expect the home team to win, but I can barely watch.

Now, BYU and UNLV are both ranked in the top 25, and I want them both to win. Since that's impossible, I hope they both beat San Diego State, and everyone else in the conference. While it will be a relief that they won't play each other as much after this year, it's also disappointing, as the MWC was just getting to be a really good conference.

UNLV is favored by 3, and I think they'll cover. But I'll be disappointed either way.

Copying

2010-11-16T11:02:00.000-08:00

I learned some things about Holly yesterday.
I have to be careful how I put it because it won't be long before she figures out the internet and starts reading every blog entry I've ever written. (You might think that's an exaggeration, but time is relative.)

Anyway, Holly is the kind of kid I was, and the kind of kid her mom was.
Yesterday was library day, and when Kelsea got to school to get Holly, she was sitting on the balance beam, reading her library book. Kelsea tells me that other kids were talking to her, encouraging her to play with them, but she was too excited about her book "Pinkalicious," about a girl who ate so many pink cupcakes that she turned pink. Kelsea immediately thought about the youngest kid on the show "The Middle," who is named Brick, and who reads during everything. (We recommend that show for anyone who has kids or has ever been a kid.)
So that was the first thing.

The second thing has to do with the title, which I'm sure you were wondering about.
Also yesterday, Holly got a progress report. Usually, I don't see those, but I get input from Kelsea about any problems. Yesterday, though, I was sitting at the computer when Kelsea had Holly bring her progress report to me. She had all "A"s and "B"s, and I pointed out her highest percentage was in math. I said something like "you're the best at math." Then she told me that sometimes, a classmate copies her work. Kelsea told me that Holly told her teacher about it, so Holly and the girl who copied her work aren't friends anymore. Holly added that the copier gets moved around now, so that she can't copy Holly's work.

It made me a little sad to know that Holly told on her friend, but I had to be positive since she was only trying to do what was right. It made me think about what I had done as a kid. I never let anyone copy my work, but I don't think I ever told a teacher, either. I was proud of Holly, and sad at the same time. Cheating is wrong, but I wish she had told that to her friend, not the teacher. Maybe that's a lot to expect of a first-grader, though.

He's doing much better now

2010-09-10T09:52:00.000-07:00

On Sunday, Jay wasn't feeling well. He was having some trouble breathing, and his albuterol wasn't helping as much as it usually does. After a full day of waiting and hoping he would improve, I called a nurse help line, and was advised to take Jay to Urgent Care (they said he didn't sound so bad that he had to go straight to the ER).

At Urgent Care, they gave Jay more Albuterol, Oxygen, and a steroid shot, but it didn't seem to make any difference, so the doctor said she was sending us to the hospital. Jay and I rode in an ambulance to UMC's children's hospital, and they took a chest x-ray which showed that he had slight pneumonia. They figured it was only slight because he was probably dehydrated, so they expected it to get worse once they started him on an IV. Fortunately, it was gone the next morning, but Jay had to stay at the hospital for just under 48 hours, and was doing very well by the time we left.

He hated the cage-like bed he was supposed to be in, and got frustrated if his IV, oxygen tube, heart monitor, or pulse oximeter lead got pulled on even slightly. We were able to find a few small things to make him happy for short amounts of time while he was there, though. Such as a balloon.

And a Popsicle.

And a little tykes car that I was able to push him around the pediatrics floor for a little while, until a nurse took his blood pressure in it. He also enjoyed the play room, but they close it at 5 pm, so we were only able to go once.

He had a hard time falling asleep, since he hated the bed so much, and generally hated being in his room. We got him to calm down a few times, and he did sleep a little bit.

He's still a little traumatized by the whole thing, being a little more clingy and grumpy when he's tired, but when he's rested, and can find something to play with, he's back to his usual self.

Catching up with pictures

2010-08-29T21:49:00.000-07:00


Enough ties for you?

Half the total


The rest.

Installing some Linoleum.

Partially finished bathroom.

With different lighting, the paint color sure looks different.

Eight years of wedded bliss.

2010-08-23T14:12:00.000-07:00

My favorite joke when people say something about how long I've been married is to say that it feels like it's been forever. It's partially true. Eight years isn't really that long, but it's long enough that you feel like your life has always been together. And for me, it's been great.

Kelsea and I went to St. George for our anniversary, and saw the Tuacahn production of Tarzan. We stayed at a bed & breakfast called the Seven Wives Inn. Despite the apparently true connection the house has with polygamy, I think the name and theme of naming each room after a supposed wife is in poor taste. I'm sure they could think of something equally clever, but less controversial.

So other than the name of the place, we really enjoyed staying there. It is an old house in St. George's historic district, right across the street from Brigham Young's winter home. It was a very nice house, with some cool little antique (-looking) furniture and smaller details.

For dinner, we weren't very hungry, but needed something to eat before going to the show, so we stopped at Jazzy's Rock 'n' Roll Grill for some very delicious hot sandwiches and sweet potato fries. The light fixtures were made of brass instruments. We were the only people there at the time, but I would guess it fills up, and gets very loud, later. There was a performing area, and ads for local bands, and an open mic night.

Tarzan was pretty entertaining. I'm kind of a hard sell for most things like that, but they have a few little tricks that they incorporated into the show to keep it interesting. And some pretty good acrobatics. Tarzan is a good story, and this one is based on the Disney movie. The program mentioned that the earlier versions were much bloodier, which of course made me wonder what happens in other versions. Maybe I'll look it up sometime.

In the morning, Kelsea and I had an excellent breakfast, though Kelsea's croissant french toast was bathed in too much jam. I looked through the complementary newspaper and, oddly enough, we decided to drive past a few yard sales. We didn't stop at any, and it was terrible weather for yard sales anyway, but it didn't eat up too much of our time. We went to the outlet stores after that, and got some fun things, and joked about decorating our house, or my office, with a moose head. I still think it's a good idea.

Before leaving town, we walked around the temple, and I even took a picture for a couple that was apparently not happy with their self-portraits. We packed our own camera, and thought about taking pictures several times, but we couldn't find it in our bag. So after I took the picture for that couple we though it would be funny to ask strangers to take pictures of us, then give them an email address to send it to. Just to see people's reactions, and to see if anyone would actually send them. But we didn't do it.

We got home late in the afternoon, and picked up the kids from my parents' house.

Maybe my next post will have some pictures. Maybe Kelsea will get back to posting. No promises.

Way behind

2010-08-05T15:44:00.000-07:00

So, I had good intentions of blogging a bit more, but you know what they say about good intentions: they make an... oh wait that's what they say about something else.

Anyway, my tie project ended, and I took pictures of all my ties laid out on my dresser. All of the pictures came out fuzzy. Don't worry, I'll still post them. That way, everyone can see what my tie collection looks like to people who are near-sighted.

I have 93 ties. I still have 45 that I got in Italy, and three from before I went to Italy have survived. I have given some away, and one time I let Kelsea make patchwork pillows out of some ties that were past their prime. Kelsea suggested I get 7 more ties to make it an even 100. She wasn't feverish, though the suggestion was a bit out of character. The long and the short of it is that I have more ties that are not from Italy than ones that are, which makes me kind of sad. There are a few Andrew's Ties stores in the US, including one in Las Vegas, so I've added a few Italian ties here. They sure cost a lot more here, though.

In other areas of our life, our horribly decrepit fence is being painted. I'll be glad to have a freshly painted, repaired fence, though it means Kelsea is even more anxious to have house repainted, which will require stucco work. I look forward to that part, too, but it's all money.

The girls started swimming lessons yesterday, which is good. They love the water, but we hadn't gotten around to putting them in any lessons. Holly had a great time, though she's one of the older ones in the class.

Kelsea and I will be going to Tuacahn for our anniversary later this month. We're very excited. We've gone in the past and had a great time. I wonder if they have figured out a way to flood the stage during Tarzan.... Our last experience with a motel was less comfortable than sleeping on the ground (true story!) so I went ahead and booked a room at a nice bed and breakfast. Unfortunately, its name refers to Utah's polygamous history. Not the best choice, but I've just chalked it up to bad taste on the part of the owners, and will try not to let it bother me.

Oh, I almost forgot. The reason there aren't any pictures is because I almost ruined our computer by trying to install a second operating system (Ubuntu anyone?) which didn't work and almost broke Windows. Which I was fine with, but Kelsea insisted was a problem (she didn't want to change operating systems). It was running slow, and several programs mysteriously stopped working. I'm convinced it's in bad shape, but I'll let Kelsea and the kids use it as long as they want.

Tie

2010-06-13T22:16:00.000-07:00

For those of you wondering whatever happened to my little project of wearing every single one of my ties, I haven't forgotten about it, I just have a lot of ties. Starting March 1, I haven't worn the same tie twice. I have worn 74 ties since then. These are the ties I haven't worn yet:

She knows it's a lot of ties. Her arms were getting tired.

Flowers for Mom

2010-05-10T20:24:00.000-07:00

Happy Mother's Day Everyone! I hope your Mother's Day was as good as mine was. On Saturday morning I went to get my haircut. I came home to find Mother's Day surprises: As I walked up to the front door I found my first gift, a ceramic bear poking out of a log that says "welcome." Inside on the table were flowers and a card. Holly and Mia picked out some pretty flowers that are also pretty bright. The kids were so happy to have me home so they could show me the flowers and the cookie cake they bought for me. The kids must have enjoyed giving me flowers because later it turned into an ongoing game. Holly and Mia would make various bouquets with silk flowers and then deliver them to me. Each time expecting me to gush over their thoughtful gift. Then they would collect the flowers so they could make another arrangement for me. I was so spoiled; I received flowers all day long.

Jay even brought me flowers! Dee took Jay out during Sunday school and let me sit and listen to the lesson. Half way through, they came back, and Jay was holding a little yellow flower that he picked outside. Jay climbed up on the bench next to me and reached out his little hand to give me the flower. Awwwww! I love being a mom!

Names

2010-05-07T12:20:00.000-07:00

I just saw that the name Mia made number 10 on the top ten girl list for 2009. Bummer. Dee and I tried hard to pick names that weren't so common. I guess that everyone must have seen how adorable my blond hair blue eyed Mia was and then they named their babies after her.

In case you hadn't realized Dee and I both have kind of unusual names. Growing up with my name was complicated. I liked that the name Kelsea was unique but nobody could spell it or pronounce it right. Plus my name always gets underlined as being a misspelled word. Look! It's doing it right now! Ok, you probably can't see that.

In grade school I would always correct people who said my name wrong. After that I gave up and just answer to anything that was close. So I have been called Kelsey, Kel-C-ah, Kelesiah, and somehow some people manage to put a T in there KelTs-e-ah. It's kind of a long name with no cute nick name to shorten it. K through 12 grade, I insisted on being called Kelsea. Except in eighth grade when my closest friends called me BoBo. But that was a weird phase. In college everyone shortens everyone's names. So to my roommates I was Kels. I think Randi is the only one who still calls me Kels. Don't worry Randi I don't mind. I find it endearing. But Dee met me back in middle school so he has only ever called me Kelsea. I take that back, sometimes he calls me baby, honey, or sexy. But those don't really count as names. I remember when Dee and I first got engaged we would try out those terms of endearment like honey and sweetie and laugh at how weird and silly it was to say them. Some of the silliness seemed to fade away and a couple of those names stuck. I think it was when Holly was little I called Dee "Honey" so much that she would call him that too. She would even say "That's not Dad. That's Honey". When I was young I never wanted to refer to Dee as "Dad" and never wanted to have him call me "Mom". But once you have kids you kind of have to. You can't let your little kids keep calling their father "Honey". A few weeks ago Dee called me Kelsea in front of the kids. Holly asked "Why did you call her that? Her name is Mom." Now it's almost like my real name has become a bad word. Oh, can't say that in front of the kids.

So because of the challenges I faced being named Kelsea I wanted to give my kids simple names. You hear it once you get it. Easy to say, easy to spell. I also didn't want to give my kids names that were so common that they end up in a class with 3 other Mia's. When we named our baby Mia I thought that name was fairly original. How did it become so popular? Maybe a girl with a popular name is destined to be popular herself.

Hey Dee, Your Blog Looks Girly!

2010-04-22T19:23:00.000-07:00

This is Kelsea writing this blog. I know I never write blogs. Today I spent a long time figuring out how to improve the look of our blog. I was very happy with how it turned out and I was excited to show Dee. But Dee wasn't very happy or excited about it. He says it looks girly. He says that it's fine but that means that now I have to actually contribute to the blogs. He doesn't want everyone to think that he is the one who made his blog all girly. He was sad to see his boring blog title with the words "That one blog" changed to a frilly picture with no words, although he did like the picture of us. So let me know what you think of the new and improved blog. Is it a keeper or should it go back to how it was before?

Kelsea is Happy to be turning 30

2010-04-21T14:53:00.000-07:00

Well I am turning 30. I don't want to. It sounds old. I am trying to be positive about it so I created a list of why I am happy to celebrate my 30th Birthday.
1. 30 years and still no cavities
2. I finally have my own car
3. I weigh less than what my drivers license says
4. Maybe people won't tell me I look 15 any more
5. It's an excuse not to cook or clean
6. I can go on a shopping spree for new clothes
7. Maybe now I look old enough to have 3 kids
8. cake
9. presents
10. ice cream
11. It's better than turning 40 or 50 or 60
12. owning a house
13. Dee is finally done with school
14. I am married to my best friend who still thinks I am hot
15. getting to stay home with my 3 kids
16. watching Holly excel in school
17. Having Mia run around me singing "Mom is the Best!" over and over again
18. Jay's slobbery kisses
19. I finally have something I can blog about

Prodigy

2010-04-20T20:44:00.000-07:00

Easter weekend

2010-04-12T10:11:00.000-07:00

Hello, I don't blog enough, you say?

I think I blog just enough. Here is a photo journey through our Easter weekend.

Kelsea took the kids to the park for an Easter Egg hunt on Good Friday. I was still at work during this time, but I don't have any pictures of that.

When I did get home from work, we finished packing, and hopped in the car to go here:

[Salt Lake City from our hotel room window]. We went with our friends Peter and Laurel (Peter was a friend from the mission, and he's really let himself go. He says it's for a movie....),

To the Saturday afternoon session of conference in the conference center.

It was a good session.

Peter and I also went to the Priesthood Session while the women went to get the children from their great aunt Sharon's house. They seemed to have fun.

We woke up on Easter morning to a blanket of snow. In downtown it was mostly just on the rooftops, but in other areas, everything was completely white.

At Kelsea's grandparents' house in West Valley, the snow melted fast in the sun, but you can still see some in the garden behind Jay.

Unfortunately, we had to get back in the car just before the final session of conference started, and the kids weren't too happy that we didn't let them watch anything on the DVD player for the first two hours of the trip home.

They really appreciated the rest stop in Beaver. Even though the cheese factory was closed, and it was cold, and it was windy, and we wouldn't let them climb the fence to get closer to the horses in that field.
Jay was happy to sit up to a booth in McDonald's, though.

And then we drove the rest of the way to get home in time to sleep in our own beds and go back to school and work the next day.

Addendum: Kelsea says this sounds like I didn't enjoy the trip, though I did. I was trying to use as many pictures as possible and write only very little. Don't worry, I had fun.

I had a dream

2010-03-22T09:49:00.000-07:00

Last night I had a very strange dream. This is the first dream in a while I've been able to remember in any detail, so I thought I'd record it while I could still remember. I used to try to figure out some meaning to dreams, but stopped when I stopped remembering them.

In my dream, I was at a motel on a family trip. My parents, siblings, cousins, and aunts and uncles were there, among other people. My wife and kids were there, but they were safe in the room I came from at the beginning of the dream. It was a small motel, and we were basically the only guests. The first detail I remember is that I had changed clothes and tossed my white shirt down to my dad's truck. I missed, so I was about to go down to pick it up and put it inside when my older sister showed up with her family. She apparently didn't like how my dad's truck was parked, so she started to move it.

At first, she wasn't driving it; it was like she was using a mechanic's dolly or something to move it, and she immediately ran over my white shirt. Then she was driving it, and ran it straight into the side of the hotel. I remember the part of my dream where the truck jumped the curb was actually in slow motion. That was the first slow motion sequence in this dream. After running into the motel on the ground floor, the part above the demolished rooms sort of fell in. It looked sort of like earthquake damage, but it was just the middle part of the hotel that caved in, directly above where the truck had crashed.

I went through the rooms on both of the damaged floors, and people were in the rooms on the second and third floors. On the second floor, they had been able to get out of the way. On the third floor, a bunch of my young cousins had built a blanket fort, and were amazingly unhurt underneath it. After making sure everyone was ok, I walked down the street a little ways for some reason that I can't remember, but it involved a construction site. It made sense in the dream, of course.

On my way back to the damaged hotel, I realized someone was following me in a dark SUV. Since I was walking, I was sure I was caught, and several times I was inches from being abducted (or run over, that part is fuzzy), but I always got away just in time. I got back to the hotel and found the back door and went inside just as the dark SUV pulled around.

The back door was like a fire escape, and led to the fire stairs inside. There was a window that I had to pass to actually get into the hotel, and the SUV pulled up next to it just as I was about to pass in front of it. The driver's window was down, and he pulled out a gun and started to point it into the stairway. This is where the second slow motion sequence started. I was literally right next to the window, as he pulled his gun, but he hadn't seen me yet. As he started to turn the gun towards me, I stabbed him in the eye. In my dream, I actually saw the knife blade go into eyeball. He turned away and covered that eye, then started looking for me with his good eye, and turned the gun back around towards me again, so I stabbed him in the other eye. I don't remember pulling out the knife, or even thinking about it, but I have relatively clear memories of stabbing this guy in both of his eyes. Then I went into the hotel.

Inside, I passed through a large hallway, in a much nicer hotel than I remember coming from, when two army guys, who were sitting in fancy armchairs, stopped me. Instantly it made sense that the man who I stabbed was an army guy, too, but one who had gone rogue or something. Both of the army guys in the chairs knew what I had done somehow, and one was bothered, while the other thought it was funny. I was actually more concerned with the knife I was still holding (which was not bloody, by the way), because I had folded it up like a pocket knife, but the blade was square, almost like a carpet knife, and a sharp corner was still exposed, so I wasn't going to put it in my pocket, but I was trying to figure out what to do with it. The army guys were trying to reassure me that everyone was safe, and that I wasn't in any trouble, when the guy with two stabbed eyes came into the room with his own personal guard, and took all of us prisoner. That's about when I woke up.

I think part of the dream was brought on my the Psych episode we had just watched, which incorporated many Alfred Hitchcock horror plot points. I also clearly don't think highly of my older sister's driving skills. Other than that, I'm not sure what to think. But it was a weird dream.

Family pictures

2010-03-07T17:58:00.000-08:00

This morning, after we were ready for church, and as I was looking up how to get to the baby blessing we were going to, Kelsea came up to me and said "I look nice and we have a few minutes." I figured she was most likely fishing for a compliment, so I started out with "you do look nice...." She acted impatient (though flattered), and said, "no, I mean we should try to take some pictures." So we did.

That was the best one. We got another decent one or two, but I had to include this one because of Holly's expression:

Pretty good, right?

Peas porridge hot

2010-03-07T17:45:00.001-08:00

This is the time of year I really love Las Vegas weather. The peas that I planted sometime last year are doing great.

This is what they look like to a five-year-old. Holly took this picture.

Peas are delicious, and the kids love to eat fresh-picked peas. At least they are getting some vegetables.

too many to count, but close to 90

2010-03-02T09:39:00.000-08:00

I have to wear a tie to work most days. I wear a tie to church every Sunday. I served a mission to Italy, and I anticipated both of those things, and therefore I bought a lot of ties while in Italy. I only took 6 or 7 ties with me when I went into the MTC, and in my first area, there was a closet that had a built-in tie rack, for 30 or so ties. I thought it was a pretty nice way to hang up ties.

It looked a bit like this, only instead of pegs, it had little hangers that rotated in against the inside of the closet door. (Picture it on the inside of an armoire door.) Well, I bought several ties in my first area, and in later areas, but I never had a tie hanger as nice as that first one. When I got home, I found tie hangers like this one, and bought a few for my tie collection. Each hanger holds 24 ties, and I needed three of them to hold all of my ties. That means I had somewhere between 48 and 72 ties when I got home from Italy.
After buying so many ties over the course of 2 years, I was hooked, even though my initial plan was to never buy any more ties in my life. It got worse a year or so ago when I found out that there was an Andrew's Ties store here in Las Vegas (it's in the shoppes at the Venetian/Palazzo upscale mall). Andrew's Ties was my favorite tie store in Italy, so last Christmas I finally checked it out, and bought three ties. They cost a lot more here than in Italy, in case you wondered.

Well, eventually, I needed more tie hangers. Right now I have four tie hangers and they are almost full (four of those hangers will hold 96 ties, but I do have a few open spots). I have two more hangers in case I need them.

Kelsea always thought my tie collection was a little weird, and always tried to convince me to get rid of the oldest, or loudest, or any that were worn out. I let her use some to make patchwork pillows once (though she actually wanted to make a quilt, I didn't let her destroy that many ties). So now she suggested I wear each tie once, until I wear them all. I started yesterday, and it is going to take a while. At 5 ties a week, I think it will take me until July or so to get through them all. I do have a few ties that are kind of loud, so I know I will get comments on them (and I am hesitant to wear a few, like my toilet tie), but there are probably only 3 or 4 like that. Before anyone asks, I have worn every single tie in my collection at least once already (yes, in public), a few just get into the rotation much more frequently right now. I'll let you know how this little project progresses.

Pretty much all grown up

2010-02-23T09:24:00.000-08:00

Jay's first birthday is this week, and it amazes me how big he's gotten. He can walk now, you know.

That video was taken a couple of weeks ago, and he's made a lot of progress. He doesn't really fall like that any more, even when one of his sisters tries to knock him over. He's also taken the offensive against his sisters, occasionally trying to tackle them. It's pretty hilarious.

Jay loves to be involved in what's going on, and gets very upset if he's excluded. He gets really excited about the chance to play Rock Band, and screams when we don't let him hold both drumsticks. He knows where we keep them in the extra room, so any time that door is open, he makes a bee line for the drum set. I came home from work yesterday, and he was trying to reach the mouse to use the computer. I sat him in the chair and turned on an episode of Woody Woodpecker on Hulu. Then he started pushing keys on the keyboard, so I had to move that out of the way.

Mia is a musical person. She sings things, and dances to her songs. Not just songs people teach her, but she will sometimes sing to herself, or sing to other people, using as lyrics whatever it is she wants to tell you. Sort of like she thinks she's in a musical. Sometimes Jay will dance along with her songs.

Holly is doing well in kindergarten. On the weekends, she looks forward to Monday so she can go back to school. She has learned 110 words by sight, but she reads all by herself already. She takes cues from the pictures, but still does amazingly well. I don't mean books with three words on a page, either. She's been reading books with paragraphs on each page. And Dr. Seuss books, too.

They continue to amaze me.

No regrets

2009-12-04T11:50:00.000-08:00

A friend of mine did a post about regrets today.

She had some funny regrets on there that made me consider what regrets I might have. Also, she ended the post by saying "How about you guys?" So I had to think about it. It was, like, homework.

Going down her list, I was surprised at the list of her regrets, because so many of them were things I considered regretting or did regret, at one time. Like study abroad. I always wanted to study abroad, but I also wanted to finish school, and not go into too much debt during school. I accomplished those other goals by sacrificing any opportunity to study abroad. Also, she regrets not practicing the piano enough. I used to wish I could play the piano better, and I still do a little, but I did not like piano lessons, and I still maintain that I was tricked into it. In third grade, I wanted to join a soccer team. My mom said I could if I started piano lessons, and I thought that was ok. So I started both. I played soccer for one year, and I took piano lessons for 8 years. I think I plateaued around year 5 or so, but I was never really into it. I can play the piano well enough for me, and I'm ok with that.

I have no real big regrets. I wish I had learned how to better interact with people. I think I do an ok job, but I'm very timid. In the past I have come across as someone who needs help, or someone threatening. (I never understood how I would be perceived as threatening.) So, after a while of not talking much, if at all, people would become curious, and start a conversation. I was rarely the initiator. Some people think I'm a good listener, and maybe I am, now, but I've mostly always been a bad talker.

I do have one oddly specific regret. When I was young (8 or 10) I had a crush on a girl in my ward, who had been in my school classes too. So at a Pioneer Day party one year, there were handcarts that some people were supposed to ride in, and others could help push. I managed to hop into the same cart as this girl, and we were riding along and she said we should go faster. So, in my child-like attempt at chivalry, I hopped out of the cart to help push faster. But I fell. And I was dumb enough to jump off the front edge, so I had to try a backwards somersault to avoid getting run over. I almost made it out of the way, but the wheel ran over my rear end. (I remember it being almost like a pinch between the wheel and the road, but thinking back, I don't know if that makes sense.) So I had to sort of waddle over to the grass to recover. I still wish I hadn't done that.

Trip pictures

2009-11-18T20:17:00.000-08:00

Ok, here are the best of the pictures I took on my trip to Elko. Most of them aren't actually from Elko since I was working while I was there. I'll keep the captions short and sweet, and below the pictures.
This made me laugh: the display of an irrigated garden with sprinklers right down the middle.

Salt Lake temple, as seen from the top of the conference center

Sunset in Tooele. (Alternate caption: Choose the Right.)

My hotel room in Elko. The decor had the right feel.

Me, not smiling.

The hotel pool; it was probably frozen.

A view of a mountain with an E on it, and the trailer park that was adjacent to my hotel.

My rental car.

Deeth Star Valley, which I assume is where they invented and/or built the Deeth Star.

Me, at Bonneville Salt Flats, contemplating the salty flat expanse.

Me and Jay, sleeping after a long trip. Jay didn't go on the trip, but he was as tired as I was.

Elko

2009-11-13T11:07:00.000-08:00

Last week, I went to Elko.

I keep meaning to do a comprehensive story of my trip, with pictures, but I get motivated at times when my camera is not handy. So now I'm going to do a shorter version, no pictures, to be hopefully supplemented by a picture post of the scenic high desert west, at a later time.

First of all, if you have no idea where Elko is, you are not alone. Airplanes don't know where it is either. At least no airplanes that leave Las Vegas. And those that can be persuaded to find it charge greatly for their services. Thus, I flew to Salt Lake City, rented a car, and drove due west (on I-80) for about 3 hours to get there. Oddly enough, once you leave Salt Lake, there are only about 4 towns along that stretch.

Anyway, I had to get to Elko for some depositions I was taking on Monday, so I flew to Salt Lake on the early flight and met my old pal Joey Schmutz in Salt Lake, and we went to temple square. It was a pretty quiet morning on temple square, and we did the tours of the Beehive (or Lion?) House and the Conference Center. It was cool to wander around and see that stuff. I've been to Salt Lake just the right number of times, I think. It's always interesting to me.

After that, I dropped Joey off, cause he had to work, and I went to visit my grandma. My grandma recently moved to Syracuse, which is west of Layton. I had never been there, and I got lost twice along the way. Fortunately, I made it. My grandma currently has a basement apartment in my aunt and uncle's house. It was nice to see her. I gave her a copy of Holly's recent school picture. She asked me questions about people's recent Facebook statuses. That's right. My grandma is on Facebook. And though she doesn't update her page, she monitors mine. And my brothers and sisters. She was amazingly up to date. Don't underestimate your grandparents.

About that time, and thanks to getting lost along the way, I had to backtrack to I-80 and head to Elko. I got out of the city by dark and enjoyed singing at the top of my lungs across the desert. I even honked my rental car's horn a few times, just for fun. The highway was very empty. Much of the time I couldn't see any lights at all. I also searched the AM radio for Sunday night football, and remarkably found clear stations based in Albuquerque, San Francisco, San Diego, Seattle, and Salt Lake, but not Elko, Reno, or Las Vegas.

I got to the Gold Country Inn at about 7, if I remember right, and watched the rest of the game. For those of you who travel across state lines occasionally, you know the adjustments that requires. It was doubly odd to travel to Utah, then back to Nevada, but not home, in the same day. Two time changes, and I had to coordinate Utah time with people in Utah, so I couldn't just ignore it.

I had depositions in Elko all day Monday. I had a great breakfast at my hotel's cafe, and an interesting lunch at a Basque restaurant. By the end of the day, I had a headache and was not feeling well, so I got takeout from the hotel restaurant and watched TV. The blackened chicken with linguine wasn't that great.

I didn't sleep well Monday night, and got up at 5 a.m. after I got a small chunk of sleep. I started east before 7 and stopped in West Wendover, then at the Salt Flats. It was interesting to see how empty it is up there. I'm used to the desert, and even dry lake beds, but salt flats are just empty and white. Interestingly, people try to write things with darker rocks along the freeway. Names, mostly, from what I could tell. I wondered what those people were thinking. I'll probably never know.

Getting back to Salt Lake was bittersweet, because it is a whole lot more interesting than Elko, but I was ready to go home. The plane ride was uncomfortable, though I did discover that the emergency exit row is the roomiest row on a plane. No more comfortable, though.

Also, Elko is isolated, rural and probably pretty cool if you had time to explore a little bit. I didn't have much time, and it wasn't terribly pleasant to be there. I do have to say that I noticed several nice hunting trophies while there, and the game warden appeared to favor the restaurant at my hotel, at least for breakfast. I saw at least 8 racks of antlers in truck beds. You just don't see that very often in Las Vegas.

Army crawling

2009-10-19T21:48:00.000-07:00

I know it's been a long time, and all I can convince myself to write about is Jay. He can crawl. He has teeth.

He can crawl army style to pretty much anywhere he wants to go. So far he's been most interested in going outside. He almost crawled out the back door today. When I saw how excited he was, I raised the blinds on the lowest foot of the french door, and he crawled up to it and looked outside. When Kelsea had to take out some trash, he tried to follow her, and when she got back to the door, he was there watching for her, and I had move him, because he wouldn't back up so she could open the door.

He also has 7 teeth, and more coming in. He has four teeth on the top, and three on the bottom. We let him eat pretty much anything he wants. Tonight we had waffles with cool whip and strawberries. Strawberries are one of those things you aren't supposed to give kids until they're one, so I didn't give him any actual strawberries, and he loved it. Unfortunately, we gave him a slice of apple on Sunday, and he choked on it. We'll have to wait until he gets some molars before we try that again.

And, since the last post was about patching the whole in the wall, here are the woefully inadequate pictures I took.

Still remodeling

2009-09-16T13:13:00.000-07:00

We still have lots of remodeling to do in our house, and I've been trying to get all the walls painted. Before we moved in, I painted nearly every wall and ceiling in the place, but I used a white primer/sealer, and not a finish coat of paint. We decided to do it that way so that all the walls could be painted without cleaning the paint sprayer, and so that I could paint the ceilings as well, which were a little dingy.

Since then, we painted three bedrooms, and the two bathrooms. We also recently painted the kitchen ceiling, but only because I tore it up when I changed the light fixture. The biggest room in our house, and the one we spent the most time in, was still white, and the primer isn't as durable as a finish coat of paint, in case you didn't know.

So, a few weeks ago, we picked out a paint color, bought a few gallons, and I started painting. Most of the living/great room's walls are now painted the color of burnt almond, I think is the color's name (think of the inside of an almond, not the outside). But I was putting off doing the last wall. The last wall is covered by our bookshelves, which means we would have to move lots of books, and the lightswitch is weird.

In about 1984, the owner of the home added an overhead light, so a new switch was added, but it was a single switch, next to the original switch, for the plugs along that wall. And then the wall was patched poorly, and a crack was obvious. The two switches bothered me, so I wanted to fix it anyway, but the bad patch and the crack made tearing up the wall much easier to justify to Kelsea. So last night, I tore up the wall a little (maybe a one square foot whole). The newspaper inside the wall from 1984 let me know that's when the change was made. I'm looking forward to fixing the wires tonight, and hopefully closing up the wall, too. I'm not looking forward to moving the other bookshelves, but that's what I'll have to do to be able to finish painting, and that was the whole point, so I guess I have to. I'll try to remember to take some pictures, so you can see the difference, and I didn't take an immediately before picture, so you might have to trust me that it was a bad patch job.

Happy holiday weekend!

2009-09-04T14:46:00.001-07:00

Isn't it great that we get an extra day to enjoy opening weekend of college football?

poll

2009-09-01T10:57:00.000-07:00

Quick poll:

Who do you think looks younger: Dee; or Kelsea?

Thanks for participating.

Camping at Summit Mountain

2009-08-19T20:51:00.000-07:00

For every year as long as I can remember (and probably the years I can't remember), my family has gone camping at least once a summer on Summit Mountain. It's land my great-grandparents owned, and I found out this year it used to belong to my great-grandma's father. We used to go over Labor day weekend, but since I've been able to go on my own, I've gone earlier in the year. There's a lake up there, it's very green, there's a raspberry patch, and lots of wildlife. Jay even got to go on a hike or two.

Holly and Mia had a great time on the hikes and wandering around following anyone they could keep up with.

This was our hike down the canyon to the raspberries. Holly and Mia really enjoyed picking and eating the wild raspberries.

See? Raspberries!

Just look at the size of that raspberry patch.

A nice meadow above the lake.

Sunset from the lake.

Sunset on the lake.

Jay had a good time, too, even though his walker didn't work out like we planned. (Mia is a ham).

Holly and Mia picked flowers on the way down to the raspberries, then left the flowers on this lovely tree.

And finally, Mia with her great-grandparents. Thanks for letting us visit your mountain.

Backpacking to Mummy Springs

2009-08-19T19:35:00.000-07:00

On July 31, my brothers and I hiked to Mummy Springs, near Mount Charleston. We were planning to hike to the top of Mummy Mountain, but we were too slow and tired. We hiked three miles in three hours, the uphill part really slowing us down. We found a nice uneven hillside to camp on just past the spring, which actually had some running water. It was a terrible night sleep, but we had a good time hiking and talking together.

coming soon...

2009-08-18T10:26:00.000-07:00

two posts about camping trips.

I went backpacking with my brothers the last Friday in July, and my whole family went to Summit Mountain the week of August 10. I love going to the mountains, even if backpacking made me realize I'm getting old and need to exercise more. I took lots of pictures on both trips, but I'm bad at doing anything with them. I back up all my pictures on my work computer, which is probably not the best system, but I want to see them at work too. I'll probably post some and put some others on facebook. There will actually be some recent pictures of the kids that way.

Look forward to it.

Time flies

2009-07-30T10:11:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it's already the end of July. The best part of getting through July is that the heat is passing. At least in theory. August will still be hot, but July is usually the peak. Tuesday, our patio thermometer said it was 118 degrees. Our air conditioner works fairly well, but on a day that hot, it couldn't get it any cooler than 80 degrees, and it ran pretty constantly. There was a stretch when the humidity was a little too high to run the swamp cooler, but thankfully it's been working better lately. This morning it was 68 degrees in our living room, thanks to the swamp cooler. The swamp cooler works great, and it works the best when the outside temperature doesn't get over 105 or so.

But I'll be glad to get to September, when the highs will be under 100 again.

I looked at my pictures to see what I could blog about

2009-07-22T22:22:00.000-07:00

It's true. Admit it. You like blogs better when they include pictures. So here's what we've been doing.

I think it was two weekends ago when we finally finished our kitchen ceiling. I had to sand, prime, and paint. It was dusty, dirty work.

The original picture will show you what the original light looked like, which was a monstrosity. It was so big that the cabinet doors would hit it and not open all the way.

Kelsea will no doubt appreciate the picture of her from last April.
She'll also be upset with me for using the picture below, since she thinks the lighting was wrong.

It was night, so there's no light from the window, but I think it looks good. And she hasn't taken a picture since then. Also, I added the handles to all the cabinet doors. The clean white ceiling and the brushed nickel handles make the kitchen look cleaner and newer. We bought all the handles almost a year ago, so Kelsea was pretty happy to finally have those on there. Oh, I also changed the horrible dirty outlet and switch to new clean white ones. So much better.
Maybe this will motivate Kelsea to take the picture she wants me to post.

Camping on July 4

2009-07-07T21:05:00.001-07:00

On July 3rd, we went camping on Mount Charleston as part of a ward activity.
For dinner, we had hot dogs and hamburgers.

Holly and Mia enjoyed getting into bed at 4 o'clock on Friday afternoon.

Mia learned to climb trees... with some help.
Then on Saturday night we watched a few fireworks at my parents' house. It was small but fun.

Goodbye! Happy Independence Day!

salsa (now with pictures!)

2009-06-29T11:11:00.000-07:00

Our garden is doing very well lately. I have more tomatoes than I can eat, and Kelsea doesn't eat them plain, so we decided to make salsa. We're also growing peppers that are doing well. After looking at various recipes, and reading the ingredients of our preferred salsa, I decided to combine what I knew I wanted, and make something up. I often cook this way when it doesn't involve bread, cake or cookies. So anyway, we had to buy some jalapenos, an onion, and some limes, which we combined with our bowl full of tomatoes, and one bell pepper. It turned out pretty good, though too spicy (I should have used only one jalapeno). It's nice to be able to do something productive with all those tomatoes.

Incidentally, I purposely got tomato plants that would not produce huge tomatoes. It has been my experience that larger tomatoes take too long to ripen in the desert heat, so they split, go bad, get eaten by insects, or all of the above, before we get to eat any. So this year, I planted 6 roma tomato plants, and one grape tomato plant. The tomatoes we're getting are mostly very small roma tomatoes, or very large grape tomatoes. But we're getting a lot, and they are very good.

Also, our basil is growing like crazy, we're overwhelmed by zucchini (which honestly doesn't take many zucchini), the cucumbers are overwhelmed by the zucchini plants, our carrots are leafy but the roots are still small, the peas have mostly died in the heat, we have one pumpkin that is already turning orange, and five or six watermelons that are gradually getting bigger. I think next year we might have to put in a lime tree to support our salsa habit. We also have some very young grape vines that won't do anything till next year.

So, in the picture to the left, do you see any watermelon? I know there are three that I could see when I took the picture, but in the picture, I can only find one for sure. The largest is about the size of a mini-basketball. We had a watermelons about that size (12 in. diameter?) before we even noticed that there were any watermelons actually on the vine. Then we saw the other four or five all of a sudden. They hide well.

Lake Pics

2009-06-18T15:49:00.000-07:00

Lake Day

2009-06-15T14:04:00.000-07:00

We went to Lake Mead on Saturday, and I was reminded why we don't go very often. I had fun, and I want to go again, but without a boat, it's crowded,and you have to put up with other people. I don't mind putting up with people, but it's nice to have some privacy, someone was smoking (which was weird all by itself), and you have to see people who don't understand that a bikini doesn't automatically make you look good. Also, I got sunburned, as usual, though not too bad, and only on my shoulders. I wore a life preserver a lot of the time, so that I could swim around with Holly and Mia more safely. We decided they both needed life jackets, and they're likely to be more daring swimmers than me if I don't wear one too.

I really enjoy floating along in the water with a life vest on. I've never been a great swimmer, but bobbing along in a big lake is really relaxing. I also enjoyed water skiing the last time we went, which was also the first time I went. If the girls didn't freak out about water so easily, Lake Mead might become a regular destination for us.

So we'll go to the lake again, especially if someone with a boat invites us. (Which might be a hint, but I don't know if anyone with a boat reads this). Unfortunately, I didn't take a camera, so I have no pictures. Consider that a gift though, as you are spared my blinding whiteness.

Family pictures

2009-06-10T12:21:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, we went to my parents' house to have pictures taken. My sister and her family are visiting from Colorado, and it had been a while since our last family picture. After fretting about a photographer, Marissa, (who Tacy and I went to high school with) came and took some good pictures. Here is our official family portrait:
Marissa commented that my dad looks like he is comfortably hovering. I noticed who barely got off the ground. Tacy claims she has "bad jump timing." Yeah Tacy, I believe that. I'm also surprised that I look to have jumped as high as anyone, since all of my younger siblings have played volleyball in high school, and some played tennis. Granted, it's a jump for a picture, and Matt and Chris were wearing matching sandals, but still. For reference, we're lined up oldest to youngest.

Ok, fine, it's not really our official family portrait, and I haven't even seen the pictures Marissa took, with this exception. Here's the link to the Facebook album [link disabled, email me to see them] I made of the pictures I took.

Also, one note on graduation. My little sister's high school graduation is today. She thinks she'll be a CHS alumni. Of course, she'll be an alumna. As a Latin-based word, all forms are present in English, so alumna is correct, even in English, and alumni is only correct for more than one male graduate, or a group of male and female graduates. You know those license plate holders that say, for example, UNLV alumni? I could never get one of those, because I'm only one graduate, but I would buy a UNLV alumnus license plate holder in a heartbeat. I've often considered ordering a BYU alumni license plate holder, because that would actually be accurate, as Kelsea and I both graduated from BYU.

Yard

2009-05-27T22:37:00.000-07:00

First of all, this is our garden:
There's no way to get a good picture of it in good light, but we have tomato plants, pepper plants, basil, carrots, peas, watermelon, pumpkin, zucchini, and cucumbers. We've already eaten some tomatoes, peas, and a tiny carrot. Zucchini aren't far away, and the rest are all looking promising. I like the size of our garden: it's very manageable, but big enough to give us some good veggies. Holly and Mia have been loving the peas.

Now here are some pictures of the little front yard section that is done.
It's your basic desert landscaping, low water usage, high shade plan. It'll take a few years to get the shade tree to do its job, but the girls enjoy the retaining wall as a little bench. Mia liked the fire hydrant, too. I think they were excited to realize we have a fire hydrant in our yard.

And of course, Jay. These glasses aren't really his color, but he still looks cool. He even seemed to enjoy them. He wasn't crying, at least.
Also, we're going to get rid of that shed, and park there. Anyone think we could move that thing (and give it to someone else), or would I have to disassemble it? Anyone want it?

preview

2009-05-26T12:05:00.000-07:00

I haven't blogged in a while, so I feel like it's time for an update. I took some pictures of the yard the other day so that a blog update would be easy. And of course the girls followed me outside and wanted to be where the action was, so there are new pictures of them too. They'll be in the next post. Right now, just know that we are doing well, and our yard is seeing progress.

Also, I ate some tomatoes from our garden, and they were delicious.

Google Earth is getting better (or, Italian graffiti is long-lived)

2009-05-12T10:03:00.000-07:00

That's me, in 2000, probably April or May of 2000, indicating that the Book of Mormon is for you.

I recently discovered that Google Earth has been expanding its global reach. To see something very interesting, copy the following address: 4 Via Magenta, Novara, Piedmont, Italy.
Enter that address into the search bar of google maps, then click street view and face west.

Or, try this link, zoom in close, then drag the little yellow man to see the street view at 4 Via Magenta, and look west. I was amazed.

If you're lazy, or can't quite get to the right spot, I'll just tell you that the graffiti is still there. I always wondered about that, but this is the only picture I could find that let me verify the status of any particular tag. I'll keep looking though.

Also, looking south down Via Magenta, you'll see the setting of this somewhat more dignified picture of me as a missionary.

Dietary concerns

2009-05-04T17:23:00.000-07:00

Holly has been asking me whether certain foods are healthy, sometimes she asks whether something is good for you, and other times she asks whether something is good. She learned about smoking and coffee being bad for you in church a couple weeks ago.

So this morning, I was eating cereal with Holly and Mia, and Holly starts talking about hot dogs. She was trying to convince me they were good, and good for her. I always hesitate to say hot dogs are good for you, but I usually do, just to avoid the confusion, and so I don't eliminate one of the few meals she will eat.

Mia decided to be obstinate, however, and insisted hot dogs were bad for you, as well as bad. They argued for a minute, and I said, no, Mia, hot dogs are good. Holly said hot dogs are good, coffee is bad. Then she said, what about coffee in cereal? I told her that would be bad, too. So then she asked if hot dogs would be good in cereal. I can't remember the way she said it, but it made me think of pork and beans, and I pictured cutting up hot dogs to put in her cereal. I had to try hard not to laugh. I told her, no, that probably wouldn't taste very good. She said why? I almost laughed again at the hilarity of having to explain why hot dogs wouldn't taste good in cereal. But I just said that hot dogs taste better on buns, with ketchup. She accepted that answer.

Also, a random video, taken after we got back from the County Fair, I think.

Smiles

2009-04-28T10:13:00.000-07:00

Jay knows how to smile now. This time he was smiling when I told him to say "cheese." He either smiled because he was following instructions, because he likes his dad, or because he likes cheese. Any one is fine with me.

Springtime

2009-04-24T10:50:00.001-07:00

A picture from Easter.

Legal problems

2009-04-23T16:14:00.001-07:00

In the interest of having more posts appeal to more people, I'm trying to think of amusing anecdotes to share that don't always have to do with raising little kids. Sometimes people don't appreciate potty-training stories like they should. And in our family, Kelsea has all the good stories, and I usually tell them second-hand. Even the last post about bugs attacking the playroom was corrected by Kelsea in her very first blog comment ever. So, I've been trying to think of amusing work stories I could share.

The problem with sharing amusing work stories on my blog is that my blog is on the internet, and the internet is not private. My blog is also not private, but I'm sure you all knew that much, since you're here. I've always been careful to not share too much on this blog, and even limit the descriptions of events to prevent search engines from pulling out random words and directing undesired traffic here. Most people don't think about that, probably, or they just make the blog private, but I've thought about it.

Finally, to the point: I have lots of funny stories about work, but I can't share them. While I could withhold certain details to make it difficult for anyone to figure out who I'm talking about, every single thing I work on is confidential. Sometimes just knowing what I'm doing and what case I'm working on could potentially damage my client. At some point, after representation ends, I will be able to share some of these stories, but right now, the only funny stories I can think of involve ongoing cases. So instead of sharing those stories, how about I share a bit of wisdom gleaned from someone else's stupidity?

Today's bit of wisdom: Do not run across a busy street at night. It doesn't matter if you are in the crosswalk or not, people can't always see you. Also, related to that, if you are driving and approach an intersection where pedestrians might be present, you should slow down, at least a little.

Bugs are attacking the play room!

2009-04-20T10:07:00.000-07:00

Sunday mornings are fairly relaxing for me. After I get home from my 8:00 a.m. meeting, I have several hours before our church meetings start at 1:00 p.m. Yesterday, I was tired, so I took a nap. I was holding Jay, trying to calm him down, and I just couldn't stay awake, so I went to bed, on top of the covers.

When you take a nap with kids around, those kids are going to make staying asleep sort of difficult. Yesterday, I remember waking up to some noise probably about 5 times, then hearing, "shhh, we need to be quiet, Dad's taking a nap."

Well, one of the things that woke me up was Holly yelling, "Mom, Mom, bugs are attacking the play room!" I didn't think much of it. Holly talks about bugs and monsters all the time in a matter of fact way, and she seemed more excitied than upset, like when bugs come into the house (think craneflies, which really freak her out). Anyway, I went back to sleep. Then I woke up to the same thing again. Not long after, I got up, and found out a bunch of those tiny black flies (fungus gnats) were crawling all over the outside of the play room window, and some had crawled around the screen, which was loose, and some had even gotten to the inside of the window, since there's no weather stripping in that window. So, bugs really were attacking the playroom.

Kelsea got the bug spray and sprayed down the window both inside and out, mostly neutralizing the attack. But it got me thinking about how Holly used the word "attack." She's four and a half, isn't in school, and doesn't watch violent shows on tv. Sponge Bob might be violent sometimes, but nothing like Batman or anything involving fighting. I can't even think of any, cause she and Mia don't ever want to watch them. So anyway, she picked up the word "attack" somewhere. I'm not sure if it's good, but I'm really impressed with her vocabulary.

Also, the screen is no longer loose, so further bug attacks will hopefully remain outdoors.

Big guy

2009-03-31T22:23:00.000-07:00

Jay is over a month old now, and had his one month appointment today.
He weighs 10 pounds, 15 ounces. The doctor asked Kelsea if she sure she wasn't supplementing his diet with formula. She's sure.

He is a big baby.
I think I look somber in this picture because I used the timer with no flash, and it was the second of a burst. I probably thought Jay would turn out blurry like he did in most of the other shots with no flash.

In other areas of our lives, I planted a vegetable garden. I got tomato, pepper, and watermelon starters, and planted pumpkin, cucumber, zucchini, peas, carrots, and basil seeds. I put it in on the side of our house where there used to be two huge bushes. I had to prune the bushes back to nothing to make room for the garden, and just as I had cut one of the bushes back to practically nothing, the other one bloomed with tons of nice little yellow flowers. Kelsea thought the boughs were fake because they looked so nice. So I decided not to kill them completely. I left one branch one the second bush, and the first bush has already sprouted a few new branches. I'll see if they can co-exist with my vegetable garden. I'll try to find a before picture and take a similar after picture. And hopefully we'll get some vegetables!

Kids are expensive, but not this expensive.

2009-03-27T09:41:00.000-07:00

I was browsing the Get Rich Slowly blog today (see link to the right), and thinking how I didn't really like the articles on there so much, as the title. Get Rich Slowly is a great scheme. Instead of a get rich quick scheme, I'm on the get rich slowly boat, and I hope to have accumulated some form of wealth by the time I retire, and I hope to retire before I'm forced to do so.

But back to the real topic, on the Get Rich Slowly blog, I came across this article about the high cost of having children. Now, I agree with the premise, and expected to see some insight about how expensive clothes, diapers, toys, car seats, food, cleaning supplies, and so forth are. Because they are expensive. I've been noticing recently how much food is wasted by kids. But the Get Rich Slowly post mentions that whoever the author is, who has two kids, spends $800 a month on each child, just on health insurance, life insurance, and childcare.

Now, health insurance can be expensive. I shopped around a lot to find a plan I like that is very reasonable, and I attribute about $150 in health insurance costs to all of my kids, together, each month. In other words, $50 a month. We don't have life insurance policies for our kids, but those are really inexpensive, and Kelsea stays home with the kids, so we don't pay anyone else any childcare expenses. (Coincidentally, we have almost never paid for a babysitter, since we have family so close. Maybe we should start, so we can go out more.) Another interesting point about health insurance is that once you're on a family plan, an additional child doesn't increase your premium. We got that happy surprise recently. So I concluded that the author of the above mentioned post was spending somewhere in the range of $600 a month for child care on each child. That's a lot of money.

Kids are expensive, and they definitely delay the accumulation of wealth, but it's so worth it. It's also worth it to make sure your kids are raised by their own parents, not some stranger (or possibly friend) you pay $600 a month to take care of them the majority of their waking hours. I'm not going to rant about people who pay someone else to raise their kids, because it's a personal decision, and a difficult one financially, in some cases more than others. But I wish more parents would raise their own kids. There are way more advantages than saving money. Not the least of which are the happiness from interacting with your own kids, teaching them right from wrong, teaching them how to read, write, have good manners (a recent topic at our house), and getting hugs. Kids are messy, noisy, expensive, tiring, sometimes annoying, often wasteful, and always worth spending time with.

Afterthought: Another noted expense of kids is saving for college instead of saving for retirement. College is expensive, but my wife and I both paid for our own education (we are still paying for mine). I never expected anyone to pay for my college, though I did get some scholarships, and I do not plan to pay for college for my kids. That may mean they don't go to college, but if they do, they won't be wasting any of their time or any of my money doing it. College funds are admirable, but not necessary, and not in my financial plan.

Results

2009-03-24T10:03:00.000-07:00

I think a results blog is not really necessary, since my blog is public, and so are the comments, but I'm trying to make a habit of blogging more often. Short blogs, but more of them.

So, the consensus is that the post about Macs vs. PCs was good, except for those who aren't technically minded, or who visit my blog exclusively to make sure her kids are cuter than mine. Otherwise, a little variety from the usual kiddie stories, particularly from those who don't have kids yet, and really don't appreciate potty training/baby messing/other child fiasco stories, is appreciated. (That was a really long sentence, and the subject was really far away from the verb and object. If this were anything but a blog, I would probably revise that sentence. But it is a blog, so I won't.)

Otherwise, the results of the actual Mac/PC debate, from an admittedly very small sampling, is that, yes, they are expensive, but in certain cases, they are worth the money. Most of those cases are when the money is coming from someone else. Usually an employer. Thanks for the input. I'll stick with my PCs for a few more years, at least.

straw poll

2009-03-18T12:53:00.000-07:00

Leave me a comment if you thought my last post was:

a) thoughtful and informative

b) boring and lame

c) sound financial advice

d) unintelligible mumbo-jumbo

e) you didn't read it because you could tell it was going to be b) or d)

thanks for your honest feedback!

Apples and Oranges

2009-03-17T10:33:00.001-07:00

I'm not a Mac user, so feel free to set me straight if you are, but I don't see the appeal of Apple computers. ipods are nice, but so many other mp3 players work as well. I have a dinky mp3 player that fulfills my music needs. I actually find myself not using it simply because I don't have the time. The ipod touch is pretty neat, since it's almost a portable computer in itself, and I believe it's based on the same concept as the iphone, but without the phone. So those little gadgets are fun and all, but to use one, you don't need an Apple computer; they are compatible with pcs.

Which brings me to the apple computer itself. I recently thought about the good points of a Mac in an attempt to dissuade myself of the idea that they aren't worth their cost. Apples have great software for visual artists. Which I understand includes web design, as well as photoshop and video editing software. However, I understand that software for pcs is not as inferior as it once was. Also, I have been informed that Macs are not susceptible to viruses. This struck a chord for me, since I have been the victim of malicious spyware embedded in emails that I was tricked into opening, not once, but twice. Both were on my work computer, and it was immensely frustrating to have to do without a computer for multiple days while my system was repaired. However, I have never had a virus problem with my home computer. Most viruses or other malware gets on computers through emails or malicious websites that one would be wise to avoid anyway. Getting back to my point, do Macs really not get viruses, spyware or malware?

So those are the positives about Macs. Not being a visual artist, the first positive doesn't strike me as all that compelling. The second one is more compelling, but with a little care, I can avoid viruses on my own, as I have done for more than ten years on my home computer without difficulty. The real drawback for me is the Mac's ridiculous cost. My most recent computer purchase was an eMachines desktop. I did not want the bottom of the line, and with eMachines, I was able to buy a good desktop with all the extras I wanted, for less than half the cost of an HP or other name brand computer. Even the top of the line pcs were only slightly more expensive than the mid-range Macs.

While at some point quality is worth the extra cost, I don't see enough quality to Macs to justify the significant increased expense of owning a Mac. Even with software upgrades, which were minimal, and virus protection, I still see the PC as a much smarter choice. I also see Apple as a sort of evil empire, fixated on world domination and eradication of all competitors. Yes, Windows is the same way, but less so recently, and Firefox and Linux are easier than ever to come by.

So, anyone out there love a Mac? If so, why? Wasn't it expensive? Also, does anyone ever call them Macintoshes any more?

Baby boy's bedroom...

2009-03-02T08:42:00.000-08:00

now has an occupant. He was born on Thursday, weighed 8 pounds, 1 ounce, and was 20 inches long. We named him for Kelsea's grandpa, and for my great-grandpa. I was also named for my great-grandpa, who didn't like the name Thomas, and went by D.

So, without further ado, here are some pictures.

Baby Boy

2009-02-25T19:07:00.000-08:00

's bedroom

I bet you thought this was going to be about how the baby was born. But it isn't. It's about the bedroom. We painted it several weeks ago, and put up that border that we got at Lowe's for a dollar. I hate wallpaper, by the way, and borders are no exception. It did come out well, though. Even if I got the wrong color paint at first, and Kelsea had to go pick out the right colors.

Kelsea wanted to mention that we already had those curtains, and the curtain tie-backs were some toys we already had. They go really well, if I do say so myself. The hands and feet are magnetic, so the little animals are hugging the curtains.

This dresser we got from my dad's boss's cabin because he was tearing it down. The knobs are shaped like acorns, which is pretty awesome. (Kelsea scoffed when she read this.) My mom bought us the little wall decorations to match the border. They do match well, and we might actually put them on the wall before long. But don't expect me to post pictures of that, except perhaps incidentally, with pictures of people in the baby room. Like, you know, the baby. Which should be here soon. =D

two pics and a story

2009-02-19T20:55:00.000-08:00

This is us before church a week or so ago. I take the time after my Sunday morning meeting, but before it's time to go, while we're all in our Sunday best, to take some pictures. This one came out well.

So did this one, which is from the week before.

Holly likes to have her picture taken. Kelsea doesn't. We will be lucky to get another picture of her before the baby is born.

Kelsea told me a funny story about Holly and Mia the other day. Holly was wearing her flower girl veil, pretending to be a bride, and told Mia to get married with her. Mia answered very nonchalantly, "um, no thanks."

I'm getting worse at this, not better

2009-02-04T10:46:00.000-08:00

So, I thought that, with time, blogging would be easy, or I would like doing it a lot, so I would do it more. I like blogging, but I was wrong about it getting easier. Over the last few days, I've been thinking I should post some more pictures about what's been going on at our house: the new light fixture in the kitchen and the new ceiling fan (with a light) in the living room; the newly painted baby boy room; the fun flower bed that actually gives some color and charm to our front yard; or even a picture of Kelsea, who is now 8 months pregnant. But I haven't gotten to any of those things.

So leave a comment on what you'd like to see and/or hear about, or maybe say "don't muddle up the pictures with your words, just let us see what's happening," and I will try to oblige. I guess what I'm saying is I want more positive feedback. Tell me, people; what do the people want?

catch-up

2009-01-09T10:32:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, etc.

Now I've included pictures of Snow, Christmas, our Christmas tree, our house with snow and Christmas lights, Christmas morning, Holly and Mia dressed up, and even a picture of Matt.
I actually made this collage by using Kodak's website, and it's just the preview on the way to actually buying a big print, so it's not very big, but it serves its purpose.
We had some really funny pictures from Christmas, especially since Matt and Kelly got a kid digital camera for Holly and Mia (they explained it was on clearance and they had to get it for someone.) Holly and Mia fought over it, and took about 100 pictures in 15 minutes, only 15 of which were recognizable. Holly's favorite thing to do with it was spin around in a circle and push the button repeatedly. She and Mia also took a few interesting videos; mostly while running after or away from each other.

Good times.

Next post will be about our nearly finished bathroom. Really, it's really close to being completely done.

Merry Christmas

2008-12-24T09:25:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I'm slacking on those Christmas pictures. I have pictures of the Christmas tree, pictures of snow, pictures of Christmas lights on our house, and pictures of Christmas lights on our house in the snow. Plus, pictures of the big snowman we made when it snowed about four inches last Wednesday. But I'm not going to post any of those pictures. Kelsea put some on her Facebook page, and I linked the album on my Facebook wall (something like that, you can see them on my Facebook page too, is the point). So maybe I'll go against my better judgment and do a slideshow. And if anyone wants to clue me in on how to make a collage of nine or so pictures in a nice grid, I'm all ears (if not, maybe I'll google it).

Anyway, I want to wish you all a Merry Christmas. I hope the holiday is calm, pleasant, enjoyable, and at least a little bit spiritual.

Challenge

2008-12-05T09:51:00.000-08:00

Rules are: Anything you have done has to be in bold. How much have you done?

1. Started your own blog (obviously)
2. Slept under the stars (it's the best, unless there are mosquitoes)
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii (twice)
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a Praying Mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort (so fun)
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run (I think...)
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language (does this mean no classes, or what?)
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied (I was most satisfied when I didn't have any money at all)
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight (in Hawaii)
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling (Hanauma Bay, Hawaii)
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud (football is the best in the mud)
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie (thanks to C-$ Productions)
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class (two of them, as I recall)
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp (not really, just a Nazi fort)
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter (over the Las Vegas strip)
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar (I think so)
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job (at BYU, for graduating)
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone (small fracture is all)
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person (only from an airplane)
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox (I don't even remember it)
89. Saved someone’s life (I put out a fire, so this is a maybe)
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit (;))
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Visited Italy (oh yeah)

not about our house. ok, maybe a little.

2008-12-03T13:52:00.000-08:00

This post is about Thanksgiving and Christmas.

We're usually behind with pictures, partially because we don't think about it too much, and partially because I usually blog on my laptop, not within easy reach of the camera. So instead of pictures, I use words. And by way of a non-specific general reminder, a picture is worth a thousand words, and no one likes to read more than a 5000 word essay at one time, so more than 3 pictures is dangerously close to overkill. On the other hand, a nice collage of images is fun and compact enough to work well, if there's only one per post.

Thanksgiving always seems like a calm event. We alternate going to my parents' or Kelsea's parents', and it doesn't really seem so out of the ordinary to have a big family dinner. I only have one sister that no longer lives in Las Vegas, and Kelsea's only out of town sibling is her brother that's on a mission in Brazil. So Thanksgiving just felt like a family dinner with a fairly non-negotiable menu. (Although my pickiest sister-in-law demanded variety and got bratwurst. Talk about an un-American Thanksgiving.) I'm thankful it felt so low key. I enjoy a real ordeal only once or twice a year.

As for Christmas, my parents went to Southern Utah the Saturday after Thanksgiving and got fresh-cut Christmas trees. So by Sunday night, we had a Christmas tree. Kelsea has done a fantastic job decorating it, and our house feels so festive already. Holly and Mia wanted to help, but the were pulling out ornaments that Kelsea wasn't planning to use, so she told them maybe she would use them later. Instead, Holly decorated the ficus. Holly even asked me which one I liked better. When I said I liked them both, she told me I was only allowed to like the big one, because the little one was for the little brother. I need to get a mantle for our fireplace (there are brick supports, but no actual mantle) so we can hang our stockings there and otherwise decorate it. I don't think a fire in there would be a good idea, though.

I'm glad we're to the holiday season, and I'm excited to share Christmas and Thanksgiving with my wonderful family.

Weekend Update

2008-11-17T13:50:00.000-08:00

Ok, so anyone who has been paying attention to our housing situation knows that our house is a fixer-upper. This weekend, we decided to buy the major pieces to put our front bathroom together. I put down new linoleum and installed the new toilet last week, so technically it was usable, but there was no vanity, sink, or bathtub. So Friday night, Kelsea and I went to Lowe's to look at vanities, sinks, tubs, showers, and other things. We were lucky enough to find a new vanity on clearance for $165, which saved us $250 (or more) on the spot. Unfortunately, it had drawers in different places and wasn't as wide as the prior vanity, so I had to move pipes and patch in another piece of linoleum. Then I had to put up the drywall and start patching it. I'm not so good at extensive drywall work, mostly from lack of experience, but Kelsea had called her mom to help out. She spent about 3 hours sanding and re-applying joint compound on Saturday. It looks way better than I ever would have gotten it. I was pretty beat, but my father-in-law was kind of bummed to be just standing around, so we started on the tub. Unfortunately, we didn't get the right drain pipes, so we couldn't put it in, but we got close. I just have to find the right size pipes, or the right kit, then it will slide into place, and get hammered to the studs. As it stands right now, there is a vanity full of tools and a tub standing on its end in our bathroom. Hopefully by next Monday everything will be installed and operational.

The scariest day of the year

2008-11-04T11:13:00.000-08:00

This is about Halloween, not politics.

On Halloween, we went to a trunk or treat at the church. Despite the fact that our ward had been discontinued the week before, most of the Hazelcrest Ward was there. Well, a lot anyway. Holly dressed up as a princess, Mia dressed up as a flapper, Kelsea wore the wings and halo she bought for Mia and was an angel, and I went as a zombie. I realize that my makeup was not very well done, but it was last minute, and pretty good for the amount of time it took me.

Holly and Mia got excited about scaring people. They like to yell "boo," and hear the appropriate response: "AAAA!" Mia did this to Kelsea when she woke up grumpy from a nap on Sunday. I do it if they come looking for me. To them, it is just as fun to be scared as it is to scare. Go figure. They got lots of candy, and I love that they don't claim it. We just call it the Halloween candy, and we let them have some pretty often, as long as they ate dinner or lunch, but they don't throw fits about needing more, or claim that it's theirs. Which is really pretty great.

Finally, Kelsea modified Mia's costume especially for her. My mom bought a few clearance costumes (as is her custom shortly before or after Halloween and other major holidays), and one was an adult Flapper costume. Mia was excited about it and wore it around for a while, even though it was about a foot too long for her. So Kelsea decided to alter it to her size, and she did a great job!

Business

2008-11-04T10:46:00.000-08:00

Two weeks ago, I went to South Carolina for a deposition. The travel time was about 9 times longer than the deposition. Honestly. But I took advantage of the opportunity to see new places, and was able to wander around downtown Charleston for an hour or so and see the Atlantic Ocean. I don't want this to be a long post, but a picture or two makes it nicer, right?

The Charleston airport was tiny. I think there were ten gates total. My layovers in Charlotte, NC were kind of crazy, since that is a major hub, and lots of people were there for connecting flights. I did get to see a colonial church or two, one with a humorous sign in the graveyard. And by the way, since when have graveyards been the entire grounds of the church? Seriously, to walk into the catholic church in downtown Charleston, you have to walk past graves, headstones, even those above ground monuments that look like stone caskets. If it hadn't been a bright sunny day, it would have been really creepy. It was only slightly creepy.

Otherwise, I got to see two movies new to me. On the way, I saw Get Smart, and on the way home, I saw Cinderella Man. They both made the flight much more enjoyable. As an added bonus, they were even slightly edited for viewing by general audiences on the airplane. I probably wouldn't have ever seen Cinderella Man, because Kelsea wouldn't want to see it, but I liked it. Not very violent for a movie about a boxer, and much more emotional than I expected, as it is set in the Great Depression. Get Smart was about as good as I expected it to be: entertaining on a superficial level, slightly raunchy only once or twice, and Steve Carrell played Maxwell Smart pretty well. I got a lot more familiar with airplanes on my trip and will be happy to not fly again for a while. $2 for a water, and airport security is so annoying.

Kelsea in High School

2008-10-19T16:16:00.000-07:00

1. Did you date someone from your school? Not really. I dated lots but I never got to the official boyfriend/girlfriend stage.
2. What kind of car did you drive? I didn't have a car in high school or through college. When Dee and I got married neither one of had a car. For the first year of our marriage we drove Dee's brother's truck (Matt's) while he was on his mission.
3. Did you pass your driver's license test on the first try? Yes. I got my license a few weeks before I turned 18 so I could say I got my license before I turned 18.
4. Were you a party animal? Yes, I was at the same tame parties with Dee.
5. Were you considered a flirt? I thought I was a flirt but since Dee was in high school with me I asked him if I was a flirt and he said "No, you always glared at people".
6. Were you in band, orchestra, or choir? I was in choir for half of a year. All my friends were in choir so I was a choir wannabe.
7. Were you a nerd? I was a nerd. But I thought I was less of a nerd than Dee. All those hard subjects like Calculus came so easy to Dee.
8. Were you on any varsity teams? No
9. Did you get suspended/expelled? No, I was a goody goody.
10. Can you still sing the fight song? Nope
11. Who were your favorite teachers? Ms. Poe, we called her mama Poe. There were 10 kids in our class so everyday we ordered pizza or sent someone to bring back tacobell. That was a good class. I also liked Mr. Masterson. He was cute and the last day of calculus he played his electric guitar for us.
12. Where did you sit during lunch? I went to the choir room for lunch which was slightly weird because I wasn't even in choir. Then we had a section of the courtyard where we hung out. We called it Mormonville.
13. What is your schools full name? Chaparral High School.
14. School mascot and colors? Cowboys, orange and black.
15. Did you go to Homecoming and who with? When I was a junior I went to Homecoming with Dee. I don't know why he thinks it was such a bad date. I had a lot of fun.
16. If you could go back and do it again, would you? No.
17. What do you remember most about graduation? The weekend before graduation Tom Peterson had a big graduation party. At his party I hurt my hand on the trampoline and so for graduation I had my hand all bandaged up in a sling. So in all the graduation snapshots I posed with my thumbs up to show off my poor bandaged thumb.

This is where Kelsea stopped about two weeks ago. I decided this needed to be posted before I could post anything else, so I kept waiting, but now I'm taking matters into my own hands and finishing this post on her behalf.

18. Where did you go senior ditch day? She probably went the same place I went.
19. Were you in any clubs? Kelsea was on tall flags. I'm not sure this counts as a club, but it's also not a sport, and I don't know if she lettered in tall flags. Granted, it was more athletic than anything I did in high school.
20. Have you gained some weight since then? Yes, during each pregnancy, and then she lost it all, except that she is currently pregnant.
21. Who was your prom date? I don't obsess over my wife's past dates, so these might be wrong. I think she went with Tom Peterson junior year and then Chris Daly senior year.
22. Are you planning on going to your 10 year reunion? already did.
23. Did you have a job while in high school? Yes, she worked as a file clerk at my dad's office. I know she had other jobs, but I'm not sure which ones were during high school. She worked at the quilted bear for a while. I think that might have been just after high school.

Ok, so I'll give this a day or two, then post some pictures from my boring trip to South Carolina, and we'll also have some Halloween pictures (hopefully) before long.

If you thought this was amusing, or think your answers would be entertaining, feel free to fill it out for yourself. Happy Nevada Day!

High School thingy.

2008-10-17T11:47:00.001-07:00

In honor of our ten year reunion, I'm doing this high school questionnaire, since I haven't posted in a while. I will try to get Kelsea to do it too.

1. Did you date someone from your school? Not really. I went on a few dates, but only for special occasions, and mostly because the situation required pairing up.

2. What kind of car did you drive? I didn't drive in high school. I didn't even get my license until after graduation. Then I drove a 1981 Subaru 2 door hatchback with AM radio only, and no A/C. I called it Old Yellow.

3. Did you pass your driver's license test on the first try? Yes. But not until after graduation.

4. Were you a party animal? Yes, but only at very tame parties.

5. Were you considered a flirt? I highly doubt it.

6. Were you in band, orchestra, or choir? I was in choir for four years.

7. Were you a nerd? Absolutely I was. Past tense.

8. Were you on any varsity teams? Varsity quiz, Varsity choir... wow, I was a huge nerd, wasn't I?

9. Did you get suspended/expelled? Not in high school.

10. Can you still sing the fight song? Naturally.

11. Who were your favorite teachers? Ms. Ginger, Ms. Victor, Mr. Ching, Mr. Fullman, Ms. Moses. I liked most of my teachers.

12. Where did you sit during lunch? When we still had a lunch break, I think I would go to the choir room. When lunch was abolished for "nutrition breaks" I would sit in the courtyard.

13. What is your schools full name? Chaparral High School.

14. School mascot and colors? Cowboys, orange and black.

15. Did you go to Homecoming and who with? Kelsea - junior year, Lena Wilcox - senior year. Neither turned out so well.

16. If you could go back and do it again, would you? No.

17. What do you remember most about graduation? Taking pictures of the valedictorians, oddly. I think Josh Johanson gave me his camera specifically to take pictures of him.

18. Where did you go senior ditch day? I think I went to visit Tom, but I'm not sure that was senior ditch day.

19. Were you in any clubs? Not really. But I would have to check the yearbook. (I'm counting Varsity Quiz as a sport, not a club. So there.)

20. Have you gained some weight since then? Yeah. I don't remember how much I weighed at the end of high school, but I've put on somewhere between 10 and 35 pounds. Some of it was height.

21. Who was your prom date? Never went to prom.

22. Are you planning on going to your 10 year reunion? Yep. It's tomorrow.

23. Did you have a job while in high school? I worked at homework hotline during the school years, and I had a few manual labor jobs during the summers.

Boy oh boy!

2008-10-03T09:28:00.000-07:00

Here's the full scoop on the baby. The due date is March 10, 2009.

Huh, I guess there wasn't that much more to tell after all.

Well, anyway, we've been looking at baby boy names, and I think it's kind of funny. Kelsea showed me a list of about 30 names she sort of liked, and asked me to cross some out that I didn't like. So I did, but apparently I didn't cross enough off, so then she crossed off most of them, and told me to think about Tanner. Personally, I like lots of names, I just don't think any of them are right. I mean none of these names matter until the baby is actually born. And we change our minds enough that I don't want to go around telling everyone the baby will be named something, cause it probably won't end up that way. That's not to say it won't be Tanner, but we would probably change our minds at least twice (maybe coming back to Tanner, but probably not.)

I always liked the idea of naming our kids from the Bible. It hasn't worked out that way for our girls, but there are a lot fewer girl names in the Bible than boy names. And there's one of two problems with boy names in the Bible. One; they're too common, like Adam, Jacob and Michael. Not that those names are bad, but we want something a little less common. (You know, like Dee or Kelsea). The other problem with male Bible names is that they're too unusual. I know, I always complain. But think about Japheth, Naphtali, Nehemiah, Mordecai. I liked the name Zadok (biblical), but Kelsea thinks it's too weird. We may have a possibility in Eli or Elijah, but time will tell.

Feel free to make suggestions in you comments. Unless you're the type of person who would be offended if I ignored your suggestion. If you're that type of person, please, no suggestions.

Weekend Update

2008-09-26T10:51:00.000-07:00

We're having a boy. More to follow.

Our girls love to play dress-up. They both got a bunch of Disney play dresses for their birthdays. Holly loves gloves especially, and I like Mia's combination of the sunglasses and the veil.

I'm a little surprised at how excited they've been about them. Coincidentally, we got some doll clothes for Mia, who loves her baby doll, but the snoops found them early, and Holly put a pair of pajamas on her teddy bear, and they fit surprisingly well.

Yesterday, when I got home from work, I heard Mia saying "hide and seek," over and over. She was under the side table, behind the rocking chair. It would have been a very good hiding spot if she hadn't been telling me where she was.

We had a ward dinner on Friday, and someone brought a train. It was a four-wheeler, pulling a bunch of modified water containers. Mia was afraid of it at first, but after one ride, she didn't want to get off. I carried her away screaming about five times so that other kids would get a turn. The old couples nearby had the saddest looks on their faces, and would say "just let her ride." Don't worry, I didn't listen. But she got to ride on it the next time around, and she had a great time anyway.

House

2008-09-17T10:31:00.000-07:00

Okay, no pictures again, and I know that's what the people want, so I apologize. Next time there will be pictures.

You may or may not know, but Kelsea and I bought a house a few months ago. It is an older house in an older neighborhood, which we preferred for the bigger lots and quieter streets. It is also a fixer-upper. Not only is it a normal fixer-upper, but it was a bank-owned house, so it had been empty for a while. I knew it was going to be a lot of work to make it nice, and I was ok with that. Kelsea was a little nervous about it. So, for the last few months, here are a few of the things I've gotten done:
put in a few new gas appliances (water heater, stove)
put in new dishwasher
painted pretty much every surface in the place, other than floors (yep, that means the ceilings, too)
remediated some mold in the front bathroom.
replaced a toilet.
replaced a few light fixtures
put in a swamp (evaporative) cooler
put down new linoleum in a bathroom and in the kitchen.

Kelsea also took up some of her own projects, just asking me for minimal help/advice:
painting the kitchen cabinets
redecorating and painting the master bathroom.
She also painted the playroom and the girls' bedroom.
It's looking very good.

I also worked on the sprinkler system, and planted a few flowers and such to make it look a bit more presentable as you walk up to the door. On Saturday, I fixed the last place the sprinklers were leaking, and last night, I set the watering clock.

I don't know why setting the watering clock felt like such an accomplishment, but it really did. So this morning, I went out and looked at all the places the plants had been watered. I don't know, but it made me feel good to see that the plants will now get watered regularly, even if I forget about them. Maybe I should plant some peas in the front....

PS: Someone tell me how to embed a hyperlink.

UPDATE: hyperlink above

We are all Americans

2008-09-11T15:32:00.000-07:00

Ok, this might be trite, but I read someone else's memory of September 11, 2001, and thought I'd put mine out there in cyberspace for everyone everywhere to read.

On September 11, 2001, I was just finishing up my mission to Italy. September 11 was a Tuesday, the next day was preparation day, when I was supposed to pack to go home, and on Thursday I was going to go to the mission office and fly home on Friday, the 14th. That was the plan. Here's what really happened:

First of all, the time difference is 6 hours later than Eastern Time, so the morning was uneventful. We actually worked in our apartment mapping out our area and contacts, since I had been there a really long time. We took our customary 3 hour lunch (1 to 3 pm) and then called a friend to wish her a happy birthday. Then we got some really weird phone calls. First, a guy from South America called us. He was a regular at our English class, but didn't speak English as well as he spoke Italian, and he didn't speak Italian all that well. He said something about war, the twin towers, and making sure our families were ok. He didn't give enough real information that we knew what was going on, but we all had an eerie feeling after that. Then our friend whose birthday it was called us back. She got a call from her mom about an attack on New York and wanted to let us know to check on our families. Again, no real information, but we were sure something had happened.

Regardless, we decided to get out of the apartment and talk to people about religion. My companion and I went to visit a member of the church who hadn't been to church in a while, but enjoyed visiting with the missionaries. We rang the intercom at his apartment building, announced who we were, and he seemed to think about that for a second, then said, "Yes, I guess you should come up." Then he buzzed us in.

He was watching what I recall as being the Italian version of CNN. It may have even been CNN Italy, for all I know. But he directed us to his living room and told us to sit down where we could see the TV, which was odd, since missionaries don't watch TV, and he knew that. This was after both planes had hit the towers, after the plane had hit the Pentagon, and after the fourth plane crashed in Pennsylvania. I'm pretty sure it was after the towers had actually fallen, but I don't know for sure. I do remember that footage. I remember the huge pillars of smoke, and I remember the replay of the second plane crashing. I remember most vividly the footage of the people looking up from the street as the towers smoked, then realizing they were falling, and running to get away, like a bad disaster movie, but not corny at all, only horrific, because I knew it was real.

On TV in Italy, though, they showed something I'm pretty sure they didn't show in the US. They showed what looked like a remote bar, full of Lebanese, cheering. It still makes me sad and sick to remember that, most of all. People cheering for death and destruction like it was a game. I thought later that it seemed staged, and may have been shown purposely as propaganda against Lebanon and in favor of the US, but that doesn't change how disgusting it was.

After probably an hour and a half, or more, of watching replay after replay, and talking about it as much as we could, we said we should probably go, and went to catch the bus to go to our English class, which was that night. The bus ride was interesting. There are a good number of immigrants in Italy, and a lot from Morocco. There were a lot of Moroccans on the buses most of the time, and that day, after watching Lebanese celebrate the death of hundreds of Americans, it was hard to separate them in my mind.

We had English class, and cancelled an appointment or two, expecting to hear from the mission office some instruction or information. When we didn't get any call, we called them. So it was late at night on September 11, that I finally found out what was going to happen. As far as they knew, no flights were crossing the Atlantic, and they weren't sure when they would be again. We were not to leave the apartment the next day, if at all possible, but I was still supposed to plan on going home on Friday.

So on the 12th, we played Risk all day long. Kind of ironic, I know, but there it is. I packed too. The next morning, I was ready to go, and since I hadn't heard anything, I thought it was a go. I was supposed to meet the missionaries who drove at the subway station closest to the mission office. After my companion had locked our apartment door, the phone rang. We looked at each other worriedly, and I wanted to ignore it, but he unlocked the door and went back inside. I waited just outside the front door. He came out a minute later shaking his head, saying I was to stay put. That was it. I was supposed to call my family and tell them I wasn't coming, and I was going to stay in Italy at least five extra days.

Those five days were the most surreal times I have ever experienced. The worst part is how unsure I was of the plans. I only knew my flight had been canceled. I didn't find out my new flight date until a couple days later. It seemed like I would never go home. And while that might seem great, to be stranded it Italy, believe me, it's not. It is never fun to be stranded away from home, not knowing how or when you'll be able to go back. Everyone seemed a little bit more distant in those few days, and I remember feeling despondent and in a fog. Right after I found out my flight was definitely off, I just went to my bedroom and sat on my bed. I unpacked a little, and just felt horrible. I eventually did get home, obviously, and I got some good experiences in those last few days, and wasn't constantly depressed, so I came out of it.

Ok, so that became a much longer story than I wanted to write. And it extended past September 11, 2001, but the next few days were very connected in my mind. Seven years later, and I still remember seeing those images on that little TV in that cramped apartment, buying the newspaper the next day (also something we never did), just to get more information. I didn't really consider the world evil; that wasn't the feeling there at the time. It was more like a feeling of solidarity, like the Italians, at least, were on our side. The headline over the picture of the remains of the trade center towers on September 12, 2001 in Milan, Italy read "We are all Americans."

Do you hear what I hear

2008-08-21T09:45:00.000-07:00

So I mentioned that my family was asked to sing during stake conference. It was a fiasco.

So these pictures are obviously not from Stake Conference, but they serve to show who participated. We sang "I Believe in Christ," with Michael on melody, I sang tenor, Chris on alto, and my dad singing bass. Merri played the piano.

It started out fine, but on the last verse, Merri stopped playing. She apparently was missing a page, and she was unable to keep hitting any keys that would allow Michael and my dad to hold their parts. We actually held it togethe acapella for a few lines, and sounded really good. But then the melody sort of fell out, then the bass. I don't know if you've ever heard just the tenor and alto of a song, but it doesn't much sound like a song anymore. So I tried desperately to not stop singing, but it was hard. It sounded horrific for a few measures. Then I started singing melody again, and Michael was able to follow, and the bas came back, and Merri had the last page, so she came back in at the end, and I went back to the tenor part.

Of course, no one remembered that we sounded good acapella for a little bit. And I admit that I passed the buck to Merri to more than one understanding soul who informed me that everyone makes mistakes sometimes. Well, not this someone. At least not that bad. It was more of a group effort, spearheaded by my absent-minded sister.

The picture of Merri is from when we went camping. She avoided the camera at Matt's wedding, so I don't have any better recent pictures of her. I'll now consider us even.

What are you looking at?

2008-08-04T11:25:00.000-07:00

So, this picture is small. At least that's the size I selected. I'm trying to figure out the best way to post pictures. Because, for the most part, that's what people want to see, right? Especially some people I know who are named Erin. She told me, I'm not making it up. Anyway, I guess I have to give the people what they want.

Also, totally unrelated, my family was asked to sing for the High Priest Fireside of our stake conference in a couple weeks. So yesterday we were practicing and Holly kept suggesting songs she knew. Mostly Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. I suggested Row, Row, Row Your Boat, since it can be sung as a round. Well, then I had the brilliant idea to sing the first line over and over while the others sang verses. Then, I had the even more brilliant idea that we should each sing only one line, all at the same time only once. So we did. I thought it sounded pretty good. And funny, so Holly and I were laughing pretty hysterically. Then we moved on.

Oh, and the picture I'm posting is of Mia at Matt's wedding. I like the picture.

Starting out

2008-07-31T11:08:00.000-07:00

So this is our blog. I think it will take a while to figure this thing out. But I enjoy keeping up with other people's lives via the internet, and now I hope that someone will care enough to look at what's going on in our lives every once in a while. We'll see.