Rockin' the Suburbs

What do to with this blog

2012-02-01T00:08:00.002-07:00

I have been thinking for some time what I should do with this blog and my other blog. I've thought of just scrapping them, I haven't used either in a year. I've thought about combining the two and just have one, then all of you have to suffer through my political rants. Or revamp one or both of them and continue on but with a little more effort. Any suggestions?

Disneyland 2011

2011-11-22T19:52:00.001-07:00

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Photo Book

2011-08-24T22:25:00.001-06:00

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2011-06-28T16:34:00.001-06:00

Test

Christmas Recitals

2010-12-28T14:36:00.003-07:00

I had two Christmas recitals this year. My girls and boys did awesome. I own my own studio called Taryn It Up! I also work at another studio located in Kearns called Becky's School of Dance. B is in 3 of my classes at my studio and also on the competing team at Becky's with all of her cousins! Cash tried out hip hop at Becky's this year and loved it! Here are some pics of my beautiful children, students, awesome assistant, and me!!

Christmas Ornaments

2010-12-23T00:42:00.004-07:00

Here was our cute craft for the holidays!! The kids had a blast making these. And yes... the glue was dripping all over the place and I still find glitter around the table. But it was fun!!

Beautiful T

2010-12-17T15:51:00.004-07:00

My wife rocks. T is truly awesome. She is now raising five children (4 under 6 & 1 over 30), teaching dance at her own studio and at another studio and working on becoming a math teacher by going back to school (she already has an accounting degee, but has to get a math degree then her teaching certificate. I thought accounting was close enough to math that it should count but aperantly not). Plus all the other things moms/wifes do. Not sure how I got so lucky (blessed) to get such a great wife?

And to top it all off - she's way hot!

Potty Training

2010-12-10T01:26:00.003-07:00

Well the potty training finally began. I didn't want to start because I was pregnant, then I had just had a baby, then school and tests were getting in the way. Well now we are pretty much done!! Finally!! Two in diapers was getting very expensive. I have to say that my little J-man is hillarious and very particular. He has to take his pants and underwear completely off before he can let that pee go. (Except for the time when he barely made it to the bathroom; and for some reason I was the only one that got peed on. Grrrrr.) He also likes to sing "pee on the potty" over and over again in his high pitched "pipsqueak" voice!! I am just glad that we are done!!!

Bad......

2010-12-07T23:22:00.002-07:00

I don't enjoy reading my posts, so I can't imagine you do. I don't know if its because I'm in a hurry and I'm trying to tell a story in the lest amount of words possible or what it is. But my writing is horrible. Half the time what I write doesn't make much sense, if it was for my wife most of my posts wouldn't make any sense. She reads them sometimes to make sure they read right and check for spelling. I'm a horrible speller. You would think that someone who has written thousands of papers (not really thousands but thats what it feels like) and has spent the majority of their life in school would be able to spell and write half way decent on a blog.

Oh well. You all will just have to live with it.

Netflix

2010-12-06T21:57:00.001-07:00

We finally dropped cable.

We've been talking about it for some time for many reasons, save money and to get the kids to watch less tv were the main two. We have had comcast for a few years and dish before that since we've been married. We picked up Netflix in place of cable, we can get Netflix on our tv through the Wii. Two things.

1. We love Netflix. They have a million and one movies you can rent and they have a pretty good selection of movies and shows that you can stream. I can't believe that it took us so long to sign up for Netflix. It should have happened years ago. The kids love it. I think they enjoy that they can see the picture of the show they want to watch. Cash has become a pro at using the Wii remote to watch shows, he has even shown T a thing or two on how it works. We can watch shows on our computer/laptop which makes it great to watch shows in the other rooms. And best thing, no commercials! Our kids are not bombarded with commercials! I love that the most.

2. We havent' watched less tv. I think I watch more now. The kids are glued to the tv now that they can choose what shows they want to watch. We have a harder time turning the tv off and getting them to do other things. I'm pretty sure I watch more tv now. The good thing is I watch less commercials, by which I mean, NO commercials and I watch less tv just for the sake of watching tv. You know what I mean? You don't feel like anything, you just want to think of nothing so you just turn the tv on? Now, when I watch tv I watch a show. I've picked up several shows. I just finished the first season of Dexter. Great! Loved it! A little disturbing. We finished the first season of Weeds, love that one. We were half way through the first season of Psych when they made that a dvd only so we started the second season. And we've been renting the Tudors and are in the middle of the third season of that. I love the number of documentaries they have. I could watch documentaries all day and then some.

We don't have a HD converter box yet, so we don't get any of the local stations. I think we'll be getting one of those soon, mainly for news. I do think overall we do watch less tv and have the tv off more now that we don't have cable. I enjoy the quiet or at least the lack of background noise. Really wish we would have dumped cable years ago.

The Girl who took up two full days

2010-12-05T14:51:00.003-07:00

After I posted my last post where I stated I was going to write one post everyday for the month of December, I finally made it to the good part of "The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo" and haven't had time to blog. It took me two weeks to read 150-200 pages, then I couldn't put it down and finished the book in a day and a half. I'm not a fast reader, wish I was, probably wouldn't have taken so long.

Everyone I've talked to about The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo have said basically the same thing, takes a long time to get into the book but once the book starts going they cannot put it down. Overall it was a good book with a good underlying theme. Well, really not good, it's sad and disturbing but good that it's being talked about. Give you a hint of the underlying theme, the original Swedish title of the book is "Men who Hate Women". Parts of the book are pretty disturbing and it boggles my mind that in 2010 we still have slavery, women/girls who disappear, violence against women and to a certain extent treating women bad is acceptable.

The book is about 200 pages too long. There are many "details" in the book that really add nothing. I cannot think of a book that talks so much about what they are eating and the amount of coffee drunk is unbelievable. I'm amazed that they slept at all with all the caffeine consumed.

I would recommend this book, though there are disturbing scenes, which are necessary to the storyline. I will be starting "The Girl who Played with Fire" soon!

Wednesday Tunes

2010-12-01T21:47:00.003-07:00

My goal for December is to post daily for the whole month. We'll see how that goes. Its been a really long day so I'm glad it's Wednesday and I can just post a music video.

Baby Its Cold Outside - Will Ferrell & Zooey Deschanel

If it doesnt work go here

I never thought about it but someone on facebook suggested that this really isn't a good song. She's saying no, he's saying yes and there's something in her drink. I don't know but I love ELF.

Picture book

2010-11-08T22:31:00.002-07:00

I recieved a free photo book from Shutterfly for placing reviews on Trip Advisor

Here's the book

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Voting Time

2010-10-26T22:02:00.004-06:00

I voted early. I hate voting early. I love voting on election day. It's a very exciting day for me and voting in the morning is a perfect way to start it off. But alas, I will be unable to vote next Tuesday so I had to vote today. I'm going to post some endorsements for a few of the candidates I voted for and why. So, if you don't want to read politics, this is my fair warning. But even if you dont agree with me, make sure you study the candidates and the issues and vote. I don't believe people should vote just to vote. Whats the purpose if you don't know why your voting for someone besides their party affiliation? In fact, voting just to vote without a clue why your voting for someone I believe is worse then not voting at all. Oh, and never vote straight party! If you happen to vote individually for all of one party that's fine but don't punch the straight ticket. If you do, learn to think.

STATE CAMPAIGNS

GOVERNOR
Well this one was easy. Peter Corroon has lead Salt Lake County extremely well. Corroon knows how to govern and how to run a large bureaucracy and govern it well. He was able to take a balance approach in balancing the county's budget, making cuts where he could, even cutting pay while raising some taxes. I honestly Corroon would make an outstanding governor because of what he has done with the county and what he plans to do as governor. Corroon's economic focus would benefit the whole state without doling out millions to out of state companies. Corroon would focus on funding education fully as well.

After being placed as Governor when Huntsman left, Gary has pretty much riden the coat tails of his predecessor. Gov. Gary has been laying low and not doing much of anything. Its pretty bad if UDOT can spend $13 Million to cover a mess they created and he didn't know about it until it was brought up by his challenger. What kind of governing is that? $13 million in a year where budget cuts and more cuts to come next year. I work for emergency managent, if we have a disaster we cannot spend more then $500,00 without asking the Legislature for more money. Gov. Gary has also approved a strip mine near Bryce Canyon. Funny thing about it, the permit was going through review and after Gary meet with some of the mine's representatives and donated to his campaign, magically the permit was fast tracked. I really think that Gov. Gary's true side will come out further if he wins his first election as Governor and his true side is more back room deals and lack of governing.

US SENATE

My vote went to Sam Granato. Sam has been a business man for most of his life, not that I place much into that but some people do. Sam's a hard worker and gets things done. Sam is more moderate and fiscally conservative. He will be willing to cross party lines to get what he feels is the best policy to help Utah move forward. I honestly Sam will best represent me in Washington DC and do what's right without all the rhetoric and lip service.

Utah 1st Congressional District

It's really too bad that Bowen didn't run a better campaign. I have met Bowen and like him a lot. He's a great guy and would do a fantastic job as our Representative. Bowen is qualified to be our representative and would do a much better job the current sloth that is in that office.

I love how Utah Republicans complain about "pork" projects but mister Bishop is all quiet and pulling in all sorts of pork. (I dont' mind pork, its how you get things funded, its the hypocrisy I don't like). Bishop hasn't done anything any other rep wouldn't have done.

It will be interesting to see how the draw the congressional districts when we get the 4th district.

Thats all for tonight. I'll throw in some county candidates later.

To Cut or Not to Cut.........

2010-10-15T17:53:00.002-06:00

Here I am the proud father of my first son, the family name will live on. As we hold our preciouses son in the hospital room nothing could be better. Then the nurse comes in and says it's time to get him circumcised and whisks our poor unexpected son away. We had never discussed circumcision, no one had warned us, it never crossed our minds. It would have been nice if maybe our doctor who T had been visiting on a regular basis for the previous 9 months, half of which she knew we were having our first boy, would have at least mentioned it to us. Instead we were put on the spot, right there and then, not really asked, just told. Being young and foolish we followed and I watched them botch my son's circumcision.

Well, since that time I have become a confirmed believer that the practice of circumcision is a sad and misguided "tradition of their fathers" type of thing. There is not one reason for circumcision. The highest rate of circumcision in the US was in 1965 at 85% which has dropped to just above 50% in 2005. So, no your son will not be the only uncircumcised boy in the locker room. With our last boy our doctor told us she was maybe circumcising 50% of the boys she delivered. She also thought that the rate of circumcision was higher in Utah.

Unfortunately, because our first boy was cut, we felt we had to do the other two as well. We didn't one of them being different from the others one way or the other. Although, it would have kinda been cool, they could have compared and swapped stories when they got older.

So, if you haven't had a boy yet, research circumcision and talk about it with your spouse before hand. Hopefully you make a better choice then we did.

Wednesday Tunes

2010-10-14T00:03:00.003-06:00

It's a little past Wednesday but have to get this in. We just finished "Funny People" - it was pretty funny in parts and really crude in other parts. Anyway they finished the movie off with this song which reminded me how much I love it and being that John Lennon's Birthday was this past weekend thought I better get this up for Wednesday Tunes.

New Addition

2010-10-10T22:07:00.003-06:00

Chase Jones decided to finally join our family last monday. Well, he still hadn't decided but we didn't give him a choice and made him come. The whole pregnancy/birthing process is just weird. Everything about it. It blows my mind that enough babies survived throughout history to make it to where we are today. Really, could you imagine giving birth 1000 years ago let alone 100? Now we have technology, modern day medicane as well as all these comforts of life.

We have the hardest time naming our babies. We were pretty set on Charlie, we love that name. But when he popped out, he just didn't look like a Charlie. To me he looked like a Deaken and that's what I pushed for. Obviously I lost out. We were ready to leave the hospital by 11:00 am but didn't leave until after 1pm cause we were debating the name. You can leave the hospital wit out giving the baby a name but it's a pain to fix. We have had a hard time naming every one of our babies.

Everyone loves Chase. Cash and Jet are excited and love showing him off and holding him. Though Jet only holds him for a few seconds before he is done. B loves to help and is actually excited to change diapers. We will see how things go when the three boys are fighting over the same toys, blankets and where they're sitting!

By the way, I'm going to open up a "feed my teenage boys" account for anyone who would like to donate.

Wednesday Tunes

2010-09-29T20:09:00.005-06:00

Some weeks I forget what day it is. This is one of those weeks.

Watched a movie a while back called "Wind that Shakes the Barley". After visting Ireland, I decided to watch it again, makes more sense now that I know more about Irish history. You don't have to go to a place to learn the history but visiting Ireland peaked my interest and I've been reading books and watching movies (well one movie) about Irish history. Great movie and highly recommended by me. Anywho....... here's a song that is in the movie - "Óró Sé do Bheatha 'Bhaile"

Óró Sé do Bheatha 'Bhaile -

Here is a full version
The Dubliners - Óró Sé do Bheatha Bhaile

Here are the words

English translation
(Chorus)
Oh-ro You're welcome home,
Oh-ro You're welcome home,
Oh-ro You're welcome home...
Now that summer's coming!

Welcome oh woman who was so afflicted,
It was our ruin that you were in bondage,
Our fine land in the possession of thieves...
And you sold to the foreigners!

Chorus

Gráinne O'Malley[5] is coming over the sea,
Armed warriors along with her as her guard,
They are Irishmen, not foreigners nor Spanish...
And they will rout the foreigners!

Chorus

May it please the King of Miracles that we might see,
Although we may live for a week once after,
Gráinne Mhaol and a thousand warriors...
Dispersing the foreigners!

Boy Names

2010-09-27T21:01:00.003-06:00

Boy's are soo hard to name!! Must be why we're having three of those and only one girl. So, not sure if you're vote will count but go ahead and throw your 2cents in on which of the following names you like.

In no particular order
Charley
Alex
Landon
Chase
Chance (maybe spelled different)
Gage
Wyatt
Ezra
Oliver
Trey
Parker
Deacon (maybe spelled different?)

Middle name will more then likely be Jones but could be Ralph or Richard (all family names)

Probably going to go any minute...........course T has been saying that for a week and a half now. But this is the week, then we'll have to decide on a name.

The voting lines are open............

Picture Collages

2010-09-18T13:05:00.002-06:00

I've noticed that many blogs have picture collages. I've looked around and really can't find a program that I like or that does what some of you do. It seems like a much better way to share multiple pictures together instead of having 10 separate pictures.

So send me where you all do your collages to post on your blogs.

Thanks!!

Irish Food

2010-09-12T20:19:00.008-06:00

As I mentioned before one of the main reasons we choose to visit Ireland was because it was foreign without being too foreign. Ireland really felt like visiting another state and their food was no different. One of my friends who visited Ireland a year before we did, didn't try much of the food and said they ate mostly at Italian restaurants. Boy did he miss out! Every place we ate had fantastic food! I don't remember not liking any of the places we ate at. Well, there was one that I'll talk about later.

I had Irish Stew and I did ask for 'bangers & mash' but the waitress wouldn't let me, she gave me a disgusting look and told me "NO". So, I ordered something else. Wish I could remember every place we ate, but I don't. But if you do go to Ireland, just know that anywhere you do eat, it's good.

I don't remember which restaurants these pictures are from, they are the only food pictures I did take. The one below is Irish Stew, I love Irish stew!! Wish I would have had it every night for dinner but only tried it once. Since we had pre-paid for our Irish Breakfasts with the vacation package we got from Exploring Ireland, we decided that we could get by only eating dinner and snacking for lunch. Most of the time we just walked around looking for restaurants that looked good which more often then not ended up being pubs, especially in smaller cities/towns. We did eat at subway a few times but manly because it's expensive to eat out every day and we were trying to save the budget. They don't have regular mustard in Ireland - no where in Ireland! Which really changes the taste of a subway spicy italian. We also found a great Chinese restaurant in Dublin next to our hotel that was practically free it was so cheap.

There was a bar we went to our first night in Dublin by one of the trendy areas that wasn't so great. I ordered a hamburger (yea, not Irish I know) plain. I thought that plain ment that it would come with lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, mayonnaise, mustard and ketchup. Yea, it didn't come with any of that! It came with a bun and a piece of meat! And then since they don't work off of tips and we didn't order beer, we didn't see our waitress again!! We avoided places like this and ate great the rest of the time.

Some other FYI's.....
Coke is more expensive then beer and comes in a 12oz bottle
They do give you ice with water
Waitress's don't work off tips, so you rarely see them (wish we wouldn't have tipped so much)

The pictures of us are at the Brazen Head, Dublin's oldest pub and a fantastic place to eat. I highly recommend that if you do visit Dublin that you visit the Brazen Head. Not only is the food great but it's got an awesome atmosphere.

HaHa!!

2010-09-09T00:05:00.002-06:00

I set up a new gmail account!!! Yes!! I win!! Alright, not sure what I win if anything but now I can continue using blogger and this blog by linking my new pictures to this email account. On the downside I have 5 email accounts. One for work, one I use, one I use to use but is not just a spam collecting email, school (maybe I don't have that one anymore) and now this one. Good times online!

What to do?

2010-09-04T12:49:00.004-06:00

I'm at a loss on what to do with this blog. Google only allows so many pictures and I've reached that limit. Actually I reached that limit sometime ago but I have been deleting pictures as I add new ones, but I'm done doing that. So, if I want to continue blogging here on blogger I have to either continue deleting old pics to add new ones or blog with no pictures. Blogging with no pictures is worse then reading a book with no pictures.

So, I'm going to play with wordpress and see if I want to switch over. I kind of don't but then I'll no longer be able to post pictures and I know how you all die to see pictures.

Wednesday Tunes

2010-09-01T15:56:00.002-06:00

Mos Def - "Quiet Dog"

Missing This

2010-08-30T23:51:00.006-06:00

Everyone morning while we were in Ireland we had an "Irish Breakfast". Funny that they name it an Irish breakfast, wonder if they do that just for us tourist or if it's always been called that? But seriously, loved it! T didn't like it, she's not much of a meat eater and since it's mostly meat, it didn't really work for her. But everywhere we went they served basically the same thing; Irish bacon (ham in America), sausage, eggs, tomatoes, brown/white pudding (talk about this in a minute) and toast, and then sometime fruit, cereal, hash-browns/potatoes and yogurt were part of the breakfast as well in some type of variation.

I tried the white pudding, it looked kinda of like a sausage paddy but was soft and bread like. It didn't taste very good, it wasn't bad or disgusting just not good, so I didn't eat any more of it. Come to find out after we were back home, it is also called blood pudding. Blood pudding is a sausage made of blood. NICE. And I ate that?

Hate Being A Dad

2010-08-19T18:22:00.001-06:00

I swear I cry at more things now that I have kids then I have ever in my entire life! At commercials? Really?

No, we are not dead. Just haven't been in the mood to blog. Spend most my computer time elsewhere, mainly facebook. Maybe one day in the near future I'll get back on track with this blogging thing.

Ireland

2010-05-30T14:57:00.014-06:00

For my graduation present I gave myself a trip to Ireland. Why Ireland? Why not? I've never been off the North American Continent and thought that it's about time that I had. And what better place to visit than Ireland?

Going to give you an overview of our Ireland holiday in this post then for those who care or just for my own entertainment I'll blog a few posts with more detail.

This is my google map of our itinerary, we stuck to it for the most part. The problem is that we didn't have google on the road and I didn't get around to print the maps so we looked at it in the morning when we could and did the best we could to remember where we wanted to go. A great help was that we used an Irish travel agency - Exploring Ireland. The main reason we went with a travel agency is that we did not have the time to research where we wanted to visit and to find hotels and Bed & Breakfasts. We gave Explore Ireland an idea of what we wanted to see and do while we were there and how long we were going to be there and they found our rooms, a car and gave us a suggested itinerary. We were thrilled with Exploring Ireland - all of the hotels and B&Bs they sent us to were great, we didn't have a problem with any of them or the car rental. The best part was that we paid Exploring Ireland and they gave us vouchers, so we didn't have to worry about paying each hotel/B&B some of which wanted cash, so we didn't want to carry around extra cash.

We spent the first 5 days in Dublin. The first night we spent at the Fitzpatrick Castle in Dalkey, which I think they built the castle with the idea of turning it into a hotel the minute it was done. It didn't seem like much of a castle. This was about a half hour south of Dublin and to get there we took the crazy taxi, thought for sure we were going to die! The first day is a blur - seemed like two minutes after the sun set it was rising again and I cannot sleep on planes.

I love Dublin! It felt like an American city. I compare it to Washington DC because both cities are the capitals with government buildings and memorials and both are low rise, no tall buildings but still very densely populated. There is so much to see and do in Dublin that we should have spent more time there. One interesting thing is that the whole country shuts down at 6pm except pubs. There was nothing to do after 6pm, even some of the parks shut down, except go to pubs and since we don't do much of that we just roomed around the streets.

After Dublin we got a rental car with the steering wheel on the wrong side of the car and the driving on the wrong side of the road and no GPS. The first day of driving was kinda nerve racking- everyone drives 50-60mph on skinny winding roads and trying to remember to stay on the left side. Their sign system is difficult to figure out (when there are signs) and it takes a bit to get use to all the round-a-bouts. But after two days of driving it got kinda fun and I actually miss the round-a-bouts, much more efficient. They are in the process of building a freeway system, some of which has round-a-bouts, think about that, driving on I-15 and coming to a round-a-bout to get onto I-80. The freeways we did drive on were very new and most of the time we were the only ones on it.

The greatest thing we did besides the Hop on Hop off bus to tour Dublin, that gave us three days of using their tour buses, any city bus and the airport bus (that we used to get our rental car) was purchasing the Heritage card. Everything we went to cost money, 1 euro to 15 euro each, that adds up and makes the decision of what we wanted to visit. The Heritage card gave us access to all nationally owned heritage sites. We more than used what the card cost us and went to many sites that we wouldn't have gone to with out the card. We ended up focusing our site seeing on what sites were listed in the heritage book which we should have done in the first place.

We loved Ireland. Around every corner was another breath taking view. We have hundreds of pictures of scenery most of which T took while driving past. We would have needed another two weeks at the least to stop at every picturesque opportunity. T's favorite was the Muckross House and the Ring of Kerry. I would have to say my favorite was Dublin and the history of the whole country.

Master of the Universe!

2010-05-26T10:59:00.004-06:00

I AM DONE WITH SCHOOL! I think that I have dragged it out long enough. I am ready to move on with my life, ready for the next chapter. Not that I have really been waiting to be done with school to move on, but have with some things.

For those who don't know or don't remember I have spent the last three years working towards a Master of Public Policy degree from the University of Utah. The MPP program at the UofU was challenging and rewarding and definitely pushed me to work hard and find hidden abilities. I will miss the class discussions, friends and meeting new friends but I will never miss writing research papers. So yea - I'm down with MPP.

Palace Beautiful

2010-05-05T21:22:00.004-06:00

Palace Beautiful is a beautifully written book. I'm not just saying that because the author lives in my ward (thats why I read it) but because it is. Actually the ONLY reason I read this book is because the author lives in my ward. This is not my genre, I would have never in a million years picked this book up. If you go to my goodreads and check out my book list, this genre of teenage girl books is not there.

With that said, I ended up enjoying Palace Beautiful. It took me about 50 pages or so to get past the teenage girl part and into the book but after I let my prejudice go, I couldn't put it down. I loved the story and the way it was written. The book is about two sisters who move to the Avenues in Salt Lake City and find a journal in the attic of their new house. With a new friend the sisters read the journal of a 13 year old girl from 1918 during the Influenza and go though their own story of being 13 in 1985. While I enjoyed the main story, I LOVED the journal story!! The girls read the journal in sections, making you wait in anticipation for the next time they're going to read the journal. I have learned a lesson that I shouldn't judge a book by it's cover. Just because it's a book for teenage girls doesn't mean that I won't like it. I hate to admit this but Palace Beautiful made me cry a little. The story has a great life lesson for everyone every age and while I highly recommend this to all teenage girls I would also recommend it for all.

Who knows, with my new lesson in life I might even read the Twilight series.

Doing Ok.....well as good as can be expected

2010-04-05T21:17:00.002-06:00

We are still around and doing as good as a family with three kids, both parents going to school, one working full time the other teaching dance at one dance studio and running her own dance studio, all of our church callings and community work can be doing.

On a good note, my Master's project is looking something like a project and is no longer just some concept. The draft is due this week and the final is due the 22nd and hopefully thats it! Right now everything is based on me finishing school, well it's been that way for a while. Going to build a chicken coop - when Im done, going to go hiking with the kids - when I'm done, going to work on the basement - when I'm done, going to work in the yard - when I'm done, going to work on genealogy - when I'm done. Are you seeing a pattern?

What else .... we're going to Ireland for my graduation present. No particular reason, we have a list of places we want to go, a long list and we felt Ireland is the place. I am part Irish, my mom's father is a Conlin, who's grandparents came out of Ireland after joining the church.

We are having our 4th child. Yes, we are having our fourth and final child in October. You have no idea how glad I am to be done with infants! Really, I've been changing diapers for six years now and have at least three-four more years to go. T is kinda sad, well not now that she's pregnant but she will be later.

And that is what we have going on. You might not here much from us for a while but hopefully things will get back to normal - whatever that is and I'll blog on a more regular basis.

Wednesday Tunes

2010-03-03T09:09:00.000-07:00

Ok Go - This Too Shall Pass

Never Ending

2010-02-17T21:10:00.003-07:00

I want you all to feel sorry for me, I've been sick since before Christmas and it just won't go away. I'm done with it. It hasn't been bad enough to keep me in bed all day or stop me from going to work, it's just been lingering and bothersome. Until this past week, it hit me and knocked me out. Really, I didn't tell you that to feel sorry for me, but rather to explain my lack of blogging, I just haven't felt like it. That and I really don't have much to blog about, well I do but nothing special.

I will share with you all our school for this semester. T has some pretty exciting classes and Im sure that you're all are jealous. This semester T has History of Math and Calculas II. She has to write a paper for her History class, it's kinda funny, math people don't like to write and she just complains that the reason she likes math is because she doesn't have to write papers.

This semester, my last semester ever of school!! I have two courses, I'm taking Econometrics which is actually just half of the semester and I'll be done with that on March 1st!! Then I have my Graduate Projects class, were we just talk about our masters project, where we are at and how things are coming along.

Trying to find where I can stream live olympic coverage but haven't had any luck. If you have been streaming the olympics live online let me know where. No not NBC.

Monday Movies

2010-02-08T15:58:00.005-07:00

I'm going to try something and see if I like it or not. We usually watch a movie or two over the weekends, mostly from redbox and I enjoy spending Monday's talking to friends about the movies we've watched as well as the movies they've watched. I'm not much of movie critic, I have no "in's" and I'm far from any movie expert, I can't tell you who directed what movies or name some unknown actor. I just want to share with my readers what I share with my friends, what I thought about the movies I watched over the weekend.

This past weekend we watched "Bright Star" and "Inglorious Bastards"

"Bright Star"

Bright Star is about the poet John Keats and his relationship with Fanny Brawne. I don't know much about poetry, not a big fan, so I had no idea that Keats was actually a very influential romantic poet and this movie was based on a true story. If you don't know about Keats and want to see this movie, watch the movie before you read about who Keats was or it will ruin the movie for you, well, kind of.

The movie was pretty slow, but other then that I enjoyed the movie and thought it was a great movie. I would recommend this movie, especially over V-day if your with someone special. It is a great love story - kinda. I don't want to ruin it for anyone.

Here is the poem the movie was named after and that Keats wrote for Fanny.

Bright Star

Bright star, would I were steadfast as thou art —
Not in lone splendour hung aloft the night
And watching, with eternal lids apart,
Like Nature's patient, sleepless Eremite,
The moving waters at their priestlike task
Of pure ablution round earth's human shores,
Or gazing on the new soft-fallen mask
Of snow upon the mountains and the moors —
No — yet still stedfast, still unchangeable,
Pillow'd upon my fair love's ripening breast,
To feel for ever its soft fall and swell,
Awake for ever in a sweet unrest,
Still, still to hear her tender-taken breath,
And so live ever — or else swoon to death.

Inglourious Bastards

This movie was 100% about Quinten Tarantino and him showing everyone what a great and talented writer/director he is. That said this movie was horrible, mainly for that reason. I thought Tarantino tired so hard to be Tarantino that this movie blows. I was absolutely bored with it half way through. This movie is based on what Tarantino wished would have happened to the Germans and Hitler during WWII and while we all dream about such things doesn't mean they should be made into movies. Brad Pitt is one of my favorite actors but he kinda annoyed me during this movie, I thought he ripped his accent off from George Clooney in "O' Brother, Where Art Thou?" But he did save this awful movie, him and the detective Nazi, Col. Hans Landa played by Christopher Waltz. While Hans was a Nazi and we were suppose to hate him, I thought he was a great character and while it was hard to like him, I did.

Like other Tarantino movies, this one is bloody and gory, that's how he roles. I would not recommend this movie to anyone, not because of the blood and violence but because it's not a good movie.

Favorite Super Bowl Branding

2010-02-08T09:00:00.003-07:00

The Super Bowl was the second NFL game I watched all season, the first being the Vikings losing to the Saints, dang Farve. I really didn't have a preference on who won the Super Bowl other than I wanted to see Austin Collie receive a touchdown pass. That didn't happen so here are my two favorite Super Bowl commercials.

Wednesday Tunes

2010-02-03T20:57:00.001-07:00

This video makes me smile - not only do I love this song but the video is great!

Vampire Weekend - "Cousins"

Have I done any good

2010-02-03T08:31:00.002-07:00

Funny, this is pretty much my talk was about last Sunday. Most of my talk was taken right from Pres. Monson's talk though, he can just say it so much better than I could.

Boys Adrift

2010-01-18T15:39:00.003-07:00

With Cash money the way he is, all crazy and out of control, I've decided to turn to books about raising boys for help. Cash really isn't that bad, he is crazy but overall he is a good kid, I just want to raise him the best way that we can and we do have two boys so hoping that there is some crossover in raising them. Cash doesn't take much for listening but I think that has as much to do with him being 3 as it does with being a boy. I think that the terrible twos are nothing compared to the horrible threes.

The first book I read was Boys Adrift by Dr. Sax. This book is great if you are white-middle to upper class and have a boy. If your boy does not fit in this category, the book will be still be of help but if your boy does fit in this category it's a great book. The author mentions more then once that this is not a book about girls or minorities. The middle to upper class part I figured out in the fact that most of his stories are about boys that have the option of private schools and in good neighborhoods with decent public schools. I do believe that Dr. Sax tried to offer advice to those who do not have the liberty of unlimited funds but he fall short with this advice.

The main focus of this book is to identify why boys are remaining boys and not growing up to be responsible men. The author uses a lot of generalizations and admits this. Not all men remain boys but an increasing percentage do. Why are boys content with living at home, not going to college or trade school, why don't they care about high school or much else?

I saw much of myself and friends in parts of the book which helped answer some questions and should be helpful for me. It did take me until I was 30 to get a four year degree! Dr. Sax comes to five factors that influence boys and he does this after a long career as a psychologist. The five factors from his website:

1 - Video Games. Studies suggest that some of the most popular video games are disengaging boys from real-world pursuits.

2 - Teaching Methods. Profound changes in the way children are educated have had the unintended consequence of turning many boys off school.

3 - Prescription Drugs. Overuse of medication for ADHD may be causing irreversible damage to the motivational centers in boys’ brains.

4 - Endocrine Disruptors. Environmental estrogens from plastic bottles and food sources may be lowering boys’ testosterone levels, making their bones more brittle and throwing their endocrine systems out of whack.

5 - Devaluation of Masculinity. Shifts in popular culture have transformed the role models of manhood. Forty years ago we had Father Knows Best; today we have The Simpsons.

Dr. Sax uses the movie Failure to Launch as an example of what he is talking about. Boys are smart and creative but have no initiative to do something with their lives. Boys are living at home with their parents far longer then they should with no goal of finishing school or saving for a house but just rather because mommy takes care of everything.

From me:
1 - Video Games. He says that it's not all games that are bad but violent games and spending too much time playing these games. When boys would rather play video games then real sports then there is a problem. Of course not all boys play video games and video games do not lead to problem boys in every case.

2 - Teaching Methods. Boys are not meant to sit still in class rooms learning to read when they are 5 or even 6. Kindergarten has changed and is now what 1st grade use to be. There is less time devoted to activities that requires exploring type learning and more time is devoted to sitting in desks learning. School today are more focused on desk learning and much less on experience learning. Most boys do much better with experience learning. They could care less to read or hear about how a tadpole transforms into a frog unless they have seen and chased tadpoles and frogs in a pond.

3 - Prescription Drugs. ADHD is a real problem but most boys who are diagnosed are miss diagnosed and most boys who do have ADHD could be helped with drugs that have fewer long term side effects.

4 - Endocrine Disruptors. Im going to try and put together a post to talk more on this.

5 - Devaluation of Masculinity. American society does not have any traditions that introduce boys into manhood. Most societies have some type of ritual where the boy can show that he is ready to become or has become a man. Boys do not have role models on how to act like a man. Again these are generalizations like everything else in the book. This is where I feel that LDS boys/men have an advantage, the priesthood teaches many young men how to become and act like men (whether they do or not is a different story) and sending boys on two year missions could be a ritual of when a boy becomes a man (again, whether they do or not is a different story).

Overall I thought that this was a great book and gave me many ideas on how I can better raise my boys. I would suggest this book to anyone who is raising boys at any age. My sister is reading my copy now and then T will is going to read it, after that any of you are welcome to borrow Boy Adrift.

2010

2010-01-07T14:26:00.008-07:00

I've never really been one for new years resolutions or even setting goals. I usually enjoy living one day at a time and taking everything in stride. The things I have accomplished I've never written them down as goals or something to be achieved, I just did them. My issue with setting new years resolutions is why do you have to wait until new years day? Or any day for that matter to set resolutions? If you want to change or do something then don't wait.

My problem with goals is many, I'm lazy for starters and if I actually write down a goal that means I would have to do something to achieve it. To where getting a degree was never a "goal" meant if I didn't get a degree I didn't fail at achieving my goal.

Going against everything I know to be true I'm going to make some goals for this year. It's a first and probably a last - we'll see how I do.

- Exercise

- This one I will be forced into- I have signed up for RAGNAR which is a race from Logan to Park City. Luckily it is a 12 person rely race, so I only run three legs at 4-10 mile a leg. More info can be found here

- Get OUT

- I NEED to get out more - by that I mean I need to hike, camp, fish, backpack, snowshoe, ski and all that. The eight+ years I've been married I think I have only had a fishing licence 2ice and not once since we've had kids. I need to hike way more whether it's with friends, the kids, the wife or solo. I have never been snowshoeing but is something I really want to try and hopefully will before spring.

-Watch less teevee

- I don't really watch much teevee to begin with, mostly just to fill the room with noise and to distract my brain to think about nothing. I really hate teevee and think it's generally bad for me and my kids. By teevee I just mean in general and does not extend to movies or other shows on dvd without commercials. Going to get rid of cable, will be easier for me then the wife. There is little time as it is.

- Read more

- I have a stack of books that I have started reading and five other stacks that I want to read.

-Blog

- I kinda already do this but I would like to have better written blogs. I've decided that even though I can't write I'm going to randomly review a variety of things. Just about anything and everything I do, read, buy and or use and just about anything else. This way if you are thinking of buying or using or reading something, maybe I'll review it and you can see if it's worth your time and money

-School

-Last but not least - finish school by receiving my Master of Public Policy

Well, there you go, my 2010 goals. Now TAKE STATE!!!

Wednesday Tunes

2010-01-06T18:05:00.000-07:00

Ok not really a tune but a video.

Happy New Year and New Decade!

2010-01-05T22:02:00.004-07:00

I have been working on this post of a while now, for some reason I just can't get it out to you all. I know how you all wait on pins and needles for my blog updates.

We had a fantastic holiday season! The kids loved Christmas as well as us parents. Christmas day has sure changed a lot from when I was a kid, it was fun and exciting to experience Christmas as a kid. Then when your a teenager, it's still kinda fun and exciting but nothing compared to what it was when you were younger. Then in the young adult years, it's just another holiday where you have to buy everyone presents and now that you making decent money you feel abliged to buy better presents. Then you get married and you spend all your money on your spouse but the excitement that was Christmas is still missing though the spirit of Christmas never really leaves. Then when the kids come along the old excitement of Christmas returns. I think I get more excited about the kids opening their presents they do!

My beautiful wife was the last baby of the '70s born in Utah. They received all sorts of gifts and goodies for having the last baby of the decade. It's interesting to look back on this last decade and the many changes that have taken place. Ten years ago I was single and hadn't even met T yet and in all seriousness I wasn't ready for marriage in many ways. I was living with a good friend and we had one heck of a bachelor pad if you know what I mean. Now, ten years later, I'm married with three kids, a college degree, almost a masters, a mortgage and a career. What a crazy ten years. I wonder what the next ten years will bring? What kind of technologies our kids will be showing us how to use.

"Anyone who imagines that bliss is normal is going to waste a lot of time running around shouting that he has been robbed. The fact is that most putts don’t drop, most beef is tough, most children grow up to be just like people, most successful marriages require a high degree of mutual toleration, and most jobs are more often dull than otherwise. Life is just like an old time rail journey ... delays, sidetracks, smoke, dust, cinders, and jolts, interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas and thrilling bursts of speed. The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride."
— Gordon B. Hinckley

I am surely blessed with more then my fair share of beautiful vistas and thrilling bursts of speed!

Our Handy Manny

2009-12-31T12:23:00.002-07:00

Christmas was great! Our kids are spoiled as well as us. Thanks to everyone for everything! It's so hard to stop buying for the kids. I could totally get out of control but this year we kinda kept it under control. While they did receive less this year, what they did get cost more. I think we're done buying presents for a while, they all have more then what they even know what do with, so I don't think we'll have to buy them anything for several years.

The jet loves his handy manny tools. I mean he LOVES them. He is the first of our children to behave this way towards an item. He packs the tools everywhere he goes, and usually two at a time instead of all of them in the tool box. He makes multiple trips from one place to another transporting his tools. If he can't get all of his tools someplace, the world is coming to an end! or at least that what jet thinks as he throws huge fits. At my moms house, we started to vacum while he was playing with his tools on the floor, he hurriedly got up and started moving his tools to the couch, I guess he was worried they would be sucked up into the vacum. The first night home when it was bed time, he ran from the family room to his room with two tools at a time putting them in his crib. He wants to take them everywhere and we make him leave the tools behind, huge fits!! He's a nut! At least we know he likes his christmas present.

Christmas Card

2009-12-24T12:28:00.003-07:00

With both of us in school this year we didn't get around in ordering Christmas Cards, so this will have to do. Not really sure which picture we would have used but probably one of these would have been the family pic.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Years
Love the Bartholomew's!

Christmas Smells

2009-12-23T19:08:00.003-07:00

I'm curious on if any of you fill your houses with Christmas smells? Since I can remember my mom always boiled cinnamon and cloves around Christmas, filling our house with holiday fragrance. I love this smell so much that I always burned the Christmas mix on my mission and have continued to do so throughout my marriage. We also always had a real tree and I LOVE the smell of fresh pine. The last few years we have gone with a fake tree and I soo miss that smell. This year we bought a wreath made from real pine that kind of filled out house with pine. I think next year we will buy two or three wreaths.

Let me know what if any Christmas smells you fill your house up with!

The Christmas Spirit

2009-12-22T21:30:00.002-07:00

My wife informed me that my last post was too long. So this one will be short.

Remember the Christmas spirit during the Christmas season.

Turkey or Kittens?

2009-12-21T14:36:00.003-07:00

I haven't posted anything from Turkey day, mainly cause we have been super busy with finals and we took a total of 5 pictures from a four day Idaho trip. I really can't believe we only took 5 pictures and not any good ones. I don't know if we're getting lazy or just tired of taking pictures or what?

I'm not so sure about both T and I going to school at the same time. I'm pretty sure there is a reason that you finish college as soon as you can out of high school, mainly because it's EASIER!! You don't have kids, a full time job, a mortgage or half the other crap. Needless to say, between Thanksgiving and last week not much got done around our house, the laundry and dishes were stacked to the ceiling, doing only what we needed to get by, the kids were running rampant and wild, oh wait, they do that no matter what. We only have one more semester with both of us in school and then I'll be DONE! I have two more classes and I'm done with school!!! I don't even know what I will do with myself? Not homework!

Back to turkey day. It was a good time. Went to Idaho on the ranch. The kids love it up there and with Cash loving to play outside, made it that much better. Their cat just had a litter of kittens that the kids loved to chase down and catch then lug around. It was great to watch the kids run around after the cats along with the dogs. Watched cash corner this one kitten with the help of a dog, not sure which one the kitten was more terrified of. Cash grabs the kittens tale and just pulls the cat from out under a bush, poor cat. Cash left the ranch that weekend with his hands all scratched up. The poor kittens are ranch kittens, meaning they live out side in the freezing temperatures and don't get much for food from humans. They had already lost 4 or 5 of the kittens and I'd be surprised if any are there when we go back this spring. One of the kittens was missing the fur off half it's tail.

One of my favorite things about turkey in Idaho is black Friday in Idaho. We're about two and half - three hours out of Twin Falls so we miss all the morning specials deals. But for some reason I enjoy going there for black Friday and shopping, kinda crazy I know. We actually did make it into Twin for the Fred Meyer (Smiths Market Place) sale, we loaded up on socks, shouldn't need new socks for a year. Usually we don't get out their until afternoon but for some reason we were all excited to go out Christmas shopping.

NEVER!

2009-12-17T15:59:00.000-07:00

I honestly believe this kid is going to be the death of me. He is very unlike our daughter, who besides the recent attitude problems(mostly after playing with her cousins) listens very well and follows directions from her parents. Cash on the other hand, we ask him 4-5 times nicely to do something and he ignores us until we yell at him. I don't think that yelling is helpful and it doesn't make him any more obedient but asking nicely doesn't do anything either.

Anyways, he LOVES playing outside no matter the weather. I believe that he wouldn't come in the house if he didn't have to or if he had someone out there playing with him. He loves playing in the snow and when we get home from places he just stays out and plays. The other night it was late when we got home and asked him to come in the house. It went something like this;

Me: Cash, come in the house please
Cash: NEVER!!
Me and the wife - shut the door and laugh, how can you not laugh at that.
A little later
b: If you don't come in the house we'll give your presents away
Cash: Good!! I HATE presents!! I love Rocks!!
Me and the wife - laughing

Finally got him in the house but he brought a bat with him and started hitting things. T asked him to put the bat away and he just kept swinging it around until all poop hit the fan. We won't go into that but I'm not sure where the bat is now.

He is a sweet boy and cares about others feelings and he is hilarious. It's hard getting mad at the kid while your trying as hard as you can not to laugh. Sometimes we have to leave the room to laugh. We just wish we knew how to get him to listen. Where is the instruction manual?

Seriously! Just sit still!

2009-12-16T07:46:00.002-07:00

Taking pictures of kids is like herding cats! It just can't be done without someone going crazy - usually the parents. Sorry for all the pictures but it's been a while since I've posted pics and I wanted to show you all how hard it is to get a decent picture, especially with cash, that kid doesn't sit still for 2 seconds and jet he just doesn't know what he wants. Then when you do get a decent shot the camera or picture taker screws up! It's either blurry or too dark or too bright. Seriously.

This is so cash's personality. His pre-school teachers tell us that he is the funny kid in class. Yea, didn't see that one, haha.

These are only a sample of the pictures we took. Seems like we have to take 50+ pics just to get 1 good shot. I need to get a pro account to flickr then I could post all the pics for you all to see what we have to go through. Although I imagine that most of you already know how frustrating it is. Think that's why I'd rather just take pictures while their playing.

I love when they all play together, it's so fun to watch. Jet thinks that he's just as old as they are and copies everything they do. He also loves to wrestle with cash as long as it doesn't get too rough which it always does but he gets over it pretty quick.

She sings "All I want for Christmas are my two front teeth" pretty good now. The tooth fairy at this house is horrible, it takes him weeks if not months to visit. Who can remember all these things? Seriously?

This guy might just be the heart breaker of the bunch. He looks all adorable and that but don't let that fool you, he has the temper of his mom and dad combined. WOW! This kid can get mad.

Wednesday Tunes

2009-12-15T16:58:00.004-07:00

I know I'm a bit early, it's only Tuesday but I'm in the midst of writing papers for finals and when I write papers I like pumping music and this semester its been Timbaland. He just came out with a new cd that I got from Amazon - $4 cheaper then iTunes. Anyway, it's kinda embarrassing admitting this but one of my favorite songs is the Miley Cyrus song. Judge me how you will, but I like it and to make sure you dont get any ideas, I also like Snoop Doggs new cd.

My Life

2009-12-10T22:13:00.000-07:00

My Wish List

2009-12-07T22:02:00.002-07:00

I don't think much has changed since last year on my wish list, haven't had the extra funds to purchase anything. I have added a few things. So for those of you who didn't memorize what I wanted last year I thought that I would post my list for you again.

So here is my Amazon wish list, now you don't have an excuse for not buying me a present.

No, thats not me

2009-12-05T16:30:00.002-07:00

I think that T would have knocked me out if I had twetted during our wedding. I also want to point out that as addicted as I am to technology, I'm not this addicted. There is always someone with a greater problem then me, makes me feel better.

Wednesday Tunes

2009-12-02T23:15:00.001-07:00

califone - funeral singers from Califone on Vimeo.

Around the Corner

2009-11-23T23:42:00.001-07:00

Black Friday is just around the corner and Christmas is fast approaching. We already have Jets present and we know what Cash and b are getting, just waiting to see if it goes on sale. Well, we think we know what we are getting b. This is the first year that she has made her own list, it is long and it is expensive. Once you get past the "I want everything" her list gets a little more specific. She wants a, dsi, ipod, digital camera, guitar and everything else girly at the toy store.

I really believe that technology is going to be key to our childrens futures and the sooner they are exposed to technology the easier it will be for them. There are also a number of studies that show computer games help develop young minds. We have no issues getting gaming systems for our kids, other then maybe the cost.

We figure that since she was asking for an ipod and a ds that maybe the itouch would be the way to go.

The ipod nano, does have a video camera, plays music, but no games or at least limited games.

The dsi looks really cool and would be fun, but the games are pretty spendy. The dsi does do a lot of cool things as well, it connects to the internet has instant messaging, plays music but a not as conveniently as the ipod/itouch. It also hooks up to the wii, not really sure what it does with that but the potential for really cool is there.

The itouch plays music, games, movies and videos. The apps and games for the itouch are inexpensive compared to the dsi. Found this website explaining the pros and cons of buying an itouch for a young child The itouch connects to the internet allowing for ease of purchasing games and music, it has parental control to prevent the kids from easily raking up the credit cards.

We are leaning towards the itouch but still kinda in the air. Her cousin has a ds and might be getting an itouch for Christmas so either one would work as far as that goes. Some of her other cousins received mp3 players last year for Christmas and b has wanted one since.

Cash wants a dsi as well, but I think that he's too young and destructive. He will be upset on Christmas morning as b is playing with her tech toy but I think this will help him take better care of whatever we get him in the future. "If you take really good care of it, you can get one for next Christmas" Maybe he'll appreciate it more then he does his other toys.

What do you all think? The dsi? The itouch? Are we going overboard for a 5 year old?

Thankful Thanksgiving

2009-11-19T17:59:00.001-07:00

Cronicles of Narnia

2009-11-14T14:36:00.004-07:00

Cash is in and has been in a weird sleeping stage. He has always been our early bird and he doesn't need much sleep, but when he does sleep he's out. He doesn't really need a nap but he wakes up so early that he can't quit make it the whole day. When he does take a nap it's a late nap and he usually wakes up anytime between 6-8. Then what do you do? When he wakes up later we can usually get him to go back to sleep, hurry and feed him and get him back to bed before he wakes up fully. When he wakes up earlier, then he's grumpy for a while until he's fully awake then he's up half the night. Usually we make him stay on his bed but we allow him have toys and books and he'll just play until he's finally tired enough to sleep. Sometimes he'll try and sneak into the family room, just nonchalantly walking in as though it's the middle of the day and just starts playing.

He did this the other night, had a great nap, woke up around 6 and was in a good mood by bedtime. T and I were doing something in the family room, watching TV or whatever. Cash came out for a drink and I had to get something out of the bedroom so I had him follow me. I told him that he could stay up and watch TV in our room if he stayed on the bed and didn't get off. If he got off the bed he would have to go to his own bed. He thought this was a good idea, of course why not. I flipped through the channels and without thinking through it I turned it to The Chronicles of Narnia and left.

I went back in a bit later and started watching Narnia with him and it was the part with the wolves chasing the kids and the beavers. He was pretty excited "dad, come watch this part!!" I asked him if the movie was scary and if I should change it, he told me he liked scary movies. We watched the movie for a minute when he looked at me and said "Dad, our house is brick?" I said yes it is. He said, "Then the wolves can't blow it down....and our doors our locked?" I told him that yes we lock our doors and that no wolves were getting in.

He stayed up 'till past midnight watching the movie. He liked it and fell asleep right after the movie was over.

I love Technology

2009-11-12T15:54:00.001-07:00

Im not that great at technology - it pretty much has to work for me to use it, I can't create it or manipulate it but I sure can use it! This commercial is just another example of why it's all so great!

Happy Monday

2009-11-09T06:38:00.001-07:00

Not sure how this guy knows whats going on in my house but he nailed it.

Wednesday's Tunes Yanks v. Phills

2009-10-28T14:25:00.007-06:00

I'm not much of a baseball fan, first game I watched this year was a Dodgers-Yankees game 3. I can't tell you who plays for who or even know who you are talking about if you mention a players name. I have no idea why people either love or hate A-Rod - I just know that he's the man. I really wanted to see a LA World Series, I'm sure that's why neither team won. I have no idea who I want to win but I'm sure it will be a good serious - least I hope.

I think that the busier I get the more I watch sports. I don't remember the last time I've watched this much baseball - or even this much college football. Probably sometime before I was married. Not saying that I haven't been busy, but now that I'm busier then I have ever been - I find myself avoiding things (like now I should be doing homework) and watching sports.

Anyway - I really like the Jay-Z/Keys song Empire State of Mind. The song makes me want to live in New York. I've been to Philli, I enjoyed it, spent about a week there and was able to see most of the city. I have yet to visit NYC but it's on the top of my list of places to visit. So I can't compair the cities. I am waiting for a Salt State of Mind song -

Both teams are using the song to get them pumped up for games and during practice. Both teams have a different take on the song and some rapper in Philli changed the song a bit. Jay-Z & Alica Keys are performing the song for game 1 and it's rumored that Philli might be playing the other song at game 3. So here are both versions -

Jay-Z Alica Keys "Empire State of Mind"

Jay-Z - New Music - More Music Videos

NeeKo ft. Deana Marie - "ILL STATE OF MIND"

Wednesday Tunes

2009-10-21T22:55:00.003-06:00

I've been s l o w l y watching the PBS Ken Burns documentary THE NATIONAL PARKS: AMERICA'S BEST IDEA and I have finally made it to the 3rd episode! I didn't know that this song was the Grand Canyon Suite and was written for the Grand Canyon. Enjoy

Are we Thinking Straight?

2009-10-20T18:11:00.004-06:00

As Christmas approaches we are trying to find out what the kids would like. I really don't like that I have to think about Christmas before December, but I guess this is the responsible thing to do. A friend on facebook announced that she had finished all of her Christmas shopping like a month ago! How crazy is that? Then what do you do the week before Christmas? I'm not a shopper, don't really care to go look around stores unless it's REI or Kirkhams but I LOVE shopping the week before Christmas. I don't really know why? It has everything I HATE - crowds, driving, parking in crowded parking lots, stores, malls, lots of people in stores & malls and shopping. But for some reason, this is my favorite time to shop & about the only time I shop anymore.

We asked Cash what he wanted, his first response was "What did b ask for?" What kind of response is that? Then T told him that he had plenty of toys and didn't need anything for Christmas, he agreed. "I don't need anything" Yea, if it were only that easy, then come Christmas morning he would be one upset boy. Turns out he really doesn't know what he wants and just repeats what his sister and cousins say they want.

I brought up the idea of drums to T, she thought that this was a great idea. My reasoning is that he has a lot of energy that he needs to put towards a positive use. He likes to pound things with his hammer, anything and everything, the tv, floor, table, fridge, little brother, dad and anything else that is within reach. I didn't really think anything of it but it seems like everyone I tell their first response is "Your brave" or "Are you crazy?"

Maybe I really don't know how loud drums really are?

Does it Ever End!

2009-10-16T10:49:00.003-06:00

For those of you who don't know, T started back to school this semester. I think all the homework that I do made her jealous. She has an Accounting degree from the U and is now going back to the U for a Math degree. After the Math she is going to get a Master of Education (think thats what it is?), so she can be a math teacher. Not really sure about people who want to be math teachers. She should be finished sometime in the next millennium or maybe sooner. I on the other hand only have two semesters and should graduate in the Spring! Can't get excited until I receive the degree and then I really cant get too excited until I get a sweet job.

Here are our classes this semester:
T
Calculus 1

Me
Public Budgeting & Finance
Metropolitan Policy

Wednesday Tunes

2009-10-14T15:39:00.001-06:00

Florence and the Machine - Kiss with a Fist

Up Up and Away

2009-10-13T09:24:00.002-06:00

Columbus day morning, I took the morning off to hang out with the family. State employees no longer get Columbus day and one other holiday off, can't remember which one, so that we can work the 4-10's. This way we can be paid for 10 hours on the other holidays, if we didn't sacrifice the two holidays we could only be paid 8 hours for all of our holidays and would have to make up the other 2 hours some where else.

Anyway, so T and I were sleeping in while the kids were awake playing in the family room. When I walked into the room, Cash, B, Peapod & G money had Jet surrounded on the couch, Jet was whimpering and holding a helium filled balloon as were all the kids. I asked what they were doing to him. B replied "we are trying to make Jet fly, but he doesn't want to"

I went back to bed.

Wednesday Tunes

2009-10-07T21:43:00.002-06:00

This is GREAT!! Love it

LOVE STORY (Taylor Swift) meets VIVA LA VIDA (Coldplay) - Piano Cello - by Jon Schmidt

Check out his website

Kids & Conference

2009-10-07T16:18:00.004-06:00

Im pretty sure the last time I was able to sit down and was able to listen to and enjoy Conference was before we had kids. Since then, there has always been screaming, crying, talking, playing and whatever else kids do that is distracting. I was wondering if anyone out there had any ideas on how to get kids, specifically toddlers, to behave during Conference? This was the first time that we had B sit down and watch some of it, we had her watch President Monson, she threw a huge fit, like we were making her sit on hot coals! We are thinking that for the next Conference we will have her watch one full session. So when should we have Cash start watching?

What are you doing with your kids during Conference? Inquiring LDS minds want to know!

Where to live?

2009-09-29T13:55:00.004-06:00

Fort Collins, Colorado

I found this quiz from the Fisher's blog. This quiz asks questions to find out the perfect place to live. I wasn't happy with my first answers so I did it again, and then tried to get the answers I wanted but never did at least not in the top 6. I wanted NYC & DC which I was able to get but not in my top ten. So I posted my top 6 from my first two runs. I'll have to have T take this to see if we would live in the same place or not.

I guess I'm just a medium sized city boy who has to be close to outdoor recreation. I have been to Fort Collins, it's nice, not sure I would really ever live there. I wouldn't mind living in Burlington Vermont for a time, I have been there also and it's a great place. Missoula is nice but not sure I could live there longer then a year. And no way in anyway would I ever live in Provo-Orem or Odgen!!! I think I'll just stay in Salt Lake!

1st go top six
1-Fort Collins, Co
2- Shelburne Falls, Mass
3- Provo-Orem, UT
4 -Burlington VT
5-Missoula Mt
6- Ogden, Ut

2nd go top six

1-Albuquerque, New Mexico
2-Charleston, West Virginia
3-Fort Collins, Colorado
4-Hartford, Connecticut
5-Burlington, Vermont
6-Shelburne Falls, Mass

Remembering Grandma

2009-09-27T10:55:00.003-06:00

A few weeks back the Bartholomew's got together to remember Grandma Bartholomew who passed away 15 years ago. It was fun to get together, seems that we get together less often every year. Well, maybe that's because I now have two families and have to miss the activities of one to make it to the other. I'm the the third oldest of the grandchilren with the next one's down besides my sisters being 7-8 years younger then me. I feel bad that my cousins were not able to grow up with their grandma Bartholomew. The picture above is my grandpa with Elenore whom he married a few years ago, her husband passed away also.

My grandma was a great women, she was always doing something for somebody else. She always had goodies at her house, cookies, cake, bread, all homemade or some candy stashed somewhere. One of my funniest memories, I was riding in her car, we were at a stop light and some young punks pulled up next to us, and she said something to the lines of "I love to race these young guys, they think their so fast" and then she raced them off the line. Good times, she is missed.

Some of my cousins are bringing the '80's back! This is why I keep all of my clothes, so my kids can wear them, assuming that I was in-style. Actually, Im not sure what happened to all of my flannel, I bet that Marcee stole them all while I was on my mission. You know if the neon colors of the '80s are back, then grunge and flannel will be back for sure! Seems as though every generation brings their parents generation style back into style, too bad the '70s style didn't stick around longer, probably one of my favorites. When is the '20s coming back?

Below is a picture of a good portion of the family. My grandparents had 9 children, some of them adopted. I lose count how many grandchildren they now have, for some reason I'm thinking in the 30's. They have 9 great-grand children. I might have to change these numbers after my mom or sisters read this and call me to tell me the numbers are off, but they're close enough.

Jet came after the camera, he's getting pretty ticked! He has one of the biggest tempers I have seen and he doesn't forget that he's mad. When something doesn't go his way, he yells, kicks, screams, and throws things. If there is nothing close by to throw, he'll walk/crawl over to something he can throw just to throw it. T doesn't agree with me, but I think that it's because he's the baby and he can't be bad. A great example happened tonight, at pea pods b-day party he had a cup of ice cream and a fork. When he was done, T took them away from him. You'd have thought that she slapped his face! He didn't just cry, he threw a huge fit, walked into the middle of the room, trying to get sympathy not breathing because he was crying so hard. He then buried his head into T's lap until T shared her ice cream with him. This is just one example out of many.

Wednesday Tunes

2009-09-23T17:32:00.001-06:00

I had a hard time choosing today's tunes but concluded on this one. Hope you like it.

An animated music video composed entirely of machine-knitted frames. The music is by the Montreal band Tricot Machine (which translates to ‘knitting machine’). Via http://drawn.ca/2008/11/09/knitted-animation/

Private Blogs

2009-09-23T09:14:00.002-06:00

Blogger allows you to set your blog to private and only allow those you want to view your updates. Some people have done this, we have talked about it but have not felt we need to take that step. If your blog is on my list of blogs to the left and you have it set on private, add me to your list of people who can visit!! I know there are a few that I can longer visit because they are set on private. Of course, maybe you don't want me to visit, I get the hint though I'll just act like you forgot to add me to your list!

Preparedness Fair

2009-09-22T16:33:00.003-06:00

Our Stake had a preparedness fair a few weeks back. We were inadvertently involved in the fair. I believe that because I work for emergency services that I become the default preparedness guy. Which is funny because I am probably one of the least prepared and if it wasn't for my mother-n-law I would have nothing for preparedness.

No, I really don't mind though we were asked if we would help come up with ideas for heating, cooking and lighting when the power and gas went out. That turned into providing the ideas which then turned into providing everything related to what we were asked and manning the table. It really was good for us and was actually a great experience. I usually get nervous about preparedness fairs, they seem to bring the crazy people out but it wasn't so bad, only a few crazies and they weren't really that crazy.

For cooking, I just brought my camping stoves and my mother-n-laws dutch oven and huge propane stove. I really should get a good dutch oven and learn how to use it. We also had heat in a can and some other storage heating stove. We had a pamphlet that my mother-n-law gave us that we passed out talking about emergency lighting, heating and cooking. If you haven't already noticed the theme here, it's that I have no clue about emergency preparedness, while my mother-n-law is a preparedness pro!

I am going to do some name dropping! That's how I roll! Yes, I am standing next to Salt Lake City Councilman Carlton Christensen, by far one of the best if not THE best city councilman anywhere. Also we met Gov. Gary Herbert, not a fan, but still the Gov. He said that he had a business partner that was a Bartholomew and I quickly asked for a job! No, just kidding. I told him that I didn't know the man but pretty sure that we were related.

Wolverines!!!

2009-09-15T10:18:00.003-06:00

I love Red Dawn! I went to Hunter High school, they are the Wolverines. So my senior year in high school, we watched Red Dawn about once a month, doesn't sound like a lot(my sister watched Grease everyday for a year, twice on Sundays) but for a group of teenage boys to watch the same movie, that was a lot! We had a lot going on. Anyway Patrick Swayze was the man. We can forgive him for Ghost.

Patrick Swayze - She's Like The Wind

Calf Creek

2009-09-03T12:42:00.002-06:00

Part II

We took lots of pictures and had lots of fun and I didn't want to make my the last post forever long. Not as many pictures in this blog.

Sunday, we got up and kind of just hung out around camp. We had talked about hiking up to Calf Creek falls but after the experience from the day before, I wasn't sure the kids would be up for the hike. The hike is pretty easy other then it gets hot and is kinda long, especially for kids. We finally decided just to do it around 11ish. So we loaded up on water & snacks, left the pregnant woman at camp and hit the trail.

We took a dip in the pool, well Chad and I did. The water was FREEZING cold! Cash did because I dunked him, he wasn't happy about that at all. I think the girls kinda got in. T was a big wimp, actually she said she didn't want to swim in it because she didn't want to smell like fish. haha! Too funny. When you swim close the falls, there is a current and was actually kind of fun. Chad swam up right under the falls, he said once you got in close enough the current sucks you in. It was nice to cool down and lower the body temp before heading back to camp.

Cash talked the Whole way there and the WHOLE way back! He has little legs and walked about three times the distance I did. On the way in to the falls, I stuck back with him most of the way and we had all sorts of conversations, mostly about when the Indians come back alive. Not sure how many times I had to tell him that their are Indians alive now and that they live just like us. Towards the falls, T stayed back with him so I could power to the falls, Jet was getting pretty upset about spending so much time in the backpack.

Jet pretty much cried the whole way back, kept him entertained for a while with my camel pack water hose. Didn't work the whole way, so I booked it out. The crazy thing is that the girls kept right up, didn't complain, well big K and b butt didn't complain and just hiked right along. After getting back to camp, I dropped Jet of with the pregnant lady and cruzed back to meet T and Cash. They weren't too far behind, about 3/4 to a mile back. She was carrying him but said she had only carried him a little. It's a 5 1/2 mile round trip hike, the girls went the whole way, K bug was carried a bit, and Cash made it almost the whole way. Pretty good for a 3 year old. I'm surprised that he didn't get tired from all the talking!

T has spent the past month or so deep into Harry Potter books. She was trying to finish the 6th book while we were camping and tried to read every minute she had. She has also been staying up way past her bedtime reading all the books. She has finally finished all 7 books and we can now go watch the 6th movie.

The ride home from Calf Creek was fun, it was a late night drive. We stopped in Tropic to visit my dad's aunt for a bit. She thought that I was my dad. "Oh, that's not Lani?" "No, it's his son" The kids loved it at her house, she had dogs, cats, cows and a peacock, they also have goats but they were out back. The kids were supper hyper when we got in the car and stayed awake way too late.

It was fun, we need to spend more time in Southern Utah.

Wednesday Tunes

2009-09-02T10:04:00.003-06:00

Death Cab for Cutie: "Grapevine Fires"

Escalante

2009-09-01T12:46:00.005-06:00

I love southern Utah and I specifically love Highway 12 and all that it has to offer. I really feel one reason why I love this area is because few people travel there. It is not close to anything and it's not a through road, it's a loop. I was able to get the Hiltons to travel with us down there for some fun a few weekends ago. It was a good time.

Sorry for all the pictures!

We were lucky to make it to Calf Creek campground to get the last camping spot left. They only have about 12 or so spots, that typically go pretty fast. While you can camp out in the wilderness just about anywhere in the area, we had a pregnant woman and kids, so it's much easier and worth the money for a campground.

We spent the Saturday waiting for the pregnant woman to get out of bed. I recently learned that Saturday is "sleeping day" at their house. We first went into Escalante, picked up some firewood and talked to the visitor center about the Hole in the Rock Road, and it's condition. The old couple told us the road was bad and they were nervous for us. Seems like they always tells us that. The road was fine for a dirt road, actually pretty good for the most part.

We visited Devils Garden. It was HOT but the kids had a blast running around on the rocks. As we were walking around we overheard Marc telling K bug that "it's really not his garden, it's just called that"

We then headed over to Spooky and Peekaboo canyons. T and I visited the area before we had kids and remembered it to be fun and easy, other then walking in 120 degree sand in 100 degree weather. When we got down to the entrance of Peekaboo, it was a bit different then what we remembered, wish I had taken a picture of it. For some reason I remembered it being an easy 6 foot wall climb, ya, it was about 15 feet and not so easy with kids and a pregnant lady. But we figured a way to get the kids up into the canyon and even the pregnant lady, who hung out at the mouth of the canyon with J man while the rest of us went up into the canyon. The kids loved it, 'cept Cash got scared a few occasions, he's not real fond of heights.

Where they waited

A look into the Peekaboo

On the back down, he was whining here.

B took the picture of me! And a picture of all the kids in the canyon.

One of the arches you climb through. The pic of b is looking out the canyon, kinda gives you an idea of how high the mouth was.

After this, the pregnant lady, T and J man hung out in the mouth of another canyon while the rest of us walked down to Spooky, about a 1/2 -1/3 mile in a HOT ravine. T had the camera so I didn't get any pics, I think that Chad did, so I'll have to get those from him. The kids thought that it was going to be a "scary" canyon because it's called Spooky. It's supper skinny and there was no way the pregnant lady could have made it far at all, the kids love it.

On the way back out, all the kids were warn out but we still had to hike out of the ravine. As we were about half way out the wind started to pick up, blowing sand everywhere, poor J man, who was on my back, just started whimpering. I felt so bad. The girls would have to stop and cover their eyes every time the wind blew. I hurried back to the car as fast as I could, as I got over the ridge the wind was insane, thought I was going to get blown off! By this time J man was crying, I hurried and put him in the car and ran back to get the girls, who were also crying and got them into the car. T was with Cash and Chad was way back with his prego wife. We all got back into the cars safely.

It rained on us all night and took away our desert sunset, Dang the clouds (shaking my fist)!!

I recommend that you wait until your kids are just a little older and that you don't take pregant woman to hike these canyons.

Wednesday Tunes

2009-08-27T08:42:00.001-06:00

I know its not Wednesday but we can pretend that I posted this yesterday.

I want a new bike!

2009-08-26T14:36:00.001-06:00

Or maybe one for T. Well if you click on the link in the upper right hand corner of my blog, it puts me in for a drawing to win one of their bikes. They give away one bike per week, for I don't know how long. So click on the link every Monday morning for me!

Thanks!!

More Family Reunions!

2009-08-25T20:10:00.001-06:00

It feels like we have a LOT of family reunions, we do but we don't, really. This year we have had three, one was my dad's Grandma's, the Reeve's family reunion which was held at the park by our house and only lasted a few hours. Then we had T's dads side that we have every year. And then we had T's moms side, which is what this post is about. We could have a few more reunions and then that's all we would do all summer long. We should have some in the winter time.

This reunion has become an annual event and has been at the City of Rocks for the last few years. We have stayed in the same campground, pictured above, next to the Sisters for those you know the area. The campground is great, there are rocks for the kids to climb all over, while they could get lost and I'm surprised that they didn't, they would have to go out of their way to get lost. And the best part is that it's all by itself, so we can be as loud as we want, or as loud as our kids tend to be.

This year it was cold and it rained on us! We ended up spending a chunk of the time at T's grandpas house who lives just outside of the City of Rocks in Almo, Idaho. That wasn't too bad, we rode the atvs around and raced around the house. Though it was too cold to go swimming and I was actually looking forward to that. Which is strange because Im not a big fan of swimming, it's just not that fun, maybe for like ten minutes.

While they look a lot alike, they are almost nothing alike. Both of them are hilarious in their own way and they both are very much boys.

This year we did some rock climbing, well the kids did. So we have been going to the City of Rocks for the last 4-5 years and we never gone rock climbing. The City of Rocks is known for its rock climbing and people travel from all over to climb there. This year we (buzz) brought his gear for the kids and let get use to climbing. B was a little nervous the first time but quickly relaxed, at least going up. Coming down, Z was about the only kid who felt comfortable, the rest of them wanted buzz to help them. And Cash money, well he made it as high as he is in the picture above! He'll climb rocks left and right but once we put the harness on him he froze up and wouldn't go anywhere.

I'm kinda a Big Deal on Twitter

2009-08-20T09:44:00.004-06:00

Haha! I have a few other blog posts in the works and hopefully I'll post those soon. In the meantime I thought I would share my fame with you all. City Weekly posted a blog quoting one of my tweets. I know some of you have tried twitter and most of you have not. Im addicted! It saves me a whole lots of time, the people I follow are always posting links to news and other items that I no longer have to search for.

Anyways, my tweet was about how I wish Rep. Mathason was more of a man like Barny Frank. There is a great clip on the link above to reference what I'm talking about. I agree with Frank that it's too bad that congress is not debating a single payer health care system.

Favorite SYTYCD Dance

2009-07-20T12:03:00.005-06:00

This is my favorite SYTYCD dance of all time. It was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Choreography!

So, your probably wondering why I love SYTYCD? Well, I don't dance, I can't dance. I did take some lessons when I was in Jr. High (ya, that helps the self confidence of a jr. high boy) and I have taken some classes with the wife. I have three little sisters that dance, so I grew up spending whole days at dance competitions, which really isn't that bad when your Jr. High and High School age cause those things a chuck full of girls the same age! Then I married a dancer/cheerleader who now teaches dance and my daughter dances. This life time of conditioning has lead me to appreciate and enjoy watching good choreography and dancing.

So there is the short of it.

Christiansen Reunion

2009-07-17T10:30:00.005-06:00

Cash, B, Jet, Z man & Luda (aka Ludacris)

We made our annual trip out to Ibapah last weekend for the Christiansen reunion. It was a lot of fun and the kiddies had a blast! B is now to the age that she can remember last year a little bit, add that with the anticipation that Z man was going to be there, she was supper excited. Cash was just excited to go camping and both were excited to play in grandmas new trailer. Here is the link to last years reunion.

They have all sorts of games and activities for the kids, along with rope swings, a huge teeter-todor, a pond and ATV's. The people who take care of the ranch do an excellent job! We pitch our tents on grass, we can throw blankets out on the grass and not worry too much about the kids getting dirty.

This was taken of the boys getting their much needed naps about 10 minutes before the tornado struck! Ok, it wasn't a tornado, but it felt almost like one. You could see the clouds rolling in and the wind was picking up, so everyone started to get ready for a storm. I was able to get the boys in our tent just before the wind really began to blow! After the wind blew hard for a few minutes, I had to stop to look if their was a tornado or not, the rain came and boy did it rain! It poured for a good 10-15 minutes and then stopped and about half hour later, cleared up. T and Jet just about got it from a fly away tarp, luckily some kid grabbed a hold of it before it wrapped them up. I love those kind of summer storm, kinda fun really.

They really loved the motorcycle rides from their grandpa.

I'm probably posting way too many pictures, but we did take 150!

I don't know whats going on in here but it looks like one of the 500 fights the boys had.

Here's another fight, if you look closely, you can see that they're all holding rocks, with Z man holding the biggest, looks more like he has a brick. B is out of there! This ended just fine, I don't think any rocks were thrown, though after Z man dropped the brick, Cash picked it up and started running after Z man until I yelled at him to drop it.

We're horrible parents! Pretty sure Jet had some ear aches going on while we were out there, and instead of coming home, we just stayed. The first night he woke up sometime around 3am and screamed bloody murder for about an hour! He was ticked off! Nothing we did helped him, he didn't want anything, finally I just held him still for about 5 minutes and he was out. But this woke up Cash, who was whinny and wouldn't sleep for about a half hour until I threatened him that I would strap him in his car seat and he would sleep in the car. He sunk to the bottom of our sleeping bag, T was in his by now and pouted himself to sleep. Then B woke up around 5am after all of this and need to poop! Whats going on here? Seriously? Needless to say, it was a long night. Luckily for everyone involved, they all slept just fine the next night.

Can't wait for next year!

Crash Money

2009-07-14T18:26:00.003-06:00

Well, it took him three years but he finally succeeded in breaking his arm. He had the eventful day on the 4th of July this year. Every year the Rose Park community has a kids parade, where kids decorate their bikes and go from the Day-Riverside Library to Riverside park where there is a breakfast. About half of the way is along the Jordan River, when the trail moves into the park there is a bit of a hill that goes off of the Jordan River trail down to the park. As we were going along, Cash would cruz ahead on his bike, get stuck, (he has a hard time still pedaling forward) wait for us, we would give him a little help and he would be off again. As we were approaching the downslope Cash came whizzing by me, I told him to stop and wait, of course he listened as good as always, not at all and kept on going. I knew what was coming next. As he turned down the hill and disappeared behind a group of people, I started seeing people jumping out of the way as an out of control 3 year old went flying down the hill! He emerged out of the crowd with his feet off the pedals and veered onto the grass, he soon let go of his handle bars and with arms stretched out crashed onto the grass!

Nope, this isn't how he broke his arm. But he did get right up, took a look at his bike and started crying that the had grass stuck in the one of the pedals. We pulled the grass off, threw his bike back on the sidewalk and he was on his way.

After the breakfast and clean up we headed home. T's mom does a big bbq every 4th, so we thought that we would put all of our kids down for nap before we headed over, this would hopefully mean less grumpy kids for the fireworks. So with all the kids down supposedly following our plan and taking a nap, I headed out to work around the yard. As I'm playing with my tomatoes, T comes running out, "Brad, I think Cash broke his arm!" I thought, crap, it's probably sticking out and all gross looking, the sight of it is going to make me sick. But actually it was hard to tell if he broke his arm or not. He was crying like he had just broken his arm, a good steady cry but not hysterical and holding his arm kinda limp. We played around with his arm for a bit, feeling the bone, having him squeeze his fist and move his fingers. We decided that we should take him in just in case, we didn't want to be like the Hiltons and take our kid in hours later.

I stayed home with the other kiddies, finally getting Jet to sleep. Got a call from T, he had a fracture brake, the doc said that it was the best kinda break for a kid to have and should heal just fine. They first put a wrap on his arm, we could tell right off this wasn't going to last long. The first day that he had it on, he asked multiple times to take it off "It doesn't hurt any more" thinking this would allow him to no longer wear the wrap. When that didn't work he then proceeded on several occasions to start taking off the wrap. Luckily he only had the wrap on for a few days before getting his cast. Casts now-a-days are great! They can get wet! This is perfect for summer, this allows him to still swim and boys get beyond filthy in the summer, if we had to cover the cast in plastic every time we needed to give him a bath, he would never get a bath! At least from me!

He is trying hard to break his other arm! His cast hasn't slowed him down a bit.

Busy

2009-07-13T18:27:00.002-06:00

So I know that I have been a huge slacker on my blog but life happens. It's been real hard for some reason to keep this updated, maybe it's because facebook is easier and most of my readers are also friends on facebook, if not all. I've also been super busy with school. I am going to the U for a Master of Public Policy. This is keeping me very busy. Between work and school and the family and a few other projects, leaves me little time for my blog. Hopefully I'll inundate you with some post in the next few weeks before school picks back up.

SYTYCD

2009-07-13T18:06:00.005-06:00

So our show, So You Think You Can Dance is back for a 5th season. It took us a while to get into the show this season, that was until last week. Last week was great, probably one of the best SYTYCD shows in the five seasons. Still, no one is really sticking out as a personal favorite. We thinks it's because, so far nobody's personality has really stood out. We really like the following two dances.

You can skip to the dance about -5:40

janette @ Yahoo! Video

Love it!

2009-06-02T15:51:00.002-06:00

I am getting really lazy with this blog! Haha! All I do now is post stuff that other people have found!

Happy Monday!

2009-05-11T17:18:00.000-06:00

A new twist on the Sound of Music

Who is this kid and where did he come from?

2009-05-10T00:14:00.003-06:00

Honestly!?! I'm not sure where this kid came from, he's nothing like either of his parents or his siblings.

I guess this is what we deserve when we try and sleep-in and cash is up doing whatever, well, this is what he does. It's not good to have the two of us parents who are very much not morning people with a boy who is very much a morning person. I think that one day we will learn our lesson but we haven't yet. We continue to let the kids roam free while we try and get an extra half hour of sleep. It doesn't really work because one of us is always getting up every ten minutes to yell at the kids and get them something to eat/drink/watch or tell them, no candy, stay out that and whatever else.

Cash was super excited to play soccer this year. The day they received their jersey's, he had to put his on right then and wore it the rest of the day. He would be excited all morning to go play soccer, we would get there and he would play the first half and be done. Sometimes it didn't even take until half-time, after two or three up and down the fields he would be done. I think during the last game I figured out why he didn't want to play, he's not as fast as the other kids and doesn't get to kick the ball as much. He kinda told me this while I was trying to talk him into playing, not exact words but basically. Hopefully, next year he won't care so much if he is the fastest and play anyway, or maybe he will be the fastest.

Most of the kids played soccer again this year. Cash and G played on a younger team then the others and I'm pretty sure it was the youngest team in the league, their team was always the shortest team out there. It was kinda fun to watch, the ball would go out of bounds and half the yellow team would fall on the ground. By the end of the game there would maybe be three players on the field when there are suppose to be five, the rest would be sitting on their parents laps crying that they didn't want to play anymore.

This next set of pictures is from after b's birthday party (which I still need to post), he is wearing her b-day crown and yes, his soccer jersey. A side note, I don't think we ever washed b's jersey last year, we have washed cash's jersey every week and it has stains. He doesn't like taking it off. Sorry for so many pictures but they tell a better story all together. There are more pictures then what I posted, I tried to cut down the number of pics. Any way, enjoy.

He is a nut and loves to make us laugh and he loves attention. We try not to laugh, cause then that just eggs him on and he keeps going. B laughs at him all the time and that just makes him believe that he is the funniest kid ever making him try even harder to be funny. I feel sorry for our neighbors, they were out in their backyard while the kids were jumping and every time our neighbors would walk by, cash would talk their ears off. It's going to be a long summer for them and a lot of years of crazy kids and early mornings for us.

May Time

2009-05-09T21:47:00.002-06:00

May time is planting time! We were able to get our garden, well most of our garden planted this weekend! Yea for tomatoes!! I was pretty tempted to buy a $40 tomato plant, it already had green tomatoes on it and it came in a huge pot with an assortment of herbs. Almost bought one for my mom and mother-in-law, I didn't know if they would want that over my usual flowers. I went with the usual flowers, hope they like them. Maybe next year I'll plant a couple of tomatoes in my house around February or so. If your interested in the $40 tomato plants that already have green tomatoes, they're at Western Gardens.

Still need to plant some melons and a pumpkin, just tilled up some weeds and grass to make the room for them. Looking for a place in the yard to plant a squash, not enough room in my little garden box which already is full of lots of tomatoes (probably too many if there is such a thing), two cucumbers, a zucchini, one red and one greed bell pepper and some Anaheims. My oregano has come back like a champ for the second year in a row. I highly recommend to anyone who likes oregano, to plant it, this is my third year of oregano. I'm rethinking my mint, I don't know what to do with it and it grows out of control! I'm going to quarantine it to see if I can keep it in line and decide later.

We planted/let lose about 1500 lady bugs. I say "about" because the package said 1500 on the front, and the back said that they put in 1800 to account for a mortality rate. They are suppose to take care of bug eggs and some other pesty little bugs, and I think they would be cool to have them randomly in the yard.

My 5 year old niece, K bug, broke her arm last week. First, I'm surprised it took her five years and second I'm surprised cash wasn't first. I'm not looking forward to broken bones and bleeding wounds but the way the boys play, it's only a matter of time.

Wednesday Tunes

2009-05-06T17:36:00.001-06:00

Wouldn't be surprised if I have already posted this one. I have been in a hip-hop mood lately.

Timberland - The Way i Are

Catch'n Up

2009-05-04T22:05:00.003-06:00

I have loads of blog ideas! Now I just need the time. Well, to catch ya'll up, I can't skip the annual Easter pictures. I don't know what happened but we didn't get any good pictures. Must have been smoking crack, so you'll have to get by with what we have.

All the kids

The boys

The girls, here are their previous Easter pictures

It was kinda nice, they actually slept in Easter morning. Finally, cash wandered into the family room, then we heard him running as fast as he possible could into our room. He comes in with the hugest grin on his face and with his arms out says "You know what the Easter bunny brought us? A whole bunch of candy!!" Not sure if he was this excited on Christmas morning? I don't know if they understood the looking for eggs thing, they kinda didn't care about finding eggs.

Here are the kids with their Easter baskets.

They had umbrellas and watering buckets in their baskets and they love both. With all of this rainy weather they have been using their umbrellas just about every day. B is always asking to go on walks in the rain so she can use her umbrella. They also love to water the plants, even with all the rain they are out in the yard almost everyday watering the plants. Here they are watering our peas!

Wednesday Tunes

2009-04-29T14:45:00.002-06:00

Yes! We are still alive! Just really busy with life and all the fun stuff that comes with it. Thought that since I'm in the mist of finals and crazy work I'd take a minute to update our long lost blog.

Here ya go!

Lady GaGa feat Colby O'Donis & akon - Just Dance !

Disneyland

2009-04-03T11:38:00.002-06:00

B has been bugging us for at least six months if not longer about Disneyland. She is the last of her cousins to go and reminded us of that almost on a daily basis. So we decided that we would take her for her 5th birthday. I haven't been there in about 15 years and T's last time was about 10 years ago, so it had been a while for us. We didn't tell the kids that we were going until about three weeks prior and we gave them calendars with stickers so they could count down the days and so we didn't have to hear everyday, "are we going to Disneyland tomorrow?".

They were supper excited to go. It was the first time that b could remember flying on a plane, her first time she was around 18 months. She was a little nervous, kinda pale and really quite all morning, while cash was his normal self, running all over the airport. Cash crashed out the minute we sat in our seats and missed most of the flight, waking just before we landed. I think b was too nervous to sleep and once we took off I think she was kinda excited and no longer scared of flying.

If you know us, you know that we are not morning people, at all. So the first two days of our Disney fun, we took our time in the morning, getting to disney after 10. We decided that we needed to get their earlier for our last two days, so we did and it was amazing. We were able to walk right onto about 4 or 5 rides without having to wait in any kind of line. I don't think I've seen so many strollers in my life! It was like playing a pin ball stroller game, bouncing of all the strollers. We did add to it our double stroller and on occasions we had the double and a single. Cash never wanted to ride in the stroller, unless he was really tired or we made him, b on the other hand never wanted to walk. When we had the single stroller, it was a big fight on who got to ride in that one.

I could go on and on about out trip but I will save you that for now. I might do some more disney posts. The kids crashed every night when we got back to the hotel and were up bright and early and ready to go every morning. I don't think they ever got burnt out and were just as excited the last day as they were the first day. Cash was a little teed off that b got to ride all the fun big rides and he didn't. We did figure out that he could ride the big mountain scary monster ride or otherwise known as the Matterhorn. He loved it! He was so excited and it was his favorite ride besides the elephants. b's favorite ride was splash mountain and the tea cups, poor girl only got to ride the tea cups once, T and I can't ride on spinney rides, not good for the head. Next time we'll have to go with someone and then they can ride it with her.

Well, I think that might be it for now. I have been working on this post for about three days. I'm a slacker I know.

Caffine now serving on the BYU campus

2009-04-02T11:26:00.001-06:00

Valley 3 News: BYU Brings Caffeine to Campus from Jimmy Newell on Vimeo.

Ok, I know it's no longer Aprils fools day. So I'm a little slow?

Where we've been....

2009-03-29T11:11:00.002-06:00

We have been in Disneyland!

We decided to go to Disneyland for b's birthday and have spent the week here. I thought I would just add a quick post while chillin' at the hotel before we have to leave. I think we are ready to be home, after a week of constantly going going but I don't think that we are ready for Utah weather. The weather here as been so nice, high 60's to mid 70's all week, jacket weather at night, just about perfect.

I had to post a picture of b and her favorite princess, Belle. She did get to see all of the princesses that they have here. I didn't post while we were here because, just not enough time and internet access isn't free. Will post more about our fun trip later. The kids had a blast but I think they are ready to be home.

Working Out

2009-03-19T17:11:00.003-06:00

Bought my first, well second gym membership ever. The first one was to the West Valley gym center right before I got married. I think I went to the gym more on my mission then at any other time in my life, think I was in better shape too. T has had a membership to 24 for some time now, she got a much better deal than I got but my deal from Costco wasn't so bad.

The hardest part about the gym is trying to find the time to get there. That's been T's biggest hurdle. They do have childcare but there has to be a certain adult/child ratio and the jet counts for 2 kids and they have to be open, so that's hard. I think the only time that I will have will be early in the morning before work. Anyone who knows me, knows that I'm NOT a morning person and this will be next to impossible.

Haeli signed up with T and I talked Jeremy to sign up with me so hopefully that will help with the motivation of getting there. I'm finally realizing that I'm really not going to be young forever and need to do something to stay in shape. I keep falling apart, my back is still a little off from January and I don't heal like I use to.

I guess we'll see how this goes, if it goes.

Wednesday Tunes

2009-03-18T09:53:00.002-06:00

This is from a friend of a friend, if you visit his vimeo site he has some more cool videos.

powerlinerflyers from wes johnson on Vimeo.

Kiss Me

2009-03-17T21:58:00.002-06:00

I am Irish! So, I suppose that my kids are Irish as well, it might be better if you kissed them. Nothing really to talk about, we don't do anything special or fun for St. Patrick's day. My sister, Marcee...on the other hand, seriously, we had to tell our kids that the leprechaun didn't come to our house because we are not leprechaun. Aunt Marcee is part leprechaun so he visits their house and leaves candy and crap. It's fine if you enjoy celebrating all the holiday's, it's just hard for all the other parents who don't. We have to listen to our kids talk about how their friends went to breakfast to eat green pancakes, and how their friends got candy from the leprechaun. I told our kids that we don't want leprechauns in our house, cause leprechauns are naughty and will just make a mess out of our house. Besides, we buy so much candy, that we don't need a reason.

And really! What next, give your kids stuff for Boxing day? Earth day? Mother Earth could visit and leave dirt, rocks and plants around the house!

Delicious

2009-03-16T20:15:00.003-06:00

mmmm....well, this post isn't about good food, maybe I'll do one of those in the future. This post is about a sweet website/service that I love.

If you use only one computer to access the internet, then this website/service won't be that beneficial for you, or if you don't use your bookmarks. If you do use your bookmarks and use more then one computer to access the internet and you don't know about delicious, let me introduce you to one of the greatest things on the world wide web.

Why this service is so awesome? There is so much information online, millions of websites, with plenty of them that are worth visiting more then once. Remembering all those websites can be cumbersome and nearly impossible. Bookmarking a webpage to remember it is the best way to keep track of worth while websites.

Delicious is an online bookmark that allows you to bookmark web pages and access your bookmarks from any computer with internet access. This for me is a total life saver! I use way too many computers for no real apparent reason, other then I have two personal computers and two work computers. It also is helpful if you use computers at the library or school where typically you wouldn't bookmark.

Lets say for an example that while at work I come across an interesting website, or someone twitters a cool website, I take a quick look at the website and want to come back to it later when I have more time.

Without Delicious:
I bookmark it on my work computer, when I get home and want to better check out the website I have totally forgotten what the address was and spend half the night trying to find it. Eventually I give up and have to wait until I get back to work to look up the bookmark to re-find the website and write it down so I can find it at home.

With Delicious:
I bookmark the website on delicious, when I get home I log onto delicious and pull the website right up. Or if I'm out of town, using my laptop, I log into delicious and pull up any of my bookmarks.

Prior to using this service, I had different bookmarks on different computers, when doing research for a paper using different computers, this is not a good thing. Having different bookmarks on different computers is just a pain and sometime frustrating.

There is also a delicious toolbar shortcut that allows you to bookmark the website without ever leaving the website. You can share your bookmarks, or keep them private and you can view webpages that other people have bookmarked.

Now, you can sleep at night knowing that you no longer have to write down websites that you find on one computer to re-find them on another.

Wednesday Tunes

2009-03-11T20:20:00.001-06:00

Not sure if I'm going to continue Wednesday tunes on a regular basis but at least when I have a cool video or song that I really want to share like this one.

That time of year......................

2009-03-10T12:06:00.001-06:00

UGH!! It must be that time of year where everyone gets sick! By everyone I mean that I have been deathly sick over this last weekend. Thought I was going to die for at least a day. Everything hurt, couldn't get comfortable, couldn't sleep, couldn't stay awake, laying down hurt, standing or sitting were not options. Oh ya, and T left me with the kids and goob is sick. Goob has some junk in his lungs and his winter long ear infection. Luckily the other kids are good and I am feeling better.

We haven't been up to much of anything. So you'll be seeing a lot of post that have nothing to do with the family. T is busy doing taxes, so if any of you need a tax accountant give her a call.

I love Dilbert

It ain't easy being green

2009-03-04T21:44:00.007-07:00

The new fad, or not so new anymore, is to be green. Whatever that means? Years ago it was the environmental movement, tree huggers and dirt lovers. Now its the green movement. I wonder what the next name will be? I have always been part of this group from since I can remember. Not always the most faithful or best practicing but have always felt the need to protect our precious planet. I do what little I can without going too much out my way or making life too difficult to do my part. We recycle, and................well, that's about all I can really think of that we do that would be considered green. What else is there? Hum......here I have gone years thinking of myself as a bit of an environmentalist and I don't even know what I've done to consider myself one. I care, that has to count for something?

Anywho...

A few months ago, sometime last Summer we bought these bags, pictured below. Thought, hey, we should move past recycling and start reducing what we use. We have always recycled our plastic bags from the grocery store but with these reusable bags, we won't even need the plastic ones. Here we are, months down the road and our reusable grocery bags work great! We use them to put food and books in when we go on trips, we use them all over the place, really great bags. And as a bonus we have used them maybe three times to put our groceries in! Smiths gives you five cents a bag.

No really, I feel bad that we don't use our bags more for groceries, they're even in our car when we get to the grocery store. Somewhere between getting out of the car and having a basket full of groceries we forget all about them. By the time I remember I'm standing in the checkout line (self checkout) and I think "CRAP!! I totally forgot my reusable grocery bags! I can't get them now because I have a basket full of food!"

Well, the bags are great! We use them all the time, just not for groceries and we love them. We will try harder to use them more when we go out shopping. Plastic bags are very bad for the environment, the making of the bags, and most of them end up stuck in a tree or in the ocean somewhere.