Looking on back on 2007

Two thousand and seven is almost over, so it's time for one last post this year. Here a few photo reminders of the first few minutes of this year.




Lisette is rapidly becoming a young woman with her own interests and views. Miles has become a good skateboarder and a very good skier (even though I can't see his ears anymore.) Ian is growing up so much, but is still very sweet and he will loyally do things with me even if they're boring. Saffron is turning out to have a very strong personality, but a very loving one. My children have grown so much this year. They are such a joy to me; I can't imagine ever not having them.

So here are my goals in respect to my children for the new year:

1. Be more patient
2. Read more with them
3. Play more with them
   
4. Remember what it was like to be their age
   

Here are my goals to become a better person for them:

1. Read the scriptures more often
2. Find more purpose in prayer
3. Take better care of myself (sleep, exercise, healthy diet)

Happy New Years everyone.

White Christmas

Last night we had a lovely Christmas Eve dinner. Melinda made saffron rice, roasted potatoes, and we ate shrimp with cocktail sauce. We drank sparkling cider and ate pecan pie (compliments of Carrie) for dessert as the snow gently fell outside. We read the story of Jesus' birth in Luke and all the kids opened one of their presents. Lisette and Miles had a hard time going to sleep, they were so excited.

Today we woke up with everything covered with white and the sun shining. We opened up presents and had a very nice day. Lisette got some really nice books, some games and the boys loved the Lego Star Wars. Saffron got some fun tub toys and we had a very nice day.

We hope everyone had a nice holiday with their loved ones. Merry Christmas.

Evolution of the Christmas Monkey

About six years ago we had a Christmas party at Annette's house. After the dinner we all participated in a little nativity play. Lisette was Mary and wore a blue towel around her head and held a little doll. Matthew was Joseph wearing a little bath robe. Miles was supposed to be a wise man, but he insisted on being a monkey instead. So we experienced the first nativity with a monkey; the Christmas Monkey.

I've always been pretty down on the whole Santa business. Once in college Amy and I had this big debate about the merits of the concept of Santa Claus. I can't remember much of our arguments, but I was definitely anti-Santa. My parents never really put much emphasis on Mr. Kringle when I was a kid anyway. So our kids have always known that Santa is false doctrine. I know, I know, I'm a Grinch, but I guess I'm their dad and so I guess their stuck with me.

Every year the legend of the Christmas Monkey expands at our house. First he was just a supporting character, but he has now effectively replaced Mr. Claus. Now he fills the stockings and leaves leaves monkey poop (usually Milk Duds or Whoppers) all over the floor.


Anyway, St. Nick has been replaced with St. Primate. Instead of leaving out a plate of cookies and milk, the kids leave out a dish of oranges and bananas. Instead of of reindeer and a sleigh, the Christmas Monkey comes in his silent helicopter and then swings down between the trees on his invisible vine wearing toe-socks and flip-flops.

So is the Christmas Monkey any better than Santa Claus? I don't know, but we sure have fun with it. The kids feel sad for all the kids who don't know about the Christmas Monkey and have to settle for Santa. We love our own unique family holiday tradition and jungle Christmas mythos.

Christmas choir and Lorraine's birthday

I sang in the choir for our church Christmas program. I don't have a great voice, but I have learned to sing better, and I've really enjoyed participating in choir. It was nice sitting up on the stand with the other choir members (and ever-faithful Ian) and listening to the words of Christ and singing about his birth during the Christmas season. It was a very peaceful and joyful experience. We sang the Hallelujah chorus from Handel's Messiah and the very end. I love the power, praise, and joy in that song.

The Christmas hymns never fail to move me. The whole congregation met together again for the third hour and we sang all the Christmas songs in the hymn book, from page 201-214. Jesus came into the world and lived so simple and humbly. It kind of makes the Santa materialistic thing look pretty shabby in comparison.

Later in the afternoon I took Lisette, Miles, and Ian to the nursing home which is near our neighborhood. The primary children sang Christmas songs to the residents. It was really beautiful to hear the innocent children sing of Christ. I'm sure those are the voices He loves to hear best.

The kids also came with me and we gave out some yummy chocolate mint cookies that Melinda had baked. They seemed to have so much fun. I don't know if it was just entertaining to them, but just maybe they felt joy in serving others.

In the evening we went to Annette's house to celebrate Lorraine's birthday. Scott felt very loved because everyone went out of their way to make non-dairy dishes that he could eat (Scott has milk allergies.) Everyone had fun catching up and the boys loved playing with all of Matthew's Nerf weapons. He has quite the arsenal.

Here are some photos of the festivities. Notice that Ian so helpfully blew out most of the candles for his grandma.

Muchos tamales ricos

Tonight was our second annual Christmas tamale part with some of our homeschooling family friends.

Earlier, Wendy had 4 ski tickets for Park City that had to be used up, so James, Carrie, Bobby, and Clair went. We watched Clair's little girl, Makenna, so he could go. I didn't feel up to skiing and a big party all in the same day. So instead I cleaned up around the house a little, helped the kids with their homework, played with Saffron and Makenna, and then a took a nice long nap.

Makenna was very cute, and a cinch to babysit. She just wandered around and played with all the toys and read books. Here's a picture of James reading to her.

We took James with us to the tamale party. We got an assembly line going; someone to spread the masa on the corn husk, someone to put the filling in, and someone to tie them up. We had lots of yummy fillings too:

• Spicy pork
• Chicken with red mole
• Chicken with green mole
• Chicken with sun-dried tomatoes
• Southwest beans
• Cherry with chocolate chips
• Pumpkin pecan
• Cinnamon raisin

That's not to mention the tortilla soup, or the 4 different kind of salsas we had with chips. It was quite the fiesta of flavors! Tamales are a lot of work, so doing it together as a big group is ideal.

The kids had lots of fun, too. They ran around like creatures from "Where The Wild Things Are" for a while and then they played Lego Star Wars for a while. We were there quite late, so they kids were ready to sleep when we got home, exhausted from so much fun.

My mental jukebox

This morning while shoveling the driveway, an old Spike Jones song started playing in my mind:

My driveway is covered in snow
I'm so tired of shoveling it
But at least snow is pure, white, and beautiful
And it's better than shoveling...

(Chorus)
Shaving cream, be nice and clean
Shave every day and you'll always look keen

Does anyone else have this problem? You're going along in your day and something triggers a song and you have to step back and figure out what you did and how it relates to this song. I can't tell you how often this happens to me. It's kind of bizarre.

This week Lisette's birthday flowers were looking a little sad and so I pulled out the dead ones. So a stupid song from the 80's (which I didn't even like) pops into my brain:

The flowers you gave me
Are just about to die
When I think about
What could've been
It makes me want to cry
(Could've been - Tiffany)

Maybe I've listened to way too much pop music in my life. When Melinda and I would first married we would have conversations and I would slip lyrics into the conversation. Boy, she hated that! It took me a while to break that habit, but every once and and while I'll do it.

We still have this ongoing joke concerning a particular Smiths lyric. Actually, I could quote a Smiths lyric for almost every situation (well at least every depressing situation.) We'll ask each other "do you still love me?" and then finish with the lyric:

I still love you, oh, I still love you
...Only slightly, only slightly less than I used to, my love

Snowy night

Today was a very nice day, notwithstanding a little wind. It was a pretty day with some sunshine that melted all the snow; so much that it almost seemed liked spring. Tonight was quite the contrast.

It started snowing on my way home from work, but it wasn't too bad. We went up to Melinda's folk's place because Richard and Jan were in town, but it took us 30 minutes to make a 3 mile trip. Cars were backed up, it was very slushy and very slick and we were down to one lane because of road construction. We would have turned around, but that would have been just as bad.

We made it without injuring anyone and then had a nice dinner with everyone. Afterwards Kevin helped Miles and Ian make a giant snow fort on the back porch. We left around 9:30 and the roads had at least been plowed so the journey home was only mildly treacherous.


James was arriving from China and I was supposed to pick him up at the airport, but thankfully Carrie was able to get him for me. She lives near Bangerter Highway, so she's closer to the airport. (Thanks, Carrie, I owe you one.)


I walked outside tonight because I left something out in the car. I'm always amazed at how light it is outside when there is white covering everything. Everything seems so peaceful and lovely covered with a blanket of snow. And of course the snow always seems so much more cozy when you are home in your warm jammies.

Solitude skiing

Miles and I went skiing today. I took the day off from work because Brighton had Quad Wednesday which gets you a pass for $14 if you bring a sack of food for the Utah Food Bank. Unfortunately, I slept in and we didn't get to the resort until after 11:00. By that time the lot was full and people were parking on the road more than a mile away from the resort. I don't like skiing when it's packed, and I didn't want to lug all of our gear uphill so far. So we headed down the road to Solitude.

Solitude is a great little resort. They're not kidding by calling it solitude; there were no crowds. It was great to have so much room to ski and we never had to wait in line. Last year when I went to Park City it was mobbed. A few years ago they started building up the base of Solitude so it is more of a ski destination instead of just a lodge with lifts. They have a very nice little European style village with restaurants, lodgings and other après-ski activities.

Of course, since I'm a local (and not a big spender) I don't really care about the amenities. But this is a resort has a really classy vibe without all the pretentiousness. You don't see any fashionistas on the slopes, but you see hordes of rowdy post -adolescent snowboarders, either.

Their are a few things a didn't like, though. They have older lifts and only one high-speed quad. I have to admit that I am spoiled by the detachable lifts and the old fixed-grip lifts seem painful for me now. That wouldn't be so bad, but Solitude has two bases and the transition between the two is kind of awkward. There north base is really flat and you have to huff it a lot to get between the lifts. I'd have to say the layout problem was the biggest drawback. Also, the mountain is really nice but I on the lift you can hear the highway down below, which kind of spoils the remote mountain feel.

But the snow was good; really good. Since I'm not the greatest skier I usually liked the groomed trails but today there was lots of powdery stuff on top. Miles and I did pretty well, and we're learning to appreciate the finer points of powder. It was a very good ski day, but of course a bad ski day is better than a good day at work.

Nightschool

The kids spent most of their day having a Christmas party with some of their homeschool friends. So tonight I did the dishes while they did homework. Lisette wrote some poems, Miles did his online math, Ian practiced typing, and Saffron watched Winnie the Pooh to sharpen her hearing skills and color recognition.

Work has been pretty busy lately. We have been upgrading a lot of our systems, which is very good, but it keeps you hopping. This is what we have upgraded in the last 6 weeks:

1. Accounting software (Microsoft Dynamics GP)
2. Time keeping system (Stromberg Enterprise)
   
3. E-mail (Microsoft Exchange 2007)
4. Web server (Dell Server with MS IIS 6.0)
   
5. Internet service (an additional T1 line from First Digital)
6. Backup hardware and software (Symantec BackupExec and Quantum LTO2's)
   

And next month we will be finalizing the e-mail and getting a new phone system and fax server. I've had to do a lot of updates and reboots at night from home, so I'm very glad my work provides DSL for me. Now if only they could give me a couple of extra hours in the day...

Counting down the days

Here are some of the highlights of this week:

• Saffy is doing very well using her little potty
• Some of Melinda's cousins came over and sang us carols
• Ruth and Darius got married December 11th on Smathers Beach in Key West
  
• We found out Ruth is having twins (Yeeaahh!)
  

• The kids went to the Planetarium and the Children's Museum
• Miles read 2 Star Wars books
• Ian wrote a story about a time-traveling penguin
• Lisette can now play "Beauty and the Beast" on the piano
• Melinda had Brian and Dejah (who are very happily engaged) over for cooking club; they made jambalaya and pinwheel biscuits

• Melinda and I went to my company party and were entertained by a hypnotist while Connie babysat
  
• I took Lisette, Miles, and Ian for a quick visit their cousins in Roy
• The car windshield cracked (just before safety and registration is due)
• The kids are counting down the days until Christmas
  

Phew! Just one more week before Christmas; I hope you all have your shopping done!

Homework and cookies

Today Lisette spent the day with me at work. She needed a change of scenery to help get her groove back. I'm not sure which one of us had more fun, but the day sure went by fast for me.

She sat by me at my desk while I was on the phone and did her grammar workbook. She even came in with me to a meeting with my boss, who, was glad to have her there; she beautified the room appreciably.

After some typing instruction and some word games it was time for lunch. We went out to Paradise Bakery and Cafe and got a couple of sandwiches and cookies. I had a curry chicken salad with walnuts and cranberries on molasses bread. The sandwich was very good, but not spectacular. The cookies, however, were something to write home about. They tasted like courses of angels rejoicing hallelujah! Such charming chocolate chips and such snappy snickerdoodles! Those are truly cookies of excellence.

After lunch Lisette did lots on online math, and more word games while I made more phone calls and did various server tasks. Five o'clock rolled around and home we went. We should do this more often.

Boxed trees and snow

Last Monday we popped Vince Guaraldi's' "A Charlie Brown Christmas" in the CD player and put up our Christmas tree. I'd like to say we made a trek to the woods in a one horse open sleigh and cut it down, but we didn't. We went down to the storage room an pulled it out of a cardboard box.


Friday night we got a load of snow, and more on Saturday. If my hip keeps getting better, maybe I'll take Miles to Brighton to go skiing. They got 30" new white fluffy in the last 48 hours to a grand total of 65". Wahoo!

Lisette's Day

Eleven years ago Melinda and I went to our first ward Christmas party as a married couple. It was a brunch party; we ate breakfast burritos. It was a Saturday and the last day of the work week for me; I worked swing shift doing technical support from 2:00 to 11:00. After the party we went for a walk and Melinda had a couple of small contractions. She thought maybe I should go to work, but I felt it was a good excuse to stay home.


At 11:01 that night, little Lisette was born. I remember holding her and telling Melinda, "she's perfect!" It was so exciting having a little baby! We loved her so much! It's hard to believe that she's already eleven years old.

Hanukkah with The Shins

Happy Hanukkah everyone (actually tonight is day two of Hanukkah this year)! We broke out the menorah and Melinda, Miles, and Lisette made latkes and homemade applesauce. Tasty! Very tasty indeed!

Today I actually took the morning off so Melinda and the kids could go to Kingsbury Hall (they don't allow babies or toddlers) to see A Mariachi Christmas. The actually took the bus because there isn't any good parking at the University campus. It was quite the eclectic cultural day: Christmas in latinoamerica and Hanukkah.

It was a nice morning with Saffron. She's so cute in the morning! She loves to cuddle and she likes to play cute little silly games. We slept in, read books, and ate breakfast. Saffron played monkey, hanging on my back as I walked around the house, then later played fish and frog in the tub.

Melinda arrived home with the kids around noon. They were pretty cute walking down the street after getting off the bus. I went into work around one, much to the relief of my coworker. I think he's getting the idea that I have a third sense to know when to stay away from work.

Melinda called me on my way home from work because she was stuck at church. The van battery died again after Cub Scouts. I think Melinda would renounce the whole thing if Miles wasn't in it. Everything was fine after a good jump start. That reminds me, I better go out and put the charger on it now.

Right now I'm listening to The Shins (Chutes Too Narrow and Wincing The Night Away) on my Zune. Wow. They're a great little indie pop group that are very listen-able. It's great to listen to an album without having to skip or fast forward half of the songs. Very catchy.

Kids update

Lisette had an un-sleepover party with a friend in Bountiful, Friday night. Melinda picked her up even though it was snowy, and she they got home at about 1:30 AM. She had fun with her other friends staying up playing and watching movies.

Miles has been baking for us. This week he has made:

1. Peanut butter cookies
2. Blueberry muffins
3. Puff pancakes
4. Blueberry shake

Ian has washed the dishes 4 times this week. The other kids are horrified by washing the dishes, but Ian isn't. He says, "it's easy you just have to wipe, wipe, wipe." We got tons of snow this weekend and today Ian started shoveling. If you're in the market, I highly recommend buying a home with the driveway facing south. Most of the times we ignore the driveway and the snow will just melt. It's great!

Saffron loves playing out in the snow. She thinks Grandma and Grandpa's Christmas tree is a toy tree. She been having fun playing with all the ornaments.

Purple Haze

This year Miles planted a variety of carrots called Purple Haze. True to their name, these psychedelic vegetables would make Jimi Hendrix proud. They weren't as sweet as some other varities, but they tasted like any other regular carrot. Check out those funky shapes!

We ate these fab veggies raw with broccoli. Then Melinda made them into some really groovy technicolor soup. The taste was out of this world.

It was really hip, man. Can you dig it?

Love at first snow

Tonight we finally got our first snowfall. Saffron couldn't wait until daytime to go out, so her brothers were more than happy to accompany her. They even dug out her winter boots from the storage room.

She was concentrating very hard on making tracks. She was very happy in the snow. One of her favorite books is "Snow" by P.D. Eastman and Roy McKie. Every time I think of snow the words of the book come to me: "Snow, snow, come out in the snow! Do you like snow, yes or no?"

Ian is practicing his snowball skills. I have a feeling that Miles is going have ski dreams tonight.

Family Downtown Evening

This year we bought a family pass to the Utah Children's Museum at The Gateway. The kids have been there a few times, but I've only been once so we decided to go downtown and make a visit for Family Home Evening. They had a special Robots exhibit that was pretty cool.


They had robotic toys, statues, and these really cool robotic arms you could control. It was a big hit with the the kids. We spent almost two hours there and we didn't even hit half of the place, so we decided we need to go more often. I had forgotten how fun it is. It was great because they're open later on Monday nights, and there was hardly anyone else there. Plus it's such a great opportunity to play with the kids.


On our way to the museum I took this shot of Temple Square through the car windshield while we were waiting at the light. It looked so inviting that we made a whole night of it and wandered around the temple grounds admiring the shimmering lights after the museum.

The Assembly Hall looked stunning with all of the vivid orange, yellow and purple lights all around it. I'm usually quite the Grinch, but even I can't help feeling a little jolly with all the Christmas lights up.

The temple of course looks very majestic and inviting behind all of the brightly lit trees. Somehow it's always so comforting and peaceful to me. Of course it was Christmastime 1995 when Melinda and I were married in this temple for time and all eternity. I was going to say that was the best Christmastime for me, but when I honestly think about it, they keep getting better; especially with each of the children.

I loved Melinda then, but I love her so much more now. Now we have Lisette, Miles, Ian and Saffron, too. My love hasn't been spread thinner now that we have them; my capacity to love has grown more than I could have ever imagined.

They had nativity scenes from different countries and cultures around the grounds. Lisette made sure we saw them all. We really liked the New Zealand one, with the lamb and the kiwi. It's always a good reminder that Christmas is about Jesus Christ and not Santa Claus or the Christmas Monkey.

We finished the night off by getting cinnamon rolls and egg nog from Harmons. Yum. We made hot cocoa with little marshmallows and sang some Primary Christmas songs before we prayed and went to bed. It was a very nice family evening.

Make us truly thankful

Today is Thanksgiving and there is so much to be thankful for. We had a lovely today together with family. We drove up to my grandma's house in Brigham City. It was a cold day, but sunny and bright. We were so glad to have my parents visiting from Alaska, and Ruth and Darius visiting from Florida, though we missed James and Michel and her family


Everyone contributed to the delicious homemade banquet (though Mom did the lion's share.) We feasted on:

• Turkey
• Ham
• Mashed potatoes
• Green bean casserole
  
• Stuffing
• Butter rolls
• Candied yams
• Cranberry salad
• Creamy apple salad
  

My Uncle Ray and Aunt Marie were visiting from the Cedar City area. It was a real treat to have them around. I love sitting around and hearing Ray's stories of great grandpa Owen, and great grandpa Rose. Leonard came over later for a little while with his family. I love my uncles and I was so glad to see them. It's fun to see how much they look alike now, especially with their gray hair.



We of course had pies. Lots of pies. It was a plenitude of pies; a cornucopia of pies. We had:

• Pumpkin
  
• Pecan
  
• Sweet potato
• Apple
• Cherry
• Banana cream
• Coconut cream
• Chocolate cream
  
• Chocolate turtle cream
  

No family get-together is complete without a few rounds of pinochle. Everyone wanted Clair to do his customized family version of the "Thanksgiving Song," so I accompanied him on guitar.

It was pretty much a perfect day. I am so thankful for my family; they're the best.

Couple of the hour

Yesterday we had had a wedding and a baby shower for Ruth and Darius. The rest of our family was finally able to meet Darius, and they weren't disappointed. We're so glad that Ruth found such a fine gentleman that takes good care of her. They are such a kind and loving pair. I absolutely can't wait for their baby; he or she is going to be über cute. I mean just look the parents!

Mom and Connie got this fabulous wedding cake that was very elegant (and tasty, too.) Darius cooked up some jambalaya and their was plenty of cornbread.

Clair made a great MC for the night. We did a quick round of Mafia and we were totally bamboozled by the chosen mafia; we had no clue. Speaking of cute babies, Makenna was completely adorable laughing loudly every time we did. Everyone is anxiously awaiting for this years rendition of the "Thanksgiving Song."

Mom hosted the ever-popular Newlywed Game where we found out that Clair has lots of holey socks, Bobby is the only guy Carrie ever gave her real phone number to, Darius likes to ride horses, and I have a diaper in the glove compartment.


My lovely wife Melinda had a good time (probably laughing at me for taking so many pictures.) I used her mom's cool new digital camera and her dad's big flash attachment. Only problem is it makes me want to get a new camera.

Michel brought 3 of her girls and Joy brought Olive, her dog. Olive is my little canine friend. My little hairy, loose-skinned, drooling buddy. We all talked about how we met our significant other. Michel didn't let me forget about the time she made Brent a chessecake to impress him and I pulled the instant mix box out of the trash. Whoa, I was such rude little punk then!


Carrie and Bobby were very gracious to host the party at their house. They have these super high-tech light switches which people kept leaning into and turning out all the lights. I would hazard a guess that their was some smooching going on during those dark episodes.

I got to meet Bobby's mom and dad; Bob and DJ (I don't know if I spelled that right?) Their first "meeting" was pretty funny - Bob and his friends drove up to DJ and her friends and honked at them and drove away. Then DJ met him later and said, "Hey that was you!"

We had a great time. It was cool to have everyone together (though we did miss James who is in China.) Ruth is going to make a great mom and we're so happy to have Darius as a part of our family. Because so many of us are far apart now, it's extra special when we do get together.

Home Sweet Homes

Saturday night Arden hosted a birthday party. Almost all of the relatives in the Salt Lake Valley were there. It was really fun to have so many people there. Saffron even found some kids to run around with. We counted afterwards and there were almost 80 people there.

Scott had baked gingerbread virtually non-stop for a week so that everyone could make gingerbread houses. The garage was cleaned out and setup with long tables and everyone was swarming around decorating sugar cookies and constructing gingerbread houses. There was frosting and candy everywhere!

Miles and Ashton were working on one together, but somehow the gingerbread they had was too soft so it kept falling down. It looked kind of like a condemned meth house. They gave up, but afterwards when most people had left, Lisette and Miles made their own from the leftovers, and Ian and I decorated someone's abandoned house. We ended up taking 3 of them home.

Today is Monday and two are left standing, albeit with some candy missing, and one looks like it got hit by Hurricane Ian. Ian is practical and doesn't want to let the candy and gingerbread go stale. Needless to say, we helped him out.

Brian and Dejah

Congratulations are in order for Brian and Dejah! Brian called earlier this evening to tell us the good news of their impending nuptials!

Melinda was just telling me yesterday that she thinks that Brian should marry Dejah. We're so glad because Dejah is too good to let go.

They looked so happy sitting with each other during the family party on Saturday. They are definitely a great match.

Its always fun for everyone when Grandpa comes

Friday I took the day off, so Melinda went to pick up my parents from the airport so I could sleep in a little. She left about 7:15 so I was kind of worried when my mom called me wondering where we were. Melinda must have just missed them so she went to the Park and Wait. Unfortunately, the van wouldn't start after she turned it off.

I drove out to the airport and luckily we were able to jump start it. Later I Ian and Saffy to Checker Auto to get a new battery. I undid the battery and took it in, and they checked and it was OK (it just needed charging). So I put the battery back in but Ian dropped one of the screws in the engine compartment. We couldn't find it so we went in to find a replacement screw. We tried one out but it wasn't the right size. So we were going to go back in and get another one when Saffron threw the wrench (which she insisted to hold) into the engine. I reached in to get the wrench and we found the screw! It's nice when things turn out like that!

We had a great time with my parents. The kids we're really excited to have them around. They got up early and were just waiting for them to arrive. They bought us bagels for breakfast and we sat around and chatted before they took a nap. When dad came back later from the Carrie's pain clinic, we ate bean dip with Clair and Makenna, and then went for a walk later.

Saturday dad made blueberry pancakes with us (yum!) before Connie drove them to Roy.

Come to the Dark Side

After about 3 years of faithful service my trusty iPod mini bit the dust. The little 4 GB hard drive has gone on to greener pastures . In my line of work I have heard a lot of bad hard drives so I know all too well that ka-klunk, ka-klunk sound means; the head is hitting the platter and all hope is lost.

I found a replacement drive on E-bay for about $20. I got cracked the case and put in the new drive, but it wouldn't boot up. It just stayed on the apple logo. So I took it out to try to reset the drive and tragedy strikes - I broke the connector to the click wheel! Argh! I was kind of bummed out, but oh well.

So today I was looking at the Microsoft Zune. I found a brown one (obviously their least popular color) on Buy.com for 99.99 with free shipping. It has a nice large color screen and a 30 GB drive. They also have a deal where you can save $30 when you sign up for their Visa card. So today I went to the Dark Side and ordered the Zune.

What can I say? A new iPod would set me back at least $200, so I sold out to The Man. I feel kind of sullied, but I think I'll get over it fairly quickly when I have a portable tune player again.

The Sopranos

I noticed that ClearPlay had a filter for season one of The Sopranos, so I reserved it from the library. They bleep out a quite a few words and some violent seems are skipped but none of the continuity seemed to be lost. It's a well done drama and quite entertaining.

So it starts out with mob boss Tony Soprano having a panic attack where he passes out. So he goes to a psychiatrist (rather reluctantly) and talks about his stress and then get a prescription for Prozac. He was feeling pretty unhappy because his wife and daughter and having big conflicts, and their are mob turf disputes with his mob boss uncle, and tension with his cantankerous mother who they want to put in a retirement community.

I was able to watch it and enjoy it as entertainment not without worrying too much about the twisted morality of these people (murder, immorality, theft, etc.) But at the end of episode 4 Anthony Jr. figures out that his dad is in the mafia. His sister printed out all this mafia stuff from the Internet and he stayed up reading it, then he looks over at a picture of him and his dad fishing. Then the next day at a funeral the camera pans over to him standing behind a grave peering out at his dad.

That is what made the whole thing seem really tragic. What kind of life is little Anthony going to inherit? He just figured out his dad (who he dearly loves) is a crook and a murderer. What kind of a reality is that? It makes me appreciate being born to righteous parents.

Books, asthma, fences and leaves

Yesterday Melinda, Lisette, Miles and his friend Davis went to Connie's book group at Barnes and Noble. Connie does a really nice job. It's really useful to have a source to find good new books. Lisette especially loves it; the last book they read, Maximum Ride, by James Patterson, really sparked her interest so she went ahead and read the whole series.

Melinda said she was feeling sick since she went downtown to see the symphony. After the book group she wasn't breathing well, so I sent her to see her dad. Looks like she had an asthma attack. She is feeling much better after taking Prednisone and using an inhaler.

I finally got around to staining the wood fence. Our neighbor actually owns the fence, and is very good about getting both sides of it taken care of. In April or May he started staining our side with me, and then he left the rest for me to do. He even left all the stain, a roller brush, and a paint brush. Well now that it's November I finally did it. I have dreaded doing it for for almost 6 months. I had to just walk outside grab the stuff without thinking about it. Actually it was pretty easy. Melinda and I decided that I have this deep seated rebellion about not wanting to do something that someone else tells me. Sigh. Rebellion is so taxing. It would have been so much easier to have just done it then. Oh, well.

The kids helped me rake up the neighbors lawn this morning. Melinda thought it would be good for them to do more service. Really, it's more like minimizing the disservice of our tree dropping leaves on their lawn. But the kids enjoyed it, especially jumping up and down in the trash can to compact the leaves. We took them to the back yard and spread them around the garden beds.

Daddy Daughter Day

Today was Daddy Daughter Day. Melinda took the older kids to Abravanal Hall to listen to a rehearsal of the Utah Symphony, so I took the day off to stay home with Saffy. Everyone had to get up early, but Saff and I slept in until 10:00 (how sweet it is!)

We had a good time. We read books, played piggy back, and worked outside in the garden.


It was really cool to have several hours to play with my sweet little girl.

Sing all hell

Today in church we sang the hymn "We'll Sing All Hail To Jesus' Name," which is a hymn I really love. However here in Utah we usually pronounce 'ai' the same as a soft e. Thus the following words usually sound the same: hail/hell, fail/fell, sail/sell and whale/well. So I have to try to suppress a smile everything we sing that first line. It's also very noticeable because the second verse actually has a 'hell' in it.

Regional accents and and unique speech patterns are always fascinating, and I don't see that we should change them. I'd like to thing that those details make life more interesting and I hope I didn't spoil that hymn for anyone.

Sunny Saturday

Last night Melinda and I discussed what we should do today. We came to a great consensus - nothing! Nothing but laying about and reading books. That's a great plan for a Saturday in my book. It didn't hurt that it was a beautiful crisp fall day with the warm sun pouring in the front windows.

We did do a few other things though:

• Saffron helped me dig out the Cana lillies and throw some blackened tomato plants in the trash
• Ian helped me winterize the swamp cooler
• Lisette bravely did all the dishes (about 3 sink fulls)
  
• Miles helped Melinda do the shopping at Harmons
• Miles read some of Harry Potter 7 and Lisette is reading Harry Potter 6 again
• Melinda researched the K-12 homeschool program and I read some of Melinda's books

Tomorrow is Fast Sunday. Our family is doing a special fast for Clair and Stacey's baby. They found a tumor on it's spine during an ultrasound. They are all in our prayers.

Live in the now

Wednesday I picked up a book that caught my eye in the library; "Hyper-chondriac: One Man's Quest to Hurry Up and Calm Down" by Brian Frazer. It was a very funny read. Plus, it's always so reassuring to read of someone more neurotic than myself.

This is a guy with some serious issues (milk products make him faint,) yet he tackles them with such humor and grace. Some of the measures he goes to calm himself and conquer his anger seem absurd (his knitting group was a fiasco.) However, I find Frazer's action to improve his wellness instead of feeling like a victim quite inspiring. He serves as a good reminder not take yourself too seriously and try to see the humor in our misfortunes.

He came to realize he was just rushing through everything, trying to get to what came next. Joy in life comes through living it. It's a good reminder to "live in the now" and to let tomorrow take care of itself.

Tricks n' Treats

Here is Hobbes, Broom Hilda, and Darth Leopard at the obligatory (yet somehow compellingly convenient) Trunk or Treat activity. They are trying to look menacing to scare away other kids so that they'll be more candy left for them (or maybe the sun is just in their eyes.)

Here is the ever-charming Good Witch Lisette. Saffron is conspicuously missing from the photos because she refused to get into her little lion costume. Oh well.

We skipped neighborhood trick or treating and instead went to Grandma and Grandpa's for a little Halloween party. We ate donuts from a string, bobbed for apples, and drank witch's potion (Crystal Light with dry ice.) Deja and Brian were there and we all had a good time.

I forgot to bring our camera, but we played with Grandma's nice new digital camera. Talk about features, this one's got 'em! It makes my poor camera look pretty sad. Amy also got a new camera and the pictures on her blog look fabulous! Sigh. We'll have to upgrade our camera someday.

Toaster Pizza

Toaster Pizza
by Lisette

Once upon a time a penguin named Phil went to the North Pole to visit his friend Jerry the polar bear, who lived in a small igloo there. When Phil got there he said, "Jerry, let's get pizza!" 'So Phil and Jerry got frozen pizza.

Then Jerry said, "I forgot I don't have an oven!" So they thought and thought. Then Phil asked, "do you have a toaster?" They did have a toaster so they put the pizza in Jerry's toaster and ate toasted pizza.

The End

Lifesavers

We are still all a little sick at our house, but we're getting better. We now to the coughing stage, but not so stuffed up. Hopefully by Wednesday will be back to 100%. I got to take a nap both Saturday and Sunday, so that was a good thing.

On Saturday Kevin called me waking me up from my nap. I was pretty groggy so I couldn't quite figure out what was going on. He asked me if I had any lifesavers. The conversation went like this.

Kevin: Do you guys have any lifesavers?
Me: No.
Kevin: Do you know where you can get them?
Me: The candy isle in the grocery store.
Kevin: How much do they cost?
Me: I think they're under $2.
Kevin: Wow.
Me: ???
Kevin: But I think I want a cool one that flips open? Do they have those?
Me: Wait what are you talking about? Did you say lifesavers or Light Sabers?
Kevin: Light Sabers.
Me: Oh, that makes more sense. Yes we have light sabers.

Pathetic

Our whole family has been pretty sick since Sunday. Usually we don't all get ill, and if we do, we're usually staggered. This time we got it all at once. It is pretty pathetic to hear everyone's froggy voices and see everyone just lie around.

There is a Primary song titled "A Happy Family." I keep thinking about us and "A Pathetic Family" keeps popping into my mind.

Mommy's coughing, can't you see?
Daddy's retching, yes sirree.
We're all sick, and so you see,
We're a pathetic family.

Lisette's glazed over, Saffron too,
Miles and Ian have the flu.
We're all sick, and so you see,
We're a pathetic family.

My apologies to the Primary board for that little song. We are starting to get better, really, we are.

Standing Together

Melinda went to the National Student Dialogue Conference this weekend. It's basically a Evangelical Christian and Mormon conference where they discuss doctrinal differences, similarities, and try to find common ground. It was sponsored by Standing Together which is an organization started by Rev. Greg Johnson to create understandings between Evangelical Christian and Latter-day Saints. Bob Millett spoke there as well, and we've both enjoyed his works, especially "A Different Jesus?" and "Grace Works."

Here are the highlights (and lowlights) of the rest of our weekend:

• Ian and Miles bought a Lego Star Wars set with the money they have saved up
• I played stay-at-home dad for 2 days
• I have much deeper appreciation for all the work Melinda has to do everyday
  
• Ian got an ear infection on Friday
• Max (one of our mice) died - we were all very sad; especially Miles
  
• Miles was the only one to make it to the primary program; everyone else was sick this morning
• All the kids wanted to be "simpsonized" like their mom so we made a collage

As american as apple pie

Miles made this yummy apple pie today. Melinda helped, but he is quite the intrepid baker. The lattice top turned out very nice, as well.


Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm pie. I can't wait until Thanksgiving!

Melinda in 2-D

If Melinda were a Simpson, she might look like this. But I think the real-life version is much better.

Ian shoots the moon

Miles wanted to play Pinochle tonight. Pinochle has been a tradition in my family for as long as I can remember. I have lots of fond memories of my parents, uncles, and grandparents staying up late at night playing, talking, arguing and laughing. We always had loads of Pinochle marathons during our yearly vacation with our cousins at our condo in Island Park.

Miles and Lisette are carrying on the tradition. A couple of years ago while we were on vacation with family they learned how to play. Ian hadn't learned yet, but tonight he had a very auspicious debut.

I helped him with his first hand and was amazed as he shot the moon! (I did help him, a bit). For those non-Pinochle players if you get a hand that is so stupendous that you think you won't lose any points, you can wager the whole game on one hand. He actually had one loser card, but his partner saved it and they won. He then left and Melinda played 2 hands. He came back later and played another game. This time Melinda helped him and he had a lay-down shoot the moon, which is super colossal amazing! Even more incredible, was that he only got 2 cards from his partner.

I'd wager that there is a high probability of this family tradition continuing strong.

Scott's mission report

Melinda's brother, Scott, came home from his mission on Thursday. He spent 2 years teaching the gospel to the Spanish speaking residents of Ft. Lauderdale Florida. We went to his ward to hear him speak today.

He started out directly with his testimony of Jesus Christ and of His Atonement. Wow. Scott used to be this precocious, opinionated kid, and now he is a man who during 2 years of service really gets the heart of the gospel. Through his blood (bicycle accidents), sweat (Miami heat), and tears (this one I'm just assuming) he has seen the hand of the Lord in his life and in the lives of those he has served.

I liked his mission stories, but seeing his love and gratitude for Jesus Christ is what was really moving. He has changed in 2 years, and all for the better. Is their anything better a nineteen year-old could be doing with 2 years than serving Jesus and getting to know Him?

Day Off

Friday I took the day off. It was glorious. I slept in, lounged around, and took a nap. It's so nice to just stay in bed with warm comfy blankets on a cool fall day. I got a couple calls from work, but I was able to remote-in an fix them pretty easily.

Today I slept in again! It was great. I felt like just lounging around all day, but I thought I'd be happier get a few things done. I was contemplating cleaning up the back porch or going to the temple. I thought the temple was a loftier goal, so I drove downtown and spent a couple hours there (Melinda had gone on Friday morning with her cousin Emily).

Then I got home and rounded-up all the kids and directed them in cleaning up the house. They washed dishes, did the laundry, mopped the floor, and Ian even mowed the lawn. I went out with Ian while he mowed the lawn and ended up getting the back porch all cleaned up like I originally wanted to. I guess if you get your priorities in the right place, you can make room for some of the other things as well.

Of Mice and Men

Never, ever purchase male mice. Don't even think about it. Yes, they will look so cute running around together in the pet store, but resist; they smell like mortal sin. They weren't bad when they were young, but they are now adult male mice and they are oh so potent.

We still love our mice, Willis, Jack, and Max, but sadly they have been exiled from the boy's room. Their deadly aroma became too much, especially for me. If you ask Melinda, she'll say I was dead-set on exterminating them. Alas, that wasn't ever actually an option, so plan B was to give them to a good home. That plan failed too. We believe in truth in advertising, so needless to say there were no takers. Let's face it, "would you like a stinky mouse?" isn't a very good sales tactic.

So I resorted to plan C - Operation Rodent Ventilation. So far it has worked out great! No more stink from the boys room! I had been hatching this plan for a while and 2 weeks a go I decided to go for it.

Materials:
1. Flexible dryer vent (we had this already)
2. Small box fan (we had this too!)
3. Duct tape (this I had to buy; the boys go through this faster than toilet paper)
4. Plastic sheeting (from the garage)
5. Rigid styrofoam insulation (this I had to buy, too)
6. Small amount of screen (found it in the garage from an old windows screen)

I moved the mice habitats downstairs to the sprout room (the spare room I use for starting seedlings). Then I ducted tape plastic on both sides of the fan - one to cover their tanks, and the other to attach to the dryer vent.


Then I ran the dryer vent to the windows (one of the old panes was cracked, so I broke it all the way out and placed the styrofoam sheet to the windows, cut a hole in it, attached a screen, then attached the hose. Then I put plastic on the windows, and ducked taped the rest of the vent to keep out leaks.


Below is the vent from the outside. Warning: stay way unless you want your nose hair burnt!


Anyway, life is much better now that the boy's room doesn't smell like the zoo. The sprout room only has the very faintest hint of rodent smell, and even though we still have to clean out their cages every week, I can live with that.