"What with?"
"Good point."
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Winter Wonderland
Okay, what the heck????? The powers that be have cancelled school tomorrow for a SNOW DAY! Yes a snow day. We can't believe it either. I can't ever remember snow here. Maybe a scattering but certainly not a whole bunch. It is supposed to snow all night and drop about 6 - 10 inches on us. We will let you know if that happens. Anyway, here are a few wintery pictures for your enjoyment. 
An update on Kato too. He has discovered the gutter. We let him out a couple nights ago and he found the leaves floating down the gutter. He chased them for a long time. We brought him in to warm him up and us mostly. He now sits at the door and whines. (not a fun thing) If we let him out, he goes straight for the gutter and doesn't care that it is 28 degrees and the water in the gutter is seriously icey. He just walks back and forth waiting for something to come floating along. Then he chases it and eats it and digs in the water for the pieces. Funny to watch but I hate to stand out there with him and since it is the gutter, I am afraid that he will be killed by a reckless car. Who knows, but I don't want to stand out there any longer so we are hoping the gutter becomes dry and our lives can return to normal soon. We will keep you posted on the gutter Dog. Psycho!!!!
Friday, December 5, 2008
Slammed by Hubby in previous post
Okay I feel like I have been given a low blow!! I do have a life and I was just passing the time looking at the book. I was actually trying to find out if there was some magical cure to help our sweet but slow witted doggie. Doesn't actually seem to be anything. But I do feel as if I need to explain myself and convince you that I DO have a life!
Last night, someone came into my garage, opened my car, and stole my purse with all of the interesting things like credit cards, checks, and my license. UGGGGG. If I ever found someone in my garage, I would have to shoot them. I do have a concealed weapons permit after all. That is just a little too close to home, or in fact, it is home. Not only do we have to spend mounds of time replacing and cancelling everything, but we have to monitor everything for a while and make sure they don't actually use anything they stole. I hate that my license is out there allowing someone to bounce checks or buy beer or something. Yuck!! So much for the great neighborhood we live in. I feel like I should beat someone up.
On to happier things, my kids a re great! We have so many concerts and performances going on that we have to split forces and conquer. I feel bad for Alex as he is the one that usually gets looked over. Maybe it is the oldest child thing but I think he kind of likes it. He is so independent! He likes to drive and just hang with the homefries.(friends)
Other kids are great too! lots of singing going on at our house. I can't believe they all love choir. Maybe they will all grow up to be rockstars. Actually, Alex likes Billy Joel and Andre Bocelli, Jake likes Avenge 7fold and Abby likes Demi Lavado? That would be a weird concert but that is everyday at my house. Fun for me!!
Last night, someone came into my garage, opened my car, and stole my purse with all of the interesting things like credit cards, checks, and my license. UGGGGG. If I ever found someone in my garage, I would have to shoot them. I do have a concealed weapons permit after all. That is just a little too close to home, or in fact, it is home. Not only do we have to spend mounds of time replacing and cancelling everything, but we have to monitor everything for a while and make sure they don't actually use anything they stole. I hate that my license is out there allowing someone to bounce checks or buy beer or something. Yuck!! So much for the great neighborhood we live in. I feel like I should beat someone up.
On to happier things, my kids a re great! We have so many concerts and performances going on that we have to split forces and conquer. I feel bad for Alex as he is the one that usually gets looked over. Maybe it is the oldest child thing but I think he kind of likes it. He is so independent! He likes to drive and just hang with the homefries.(friends)
Other kids are great too! lots of singing going on at our house. I can't believe they all love choir. Maybe they will all grow up to be rockstars. Actually, Alex likes Billy Joel and Andre Bocelli, Jake likes Avenge 7fold and Abby likes Demi Lavado? That would be a weird concert but that is everyday at my house. Fun for me!!
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Christmas Events
Before we get to the events, we must get something straight. As you probably are aware, we have a cat (Stewey) and a dog (Kato). Stewey is a mutt. Kato is a Pekingese, a royal breed from ancient China. These dogs were bred for looks and NOT intelligence. This was confirmed a few weeks ago at Costco. Kim was looking through a you-have-no-life-if-you-buy-this book--about everything dog. It compared a Pekingese to a cat in terms of lovability and, most of all, brain power. It states: "They are very similar, except you can train a cat." We chant that phrase as we clean up the occasional dog smash in our master closet with the unfortunate realization that sweet Kato is most likely running on all cylinders--as small as they may be. The cat, on the other hand (a very distant other hand), is pretty much zero maintenance. He doesn't need walks, table scraps, carpet cleaner or even a cat box. He doesn't exactly surprise guests as they visit the bathroom only to find the cat squatting on the porcelain thrown, but he has never found the carpet to be as desirable as the outside. If fact, I've not found cat smash anywhere in the yard (sorry about that, neighbors).
Any male human, upon truth pill ingestion, would admit to poop and other related functions comprising most of their hee hee subject matter top 10 list. Ludacrist5 allow no political correctness, no sir.
The kids are doing great things in their respective school activities. They are all in choirs. We've been to several performances so far. We'll report on that as we're able to get the video uploaded.
I just returned from Canada--Vancouver, to be exact--where I presented our debt pay down program to a few thousand Canadian mortgage pros. Interesting city--kind of like San Fransisco and Seattle. It's the most mild of all the Canadian cities.
If you think our government is messed up, try this: Canada had an election 4 weeks ago. They elected the Conservative party and thus was appointed a conservative prime minister. Several parties exist in the parliment. Some of the smaller yet much more exciting include the Animal Alliance Party, Marxist-Leninist Party of Canada, and my favourite (Canadian spelling), the Marijuana Party. I mean, who wouldn't be in favour of that? The Marijuana Party currently holds no seats in the House of Commons. Seems the leader Blair T. Longley is unable to fill out the proper forms to get himself on the ballot. This is reportedly due to his constant "munchies" and inability to focus on tasks requiring more than 7 minutes of attention. The Progressive Canadian Party (PCP) has tried to make alliances with the Marijuana Party, whose leadership is unaware that PCP is merely an acronym.
Ok, some of that was a fish story. There are 3 viable parties, the Conservatives, New Democrats and the Bloc Quebecois. The Conservatives are like our liberal democrats. The New Democrats are akin to our left wing psycho freaks--man is bad, free the monkeys crowd. Bloc Quebecois is from Quebec and is left of the New Democrats. One Canadian gentleman described the 3 parties as liberal, socialist and communist.
Like I mentioned earlier in my drug party paragraph, 4 weeks ago a conservative was made prime minister after the Conservative Party won the election.. The New Democrats and Bloc Quebecois parties joined forces to oppose every single thing the conservatives tried, which has resulted in a complete stale mate. Then, through maneuvers not seen since 1922, the other 2 parties booted the prime minister out of office and put a socialist freak of nature in his place. As a result, Canadians effectively have no elected ruling government. That would be like the a Republican majority in Congress (if there was such a thing) booting Obama just because they had a majority.
Conclusion: USA rocks. Say what you want, but we really do have representative government. The last election was a testament to that fact. (I could go on about the bail outs, but I need my beauty sleep). OK, you talked me into it: All bail outs bad idea, period. Thank you.
Oh yea, I ran into Ben Stein. For those of you living under a rock...
From Farris Bueller's Day Off: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0s-oGumvPz0
Ben Stein on Glenn Beck recently: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rg9pbA634ig
Me with Ben Stein in the Vancouver Airport (for those of you keeping track at home, that another 45 seconds of fame):
--Brian
Any male human, upon truth pill ingestion, would admit to poop and other related functions comprising most of their hee hee subject matter top 10 list. Ludacrist5 allow no political correctness, no sir.
The kids are doing great things in their respective school activities. They are all in choirs. We've been to several performances so far. We'll report on that as we're able to get the video uploaded.
I just returned from Canada--Vancouver, to be exact--where I presented our debt pay down program to a few thousand Canadian mortgage pros. Interesting city--kind of like San Fransisco and Seattle. It's the most mild of all the Canadian cities.
If you think our government is messed up, try this: Canada had an election 4 weeks ago. They elected the Conservative party and thus was appointed a conservative prime minister. Several parties exist in the parliment. Some of the smaller yet much more exciting include the Animal Alliance Party, Marxist-Leninist Party of Canada, and my favourite (Canadian spelling), the Marijuana Party. I mean, who wouldn't be in favour of that? The Marijuana Party currently holds no seats in the House of Commons. Seems the leader Blair T. Longley is unable to fill out the proper forms to get himself on the ballot. This is reportedly due to his constant "munchies" and inability to focus on tasks requiring more than 7 minutes of attention. The Progressive Canadian Party (PCP) has tried to make alliances with the Marijuana Party, whose leadership is unaware that PCP is merely an acronym.
Ok, some of that was a fish story. There are 3 viable parties, the Conservatives, New Democrats and the Bloc Quebecois. The Conservatives are like our liberal democrats. The New Democrats are akin to our left wing psycho freaks--man is bad, free the monkeys crowd. Bloc Quebecois is from Quebec and is left of the New Democrats. One Canadian gentleman described the 3 parties as liberal, socialist and communist.
Like I mentioned earlier in my drug party paragraph, 4 weeks ago a conservative was made prime minister after the Conservative Party won the election.. The New Democrats and Bloc Quebecois parties joined forces to oppose every single thing the conservatives tried, which has resulted in a complete stale mate. Then, through maneuvers not seen since 1922, the other 2 parties booted the prime minister out of office and put a socialist freak of nature in his place. As a result, Canadians effectively have no elected ruling government. That would be like the a Republican majority in Congress (if there was such a thing) booting Obama just because they had a majority.
Conclusion: USA rocks. Say what you want, but we really do have representative government. The last election was a testament to that fact. (I could go on about the bail outs, but I need my beauty sleep). OK, you talked me into it: All bail outs bad idea, period. Thank you.
Oh yea, I ran into Ben Stein. For those of you living under a rock...
From Farris Bueller's Day Off: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0s-oGumvPz0
Ben Stein on Glenn Beck recently: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rg9pbA634ig
Me with Ben Stein in the Vancouver Airport (for those of you keeping track at home, that another 45 seconds of fame):
--Brian
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Okay, I am little behind in getting out the Halloween pictures and Brian has already posted all of the recent activities. I feel a little left behind but that is nothing new. I am pretty old school about many things. I like all the stuff that I had to learn the first time. I don't really like to have to relearn it with a new model. Sewing machine that I have had forever is my favorite. Phone that is a brick is my favorite. Computer that I could pretend was almost as smart as me was my favorite. Now I don't even have a chance!
Anyway, so here are a couple of Halloween pictures for 2008. Alex chose not to participate in the picture taking but he had a cute t-shirt which made him look like he was a doctor. It was that scrubs blue color and was kind of funny! He had to work though so he couldn't really dress up. Jake had been planning to be an elf forever and we just threw the green on for the night of trick or treating. It was a long night too. He came home with 196 pieces of candy. YIKES! Abby was a 50's girl with a little bit of Grease in her. She looked really quite beautiful in the makeup and everything. She is a great kid! Very fun and enthusiastic about everything. I was very impressed with the costumes in general this year. There were hardly any grusome ones. Also alot of very fun and interesting ones. A little bit of every
thing.
Not even very many Hannah Montana.
thing.
Not even very many Hannah Montana.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Veteran's Day in St George
Veteran's Day (today) was a special day for the kids. Alex performed (including a solo) with his school choir at program put on by The American Legion at the St George Tabernacle. School was turned down by Jake and Abby as they both wanted to see their brother perform. Besides, any respectable 7th grader would gladly sacrifice a day of school to attend just about anything. Alex did great.
Here's Alex's solo.
Besides the good music, we enjoyed several short messages by representatives of several Veterens groups. One which was particularly moving was Boyd Nethercott's recitation of "In Flanders Field," a poem written by Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918) of the Canadian Army. It's one of the greatest war poems ever written. Here's the story of the making of the poem:
Although he had been a doctor for years and had served in the South African War, it was impossible to get used to the suffering, the screams, and the blood here, and Major John McCrae had seen and heard enough in his dressing station to last him a lifetime.
As a surgeon attached to the 1st Field Artillery Brigade, Major McCrae, who had joined the McGill faculty in 1900 after graduating from the University of Toronto, had spent seventeen days treating injured men -- Canadians, British, Indians, French, and Germans -- in the Ypres salient.
It had been an ordeal that he had hardly thought possible. McCrae later wrote of it:
"I wish I could embody on paper some of the varied sensations of that seventeen days... Seventeen days of Hades! At the end of the first day if anyone had told us we had to spend seventeen days there, we would have folded our hands and said it could not have been done."
One death particularly affected McCrae. A young friend and former student, Lieut. Alexis Helmer of Ottawa, had been killed by a shell burst on 2 May 1915. Lieutenant Helmer was buried later that day in the little cemetery outside McCrae's dressing station, and McCrae had performed the funeral ceremony in the absence of the chaplain.
The next day, sitting on the back of an ambulance parked near the dressing station beside the Canal de l'Yser, just a few hundred yards north of Ypres, McCrae vented his anguish by composing a poem. The major was no stranger to writing, having authored several medical texts besides dabbling in poetry.
In the nearby cemetery, McCrae could see the wild poppies that sprang up in the ditches in that part of Europe, and he spent twenty minutes of precious rest time scribbling fifteen lines of verse in a notebook.
A young soldier watched him write it. Cyril Allinson, a twenty-two year old sergeant-major, was delivering mail that day when he spotted McCrae. The major looked up as Allinson approached, then went on writing while the sergeant-major stood there quietly. "His face was very tired but calm as we wrote," Allinson recalled. "He looked around from time to time, his eyes straying to Helmer's grave."
When McCrae finished five minutes later, he took his mail from Allinson and, without saying a word, handed his pad to the young NCO. Allinson was moved by what he read:
"The poem was exactly an exact description of the scene in front of us both. He used the word blow in that line because the poppies actually were being blown that morning by a gentle east wind. It never occurred to me at that time that it would ever be published. It seemed to me just an exact description of the scene."
In fact, it was very nearly not published. Dissatisfied with it, McCrae tossed the poem away, but a fellow officer retrieved it and sent it to newspapers in England. The Spectator, in London, rejected it, but Punch published it on 8 December 1915.
Here's the text of the poem:
Alex went up after and thanked Mr. Nethercott.
Here's Alex's solo.
Besides the good music, we enjoyed several short messages by representatives of several Veterens groups. One which was particularly moving was Boyd Nethercott's recitation of "In Flanders Field," a poem written by Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918) of the Canadian Army. It's one of the greatest war poems ever written. Here's the story of the making of the poem:
Although he had been a doctor for years and had served in the South African War, it was impossible to get used to the suffering, the screams, and the blood here, and Major John McCrae had seen and heard enough in his dressing station to last him a lifetime.
As a surgeon attached to the 1st Field Artillery Brigade, Major McCrae, who had joined the McGill faculty in 1900 after graduating from the University of Toronto, had spent seventeen days treating injured men -- Canadians, British, Indians, French, and Germans -- in the Ypres salient.
It had been an ordeal that he had hardly thought possible. McCrae later wrote of it:
"I wish I could embody on paper some of the varied sensations of that seventeen days... Seventeen days of Hades! At the end of the first day if anyone had told us we had to spend seventeen days there, we would have folded our hands and said it could not have been done."
One death particularly affected McCrae. A young friend and former student, Lieut. Alexis Helmer of Ottawa, had been killed by a shell burst on 2 May 1915. Lieutenant Helmer was buried later that day in the little cemetery outside McCrae's dressing station, and McCrae had performed the funeral ceremony in the absence of the chaplain.
The next day, sitting on the back of an ambulance parked near the dressing station beside the Canal de l'Yser, just a few hundred yards north of Ypres, McCrae vented his anguish by composing a poem. The major was no stranger to writing, having authored several medical texts besides dabbling in poetry.
In the nearby cemetery, McCrae could see the wild poppies that sprang up in the ditches in that part of Europe, and he spent twenty minutes of precious rest time scribbling fifteen lines of verse in a notebook.
A young soldier watched him write it. Cyril Allinson, a twenty-two year old sergeant-major, was delivering mail that day when he spotted McCrae. The major looked up as Allinson approached, then went on writing while the sergeant-major stood there quietly. "His face was very tired but calm as we wrote," Allinson recalled. "He looked around from time to time, his eyes straying to Helmer's grave."
When McCrae finished five minutes later, he took his mail from Allinson and, without saying a word, handed his pad to the young NCO. Allinson was moved by what he read:
"The poem was exactly an exact description of the scene in front of us both. He used the word blow in that line because the poppies actually were being blown that morning by a gentle east wind. It never occurred to me at that time that it would ever be published. It seemed to me just an exact description of the scene."
In fact, it was very nearly not published. Dissatisfied with it, McCrae tossed the poem away, but a fellow officer retrieved it and sent it to newspapers in England. The Spectator, in London, rejected it, but Punch published it on 8 December 1915.
Here's the text of the poem:
In Flanders Fields
By: Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918) Canadian Army
In Flanders Fields the poppies grow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
Alex went up after and thanked Mr. Nethercott.
Other Veteran's Day stuff:
We like this Willy's Jeep a lot. Jake and I may find one and rebuild it to look like this. How cool.
We like this Willy's Jeep a lot. Jake and I may find one and rebuild it to look like this. How cool.
Last Saturday (Nov 8), we took the whole family to the Air Show at Nellis AFB. Incredible. That post is on its way. We took over 1,200 picures and will get many of them posted as soon as we can.
These are just a teaser for the millions that you will soon see!
Friday, October 17, 2008
Day of hiking on the AZ Strip
Today was the last day of our school district's "UEA" break. Yea, whatever. Let's call it the Deer Hunt, shall we?
To celebrate all the teachers hard at work at their resepctive conferences (cha, right), we went out looking for petroglyphs, only to find lizards, horny toads and really cool mountains to climb. Alex took the opportunity to make his mom nervous by climbing a rather high definately steep mountain (We've named it Alex Mo
untain, figuring that the BLM wouldn't mind). The dog did ok, too. Although, after finding a stinky moss smelling pond, he had to ride in the back of the truck. This dog is like a 3 year old. Full of energy--for a few minutes, then wants to sleep or pee in the house. Alex, Jacob and Abby all liked to ride in the back of the truck by themselves when they were 3. (just kidding gma). 
untain, figuring that the BLM wouldn't mind). The dog did ok, too. Although, after finding a stinky moss smelling pond, he had to ride in the back of the truck. This dog is like a 3 year old. Full of energy--for a few minutes, then wants to sleep or pee in the house. Alex, Jacob and Abby all liked to ride in the back of the truck by themselves when they were 3. (just kidding gma). 
a better way
I have so much to share with everyone that I have decided it is too hard to talk to each of you and fill you in. So I am going to turn it over to you and post once and you can fill yourselves in :) The events of the past few weeks have been kind of cool. First Alex; he has discovered his love of choir and choral music. Well he discovered that a while ago but, last week, he did a solo in the Fall Concert. WHAT? Yes, that is right. A solo! He was so good it made me tear up. Oh, but did I mention that he didn't tell us? We found out when we got to the concert. I guess he didn't want us to be nervous for him. I totally would have been too!! He then went to Salt Lake City to sing in the Allstate choir. Also very good! He has a very good voice and I am excited to hear it more!
Now Jake, he is trying to be a good student and be well liked in school. He has a few great teachers that are making him see the benefits of doing well in school. Thank goodness for that. Parents lectures only go so far. Jake is also in a hip hop class that he loves. The teacher is a guy who has worked with some famous people and been in the dance crews of Backstreet Boys. He is very nice and Jake has some interesting moves. By interesting I mean cool. He is on the competition team and really is quite good. He also likes to play teh drums and piano but the violin has taken a little bit of a beating.
Abby is a great dancer, student, friend, daughter, etc. She is so much fun!!!!! She loves to dance! I mean any kind of dance. She has the blood for hip hop, she takes ballet and creative dance. She wishes she could go to a school of dancing. She was invited to dance in a Gala Performance on the 26th in front of 6000+ people. Southwest dance has the only dance team participating. I had to make her a pioneer costume though. I tried to not make it look polygamist though! We will post as soon as we get the video.
Now Jake, he is trying to be a good student and be well liked in school. He has a few great teachers that are making him see the benefits of doing well in school. Thank goodness for that. Parents lectures only go so far. Jake is also in a hip hop class that he loves. The teacher is a guy who has worked with some famous people and been in the dance crews of Backstreet Boys. He is very nice and Jake has some interesting moves. By interesting I mean cool. He is on the competition team and really is quite good. He also likes to play teh drums and piano but the violin has taken a little bit of a beating.
Abby is a great dancer, student, friend, daughter, etc. She is so much fun!!!!! She loves to dance! I mean any kind of dance. She has the blood for hip hop, she takes ballet and creative dance. She wishes she could go to a school of dancing. She was invited to dance in a Gala Performance on the 26th in front of 6000+ people. Southwest dance has the only dance team participating. I had to make her a pioneer costume though. I tried to not make it look polygamist though! We will post as soon as we get the video.
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