Memorial Day Fun

We had a pretty good Memorial Day yesterday. We wanted to get out, so we ended up going to the "This is the Place" park up in Salt Lake City where they had all sorts of things going on. Here's the kids next to a pioneer statue.

Jack loved riding the ponies there.

It was baby animal day and they had some very cute lambs there.

Even Jack liked petting the little baby goats.

The kids thought the Navajo sweat house in the Indian village was pretty neat. Just their size. Jack is already assuming the Indian pose.

Jack and Isaac learned how to wash laundry the old fashioned way. They actually liked doing it. Hmm.

It was then off to get the dust out of the rugs. Beating the heck out of a rug with a piece of metal . . . very fun.

You can't forget Jack either.

After leaving the park, we headed down the hill to the Salt Lake Cemetary where the kids were able to visit their cousin, Hope's grave. They put little patriotic pinwheels in one of the flower pots.

It so happens that President Gordon B. Hinckley and his wife Marjorie are buried just down the way from Hope's grave. President Hinckley was a great prophet and the kids thought it was very cool to stand next to the huge grave stone. All in all it was a very suiting Memorial Day.

Garden Time

Tami has been bugging me for several weeks to get our garden going. Tami and I really don't have green thumbs, but we did some research and decided to try square foot gardening this year. My Dad and a few of my friends have been very successful at it, so why not us? I built a little smaller boxes (6'x4') and got some great compost dirt from the Springville sewer treatment facility. I'm not going to even question what's in the soil as long as it helps our garden grow.

I found that the extra slats from the blinds we installed in our house make great square foot garden dividers. I like the contrast they give too.

Here's the finished product. We're trying all sorts of things this year. Large tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, Roma tomatoes, carrots, beans, Swiss chard, Anaheim peppers, jalapeno peppers, bell peppers (peppers for salsa), zucchini, yellow squash, cucumber and then all the marigolds to supposedly keep the bugs away. I have the garden beds plumbed for drip lines, but just need to install the drip tubing. In the meantime I'll just water by hand, which is kind of therapeutic in a way. I still need to buy the cages for the tomatoes, but I'll get those soon. I don't need them right now.

This year we also finally put down wood chips in our playground area so that the kids don't have to battle the weeds. It also turned out very nice. Our backyard is slowly but surely coming along.

Technology and the Church

The more I think about it, the more I realize that the Lord really did create the Internet for his purposes. We had Stake Conference today and due to the large size of our Stake, we usually have to broadcast the meeting to a second building. In the past they have used a microwave technology, which requires a line-of-site connection between the two buildings. Hard to set up and not terribly reliable.

The Church now sells a little box (which is basically a mini computer about the size of an in dash car stereo system) that Stake Centers can put in their "rack" of equipment along with their satellite box. Vvideo feeds from a video camera and audio from the PA system in the Stake center are piped into the box, compressed and streamed up to Salt Lake over the Internet where it is processed and then available via an internet URL in a .ASF (Windows Media Player) video streaming format. It's about a 2-3 minute delay of what is happening live. I was in charge of the second building side. All I needed was my laptop, a projector and a cable to hook my laptop sound to the PA system in the building and voila . . . live internet broadcast of our Stake Conference. The video quality was practically satellite video quality. You would never have known it was an Internet video stream.

I kidded my wife and told her she could just stay home and watch it on the computer if she wanted to, but she was a trooper and brought the kids. I don't think the day will come when we'll watch Stake Conference in our homes too, but the fact that you could if you wanted to is pretty cool. Heck, maybe we'll just be able to stay home and go to Sacrament Meeting online. Oh wait . . . I guess that wouldn't work.

I can't wait to see what other divinely inspired technology comes out down the road.

Long time, no blog

OK, so I know I'm a bad blogger. Hopefully these pictures will give you an idea of how things have been going for us. Isaac, our goofball child and Jack are the best of friends and enjoy playing with each other.

With Brooklyn and Isaac going to school each week, Jack loves to imitate his older siblings. He wants to go to school very badly too. Keep that attitude, buddy.

Tami and I flew out to San Diego for Valentine's Day to attend my friend Blair's wedding and reception. We left the kids home and enjoyed the few days we had in sunny California. Here we are at the fountain in Balboa Park.

Standing outside the San Diego Temple. Turned out to be a beautiful day. I love this temple.

The kids at their Grandpa Tom's funeral.

Deron Williams of the Utah Jazz shooting a free throw. I did not zoom the camera for this shot. This is how close we actually were thanks to Tami's cousin. It was a good game and a fun evening.

Jack turned 2 in March. He's growing fast. We went to Tucanos in Provo (a Brazilian Grill).

Here's a funny clip of Jack blowing out his birthday candle. He was very anxious to blow it out as shown in the clip. The kids thought it was pretty funny as did Jack.

Easter is always a fun time of year. Especially when it gives Tami a chance to buy new Sunday outfits for the kids.

Other than that we're all doing well. Life is full of surprises and exciting changes. We're thankful for good friends and supportive family.

OK all you Star Wars fans . . .

OK, so maybe I'm just behind the times or something, but I saw this video clip for the first time tonight and got a pretty big kick out of it. Pretty talented group of guys.

Snowmen everywhere

Yes, it has been awhile since I have posted. Needless to say we had a great Christmas and New Years. We're thoroughly enjoying our new Wii Fit and Guitar Hero World Tour band kit that we got for Christmas. We enjoy the occasional MarioKart Race as well. But of course, it's not all about the Wii. We received a pretty good snowstorm yesterday which dumped a ton of very wet snow, perfect for a snowman. We were able to use our snowman kit we got several years back too!

Super Hero party

Isaac turns 5 years old this month and had a "super hero" themed birthday party. We have a pretty special connection with a pretty well known super hero named Spiderman. Maybe you have heard of him? He's pretty popular in New York City. We had all the kids come over and first of all decorate their own super hero capes as well as their super hero masks. I did some magic tricks and then Spiderman showed up. He made his grand entrance and then did super hero training where he taught the kids how to roll. Then the kick and then the yell, "Don't mess with the Spidey!". Armed with balloon swords, the bad guys arrived and the kids wreaked havoc on them (thanks Brian, Mike and Brian's friend). The weather couldn't have been better. Be sure to see the video clip at the bottom of the page. Isaac walked away from the party with a pretty nice stash of presents. It was like a Christmas prequel. The joys of having a birthday party so close to the end of the year.

Disney on Ice

A while ago, before our Disney Cruise we got a pretty good deal on Disney on Ice tickets. Being the huge Disney fans that we are and with Brooklyn taking ice skating lessons, we decided to get a few tickets. Tami let Brooklyn and I go on a little daddy-daughter date. It was a blast. Disney sure knows how to put on a show. The best part of the night is that it was a complete surprise until we pulled up to the Energy Solutions Arena. Tami dressed her up in her Snow White Halloween costume, but Brooklyn had no idea why. Needless to say she was super, duper excited and loved every minute of the show. Definitely the highlight of the night was when it was over and Brooklyn threw her arms around me, gave me a big hug and said, "Thanks, Daddy. This was the best night ever."

Black Friday 2008

As many of you know, I live for Black Friday, both for the deals and the insane-ness that is the holiday shopper looking for that incredible deal. For previous year's experiences, check out Black Friday 2007.

Black Friday seems to start earlier and earlier each year. With me inbetween jobs right now, BF was not nearly as fun, so I asked my mother-in-law if I could do some of her shopping as well.

BF always starts about a month before the actually day when my favorite BF site, www.bfads.net begins to post early leaks of the BF ads that someone must have acquired through the mafia or something similar. By the time the paper comes Thanksgiving day, I have already seen all of the ads. The game plan doesn't usually begin until about 10:00 the night before. I was thrown off this year by the "black friday online movement". Why stand in line for 45 minutes in the cold rain (which it did this year) when you can get the same deal sitting in your PJs sipping hot chocolate. But what fun is that? So, not to bore you with details, here's the play by play:

4:15 am - alarm goes off
4:30 - get in line at ShopKo (Spanish Fork) and it is raining, but warm (30 degrees is much better than 16)
5:15 - leave ShopKo with success
5:20 - I see an ambulance parked outside of Wal-Mart as I drive down the freeway. I can only imagine.
5:30 - get in line at Target (Orem)
5:50 - line "compression" begins (aka the anticipation of doors opening gets people very excited)
6:00 - doors open. Yelling begins as people rush out of their warm parked cars trying to cheat the system. Interestingly enough, Target has real cops keeping order. Never seen that before.
6:12 - leave Target with success
6:20 - arrive at Home Depot (Lindon) - very uncrowded - nice experience
6:35 - leave Home Depot
6:45 - arrive at Recreational Outlet in American Fork for some "outdoors" items
7:15 - leave Rec. Outlet
7:27 - arrive at Wal-mart in Pleasant Grove
7:55 - leave Wal-mart with success and no injuries!
8:05 - arrive at a different ShopKo (Orem)
8:16 - leave ShopKo
8:23 - arrive at Best Buy, another BF favorite. Picked up a good deal on LCD tv for in-laws.
9:07 - leave Best Buy
9:20 - arrive at Staples in Provo to get the item I hid in the store on Wednesday. It was still there.
9:30 - leave Staples
9:35 - arrive at Home Depot again (Provo)
9:52 - leave Home Depot and head home.

And that about covers it. Doesn't that just make you want to go out and try it yourself? I really am not much of a shopper, but Black Friday is such a great kickoff to the Christmas season, I find it hard to resist. Until next year!

Rivalry Week

I figured it was appropriate to post this picture. This Saturday is the big BYU vs. University of Utah game. I can taste the tension in the air. Thanks to one of Jack's great uncles, we have this ugly red hat that fits Jack just right. Too bad he's outnumbered!

Fall and Football

There's nothing better than the leaves as they change colors in the fall and BYU football. I took Isaac to the game this last Saturday against San Diego State. It was the last home game of the season. Last year BYU played SDSU in December due to the game being canceled with all the major fires burning in Southern California last fall. We even stayed after the game to watch the seniors receive their senior blankets. As we were walking back to the car, Isaac couldn't resist playing in the huge piles of leaves that littered the grass along the sidewalk. Luckily I had my camera with me and got some fun action shots of him throwing leaves up in the air. He's a good kid and it was fun to spend one-on-one time with him.

Father's & Son's

I was looking through my blogs and realized I had created this one awhile back but never posted it. Isaac and I a few months back were able to go on our first overnight Father's and Son's just up Hobble Creek Canyon (Springville). It was a perfect weekend and we had a great time. I was in charge of organizing a lot of the event, including the food. You'll notice the very cool trailer/stove that we were able to borrow from another ward that made the eggs, pancakes and sausage very easy to cook for the 50 people that were there. I have very fond memories of Father's & Son's growing up with my dad and I'm excited to carry on that tradition with my sons.

Disney Cruise 2008

We just got back from a very fun-filled 7-day cruise aboard the Disney Magic in the Western Caribbean. The weather was not all that cooperative, but we still had a blast. Only Disney knows how to throw a party that lasts seven full days that the whole family can enjoy. Here's some highlights of our trip...

Friday, Oct 24th

• Left SLC at 11:30am. Arrived in Atlanta and endured 5 hour layover due to weather delays.
  
  

Saturday, Oct 25th

• Got to hotel at 2 am. Kids were exhausted.
• Arrived at Disney Cruise terminal in Port Canaveral and boarded around 1:30 pm.
• Went swimming in the Mickey Pool.
• Partied at the sail away party.
  
• I won a raffle for a free body wrap with spa onboard. Gave it to Tami since I'm a good husband.
• Kids checked into Oceaneer Club (youth program) on board and found their second home.
• Met our wonderful servers when we inadvertently went to the wrong dinner seating, Gerry from the Phillipeans and Igor from Serbia.
• Met our room steward, Robert also from the Phillipeans who made sure there were mints on our pillows each night and towel animals on our beds.

Sunday, Oct 26th

• Spent day at Castaway Cay, Disney's private island in the Bahamas.
• Relaxed on the beach and rented bikes to ride around the island.
• Raced Hermit Crabs.
  
• Caught in a torrential rainstorm.
• Watched WALL-E in the Buena Vista theater.
• Enjoyed a very funny comedian at the evening show.

Monday, Oct 27th

• Day at sea.
• Kevin, Tami and Brian ran 3 miles around the ship in the morning.
  
• Ate breakfast with all the Disney characters on board.
  
• Watched Beverly Hills Chihuahua. (1 1/2 hours we'll never get back)
• Went to classes where we learned about Disney history and art.
• Watched ventriloquist in a cabaret show before dinner.
  
• Formal night at Dinner.

Tuesday, Oct 28th

• Spent the day on Cozumel island.
• Tulum LDS tour canceled because seas too rough to take ferry to the mainland.
• Hired taxi driver to give us island tour.
• Visited Mayan ruins of San Gervasio.
• Released baby sea turtles into the ocean.
• Watched Tinkerbell in the Buena Vista theater.
• Brooklyn got sick at dinner due to some pretty rough seas.

Wednesday, Oct 29th

• Supposed to be in Grand Cayman. Weather too rough to tender. Turned into a day at sea.
• Took a tour of the Galley.
  
• Watched High School Musical 3
• Dressed up as Pirates for Pirates IN the Caribbean party.
• Tami won a piece of art at the art auction.
  
• Watched fireworks shoot off the bow of the ship into Caribbean night sky.

Thursday, Oct 30th

• Day in Key West, FL, the alternate for missing Grand Cayman the day before.
• Took a 90 min. Conch Train tour around the city.
• Visited an aquarium and held star fish, crabs and watched a shark feeding.
• Celebrated Halloween on board.
• Kids went trick-or-treating around the ship.
• Family dressed up as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs for dinner.
• Visited midnight desert buffet.

Friday, Oct 31st

• Second trip to Castaway Cay. Much nicer weather.
• Rented kayaks and paddled around the bay.
• Patrick tipped his kayak (fully dressed) destroying his digital camera and $400 iPod Touch and reading book.
• Spent evening with the characters saying farewell.

Saturday, Nov 1st

• Time to leave. Off the boat around 9:00 am.
• Spent a few hours at Jungle Adventures Nature Park.
• Held baby Alligators and snakes.
• Watched an alligator feeding.
• Traveled back to Salt Lake in 1st Class.

To see a full set of pictures with captions, please click the image below:

Disney Cruise 2008

HSM3

So, Zac Efron had a last minute mishap and so they decided to put Isaac in his place. Be sure to catch Isaac in all his fame and glory this fall when High School Musical comes out!

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Brooklyn also had a chance to stand in for Gabriella. She was pretty lucky to be in some of these scenes with Troy.

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Ice Blocking

I remember ice blocking when I was in high school. This just goes to show that you can never be too old to freeze your rear off while hurtling down a steep grassy slope on a block of frozen H2O. Sorry if the video loads slowly.

School is upon us

It's that time of year again. Brooklyn is beginning 1st Grade and Isaac is attending Preschool for his second year. He has a late birthday, so he is lucky enough to have two years of preschool before going into Kindergarten next year. He'll definitely be one of the smartest in his class though. Tami is adjusting to having Brooklyn gone all day, but Brooklyn is loving it. Let's just hope that they keep that enthusiasm up through High School.

Hoody Towels

There's always simple pleasures in life. One of which is a "hoody" towel, or a towel that has a hood sewn into it. My aunt Jean made these hoody towels for Brooklyn and Isaac several years ago, which they have been using ever since. We ran into her recently and had mentioned that the kids lover their hoody towels and that we would need to buy one for Jack. She of course was opposed to us buying one and lo and behold, about a week later a package showed up on our front doorstep with a hoody towel just for Jack. As you can see, he absolutely loves it. In fact, after he has his bath and has his PJ's on, he'll parade around the house with his towel on still. Ah . . . simple pleasures. Thank goodness for hoody towels.

Yellowstone, Lagoon, Cabin Videos

I uploaded a bunch of video clips from both Yellowstone and when we went to Lagoon this past week. You don't have to watch them all, but some are pretty funny. We'll start with Yellowstone (See the Yellowstone 2008 post for more details).







Be sure to watch Brooklyn's dead on shot with Kaley's face in this video. This is on our way up to Mt. Washburn.







At the "Brink of the Upper Falls" of Yellowstone Falls.





Isaac is a little more chicken than Brooklyn when it comes to the "tummy tickle". This kiddie rollercoaster is very mellow, but you can tell by Isaac and Jack's faces that they were a little nervous. Isaac's smile does show through towards the end though.



This was Brooklyn's very first "big" rollercoaster. She barely met the minimum height limit. Little did she know how it was going to be. Her face at the bottom of the first hill is priceless. Listen close to what she says at the very end of the video. There was a glitch in the lap bars not coming up at the end of the ride so we actually went twice in a row. She did much better the second time.



This ride is called Wicked. It has a cool corkscrew in it and of course the start of the ride is the best part where it uses magnets to shoot you straight up vertically, a few seconds at the top and then straight down the other side. Quite the rush.





And finally to finish it off, a cute video of Jack swinging on some swings at the cabin. Notice his "eeeeee" which translates into "weeeee".

More good gas news

So, the slow driving theory doesn't just apply to economy cars. We drove our Trailblazer to Lagoon yesterday (an amusement park north of Salt Lake City) and kept the speed at a constant 65 mph on the freeway. Granted cruise control helps, but normal mpg on our Trailblazer SUV is around 16-18 on the highway. We tested it after just the trip to Lagoon and back (around 155 miles) and got an incredible 25 mpg! That's over a 50% improvement! We were very surprised. Not bad for a 7-passenger SUV, especially when EPA estimates 15 city and 20 highway.

Yellowstone 2008

Kudos to Mike and Marinda and their travel blog. In similar fashion, here's an update on our trip to Yellowstone.

Thursday

• Drove to Yellowstone getting 45 mpg
• Visited Fountain Paint Pots and Biscuit Basin
• Hiked to Mystic Falls (~3 miles)
  
• Watched Old Faithful blow it's top

Friday

• Celebrated Kaley's birthday by hiking Mt. Washburn with her, Pat and Adele (6.5 miles and 1,400 elevation gain with a 10,234 ft. summit)
• Saw 1/2 a bear en route (partially obstructed by a tree)
  
• Had ice cream at Tower Falls
• Kevin saw a Grizzly Bear in Lamar Valley through a spotting scope.
  
• Had pulled pork sandwiches with extended family for dinner
• Kevin learned about Yellowstone's extended eco system at the ranger program
• Tami unsuccessfully attempts to get children to sleep before 10:30 pm

Saturday

• Met extended family for very big, big breakfast
• Hiked to Natural Bridge trying to keep up with Tami's 91 yr old Grandma. (~3 miles)
• Rented 40 hp 18' motorboat for an hour and explored Yellowstone Lake including some pretty rough water (went ~17 miles on the lake)
• Visited Mud Volcano area and ever so popular Dragon's Mouth. (~ 1 mile)
• Brooklyn and Dad went to the Brink of the Upper Falls (Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone)
• Saw big fish at LeHardy Rapids.
• Another big family dinner (taco salad) with delicious raspberry homemade ice cream.
• Went to ranger program and learned about the Bison/Buffalo of Yellowstone.

Sunday

• Packed up the car and saw a snowshoe hare outside our cabin.
• Had a quick sacrament meeting with family and talked about family traditions at Yellowstone.
• Stopped by Artist Point on the way out to see the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone again.
• Got 42 mpg on the way home.

Mixed in with many buffalo traffic jams and elk, we saw 2 coyotes and tons of mosquitoes. Weather was in the low 70s with afternoon sprinkles. The kids were true troopers and hiked a total of about 15 miles over 48 hours. Can't wait until next year! To see all the fun pictures, click the link below.

Yellowstone 2008