Striving for Excellence

Greetings and welcome to this edition of the IsItRandom blog. Some of you may be aware that Stephen has an interesting blog about the musical arts. I personally appreciate his ability to present such abundant amounts of information on the subject. In addition, my very good friend Todd has an exceedingly informative blog on the subject of baseball. If you are ever privileged enough to peruse through his writings you will no doubt find a new appreciation for the sport of baseball.

Recently, I found a site that rates the reading level of websites. I was delighted to see that both of the above mentioned blogs had very high ratings. Unfortunately, I also saw that the writing staff of the IsItRandom blog have let the writing level stoop to an abysmal level and received the lowest ranking possible. But fear not my fellow readers! I have tasked the staff of this blog with a plan to turn the tides of this most regrettable occurrence. From this point forward the authors of all future blogs will be cognizant of our goal to providing posts that require more than an elementary education to understand. I apologize to any of the fine patrons of the IsItRandom blog whose experience here has been anything less than educational and uplifting and thought provoking.

Sincerely,
JB
Writer, Editor, Senior Implementation Orchestrator, Dynamic Communications Coordinator, Sanitation Engineer, Future Usability Specialist, and CEO of the IsItRandom Blog

Disclaimer: The staff at IsItRandom realize that for all intents and purposes the reading level of this blog is in no way related to its popularity. We understand that no one really cares about what is said as long as there is a picture of my children. Unfortunately, this was written during my lunch break so the pictures will need to be uploaded tonight.

Update: Here is a picture of the kids.

Halloween 2007

So, what can I say. Kids. Costumes. Candy. Cookies. Soup. Candy. Monster Squad. Candy. Sooooooo tired!!!!!

Did I mention candy? Or that I am sooo tired ......must ..........sleep ............. -_-

Another Attempt at Randomness

It seems that most of my readers are not much baseball fans, sorry Todd. But that is OK, there many other random topics out there. When I started this blog (over a year ago) I seemed to have so much to say that I never expected to have a lack of topics. Unfortunately, life has a way draining my soul so translating my many thoughts into text on the computer has not always been easy. But I am going to try to be better.

Ahhhh they love each other.

So there is this new hotel in town that seems to be getting really popular. If any one is planning to come out here you should really check it out. It isn't really big or fancy but they are cool because they serve BBQ once or twice a week. Usually they serve on Tuesdays but occasionally they also serve something on Saturday or Sunday. The Tuesday BBQ is usually more of a grill with standard items such as hamburgers and hot dogs. Although every once in a while they serve something a little extra. Last Tuesday they made hamburgers but they mixed the spices in the meat with eggs and a little butter. Then for a little zing they mixed in some A1 sauce. They also used wet hickory chips with the charcoal to give it a little smoke flavor. Oh, and they grilled some red peppers to put on the burgers. Man, they were good!!!!! On the weekends they serve BBQ with more adventurous items like ribs or chicken wings but this section is already too long so I'll have to tell you about it later. The operators told me last time I talked to him that he expects to be serving chicken wings in about a week so maybe I'll let you know then.
Well, there isn't much exciting going on here. Amy and Phelan are here and we are enjoying their company. Also, the rug rats keep us going. That Lizzy sure is cute. I think she likes me more then the others did. The other day when I put on my backpack to leave she started crying and crawled right over to me. Also, when I come home she always seems so happy to see me. :) Amelia is doing great in school. It is amazing to me to think that just last year she was barely reading and now she is getting little chapter books from the library and just busting through them. Jacob on the other had is just entering the reading arena but so far he is doing really well. Oh, and Amelia is so good in her class. They get 12 tickets each week and the teacher takes them away when they get in trouble during the week. Then on Fridays the kids that have a certain amount of tickets left get to eat a healthy snack an play games (like UNO or the likes). I don't think there has been one week that Amelia has had less then 11 tickets. She really is such a good girl.

"Can I have one of those, Mommy!?"

OK. That should be good for now. We are hoping to go to a pumpkin patch this weekend. I hope to take pictures of the kids in the patch for their winter pictures. I hope I can get a few to come out really good so I can post some cute family pictures next week. I really like it if they turn as good as Stephen's last few that he posted.

PS. Yes I added shameless pictures of my cute kids in order to boost my ratings and reader comments. What can I say, I'm weak.

My Softball Game

****If you haven't read my post "Falling into Baseball" you might want to skip down to read it first as this post is related.

Last Thursday I played in double header softball games. Todd's ward has a team and they were going to be a couple of guys short so he asked if I was interested. Since they were 0-6 and had lost the last three by mercy rule, I figured I could give it a try. The last time I play anything that even resembled softball was probably my freshman or sophomore year of high school in PE. You should know that back then I wasn't the athlete that I am today :) I even needed special extra credit just to get a decent grade in the class. So all I was hoping for was to connect with the ball with either my bat or glove. (I would have taken either.)
Anyway, Todd wasn't totally truthful because when I showed up they did have enough guys. I ended up switching with another guy every 2 innings. I played as the catcher. For the most part I did OK but I could hear the other team laugh a little as balls got by me. I was a bit timid back there, but in my defense I was nervous and those bats seemed to get really close to my head. But in the end I just focused on the fact that I was wearing my John Buck t-shirt and tried to gather courage from that :)



In fact, I was glad I was wearing my John Buck t-shirt because I had one really intense inning. The first play was a hit to left field, thrown to the short stop and then GUNNED to home plate to get the runner out. (a 7 - 6 - 2 play) Well, there I was, a big ugly runner coming at me like a freight train and the ball flying at my head at 200 mph!!! Well, I was nervous and so I put up my glove but also my bare hand and in the end my body's reflex was to try and catch the ball with my bare hand. (With my eyes mostly closed) Needless to say, I didn't make the play :(
Well....not two or three hitters later there was another 7 - 6 - 2 play only this time the ball was probably only coming in at 195 mph and the runner was more like a semi truck. (Although equally ugly.) This time I remembered to use my glove and thankfully it fused with the fibers in the glove because I was able to swing my arm around and make the play to end the inning. Whew! (I let the other guy play an extra inning after that.)
As far as hitting, I was able to hit the ball each time I was up (only three times) I got out twice but made it to base on one hit. The hit was to shortstop but he bobbled it a bit so I was able to get a few steps on him. I think that irritated him a bit (ugly people are that way) and so he decided to throw it at my head! (At least that was my impression because it was kind of out of my field of sight.) Since I didn't have a helmet that made me nervous but I didn't want to cower too much so I just kept running. Well, as it turned out, it wasn't coming at my head but rather my foot. It hit it square on the inside side but I got on base! I was even able to get to second but not after embarrassing myself but leading off a bit. (Apparently, that isn't allowed in softball.)
So bottom line.... we lost both games but only by 3 points. Oh, and I had a bruise on my foot!!! It is gone today but still tender. Sports wounds are awesome.

Falling into Baseball

So when we moved out here we quickly made new friends, Brooke and Todd. It really was a great blessing to make friends so quickly. One of the first things that we learned about them was that Todd was really into baseball. [As a side story, it was really funny to us that we met Todd here because when Julie and I came out here to find a place to live we stayed at a hotel with a whole bunch of little leaguers for some big tournament. We were a bit in awe of the amount of time these families seemed to be putting into baseball. Well, as it turned out we were just seeing a glimpse of a part of Todd's family.] Anyway, one of the reasons that Brooke and Todd became one of our best friends was because we would spend Saturdays together watching BYU football. But when it came to baseball season things were a bit different. I like rooting for the D-Backs but that is only because I root for all professional Arizona teams (yes, even the Cardinals). But in general, I thought baseball was boring. Todd says, "That is what people who don't understand the game say." Since I really thought it was boring I figured I didn't understand the game but I was willing to learn, if for no other reason then to be able to talk to Todd about something that he liked. Well, I can certainly say that I have learned a lot. Part of that is due to him answering my constant questions. Another is his blog where he writes about different aspects of the game. (You should check it out. He is a really good writer and some of the graphics he made himself.) We were also able to go to a few Royals games throughout the season and I even got to meet his friend John Buck. Well, the season is over tonight for the Royals and after one season I would have to say that I am a Royals fan. (Hey, if I can root for the losing Cardinals then I can root for the losing Royals.) Anyway, Jacob and I got to go to one of their last games on Friday night. During one of the inning breaks they did a dance thing where they put up video of people dancing. Jacob didn't get on the big screen but Todd was able to catch a bit of him on his phone. The video isn't great but Todd did a bit of spicing up to put fun music and effects with it. (In case you can't tell he is doing the Egyptian.) Hope you like it. The people sitting all around us sure found him really cute.



As a side note, it is starting to be fall here and man it is wonderful. I think this is my favorite season here. The air is just so beautiful and when the colors start changing it is just wonderful.

Time Keeps On Slippin Away

I can not believe it has been since March since I have posted. You would think that I would have plenty to post about but apparently it wasn't enough to get me to actually post. I think it was that I had fallen into a pattern of posting with a picture that tied into the subject. But that isn't going to happen any more. Now I will just post. And if I feel like it there might be a picture. And I might just talk about me. So there.

Holy Tornado!!!!

I just watched an interview of Will Ferrell on Sportscenter and that was his catch phrase for the interview. It seemed appropriate because I haven't posted in forever!!! So happy day I am still alive and you have a new photo to enjoy. The bad news. I don't feel like typing and Julie has made this into a chore for me so you'll have to wait until tomorrow (or next year) for more random rambling.

Anyway, the photo below is of Lizzy in her blessing gown. I must say that I think it turned out rather well. I wish I could get this lucky with all my photos.

Amelia's Birthday

So today was Amelia's birthday. It has been such a crazy week and so I feel bad that this didn't go up earlier. Amelia has requested Mimi's Cafe for the last two years so that is what we did. We got to listen the Hanna Montana in the car too! But gosh darnit we just didn't have enough trip to listen to Cheetah Girls 2 as well. Oh well, maybe JULIE can listen to that one with Amelia later. Anyway, Amelia is 7 and cute and fun. In true Amelia fashion she has made a birthday hat, birthday glasses, birthday pictures, and most importantly birthday scraps of paper all over the house. I think that might be the confetti. But anyway, Happy Birthday Amelia.

Happy Birthday Jacob

Tomorrow is the bugs birthday. The Jake-Bug that is. What a wonderful time to be five. Well I am so grateful that he is in our family. Anyway here are two photos with Jacob. Of course, one has to include Lizzie since some of you are craving more pictures of the little one. So if you happen to be thinking of Superman, Batman, or any other superhero, or if you find yourself playing Star Fox, Sonic the Hedgehog, or Zelda, or if you simply have the urge to carry some small toy or stuffed animal around in your pocket all day, take a minute to think of Jacob and how funny he is.

Another Elizabeth Picture

I am sorry about the poor quality. I just could seem to get a clear picture. :(