That's The Problem With Random

Bump bump..Bump bump

2009-07-10T09:06:00.002-05:00

So Julie had a doctor's appointment on Monday and it appears that there is a living thing inside her as evidenced by the heartbeat heard inside her. I still remember watching a great show on Discovery back in college with the Shelly's called "Body Story: Body Snatchers". It was all about how babies completely take over a woman's body to grow. Even down to feed off their bones. So good luck Julie. Hope you survive the invasion.

OK so maybe I went too far.

2009-06-26T18:10:00.002-05:00

So I was trying to funny in my last post but I think I may have flopped. I may have gone too far. I assumed that anyone who read this blog, because it is so awesome and I post so much, would know what was going on and find the humor. Unfortunately, Julie didn't think it was funny and I don't think many others did either. So I'm sorry.

Here is what is really going on. Julie is being a surrogate for Cindy and Dave. She is about a month along. She has morning sickness (all day) and is tired. I have to give her shots twice a day. She is on other meds as well. She has to have blood drawn every week. We are banned from activities! And we have 8 months to look forward to more sickness, tiredness, increase belly size, etc, etc. Then we get to enjoy the joys of childbirth and the aftermath. (Such a "magical" time)

Given all that I am, no kidding, really excited. It is so nice to be able to help Cindy and Dave. They have had a tough rode and it is hard to sit on the bench watching them suffer. Being in the game and actively working toward a solution makes all that stuff very much worth it.

What to say...?

2009-06-22T23:11:00.002-05:00

We have four kids (aka monsters). I love them. They wear me out and make me crazy and sometimes bring out the worst in me (I'm the bad cop in the parenting duo). But in the end they are wonderful. This father's day they got me ties and a keyboard. I needed the ties and am super excited about the keyboard. I've had the same keyboard for 3 computers and the shift key sticks and the keys are loud. They also brought me waffles in bed and then after church Lizzy and Sarah sat and cuddled with me while we watched Peter Pan. Life is good, maybe even ideal or perfect.

Each one of these four bundles of joy have come to us in the natural way. And with three out of the four when Julie has said to me in a soft, loving, and possibly even timid voice, "Uh, John?". I have replied knowingly, "Yes, I know.". (With the fourth we were both surprised and my only response was laughter.) Well, recently Julie called me at work and told me she had just taken a pregnancy test and that she was pregnant. However, this time there were no "I knows" not even laughter. In fact, I wasn't even the first person she told. Why would I deserve such treatment? Well, because this time the baby isn't even mine. That's right my wife is pregnant with someone else's baby. So in the end I didn't have much to say. But here are some ideas. Please feel free to share your's.

"Who was he?" followed by "Where's my gun."
"That's OK. I still love you."
"What! But I was only in Chicago for a week!"
"How could you do this to me!" (either yelling or sobbing)
"Well, I hope your happy with yourself."
"Call Jerry Springer."
"Call Dr. Phil."
Hang up and say nothing.
"Is he rich?"
"Well, I'm not going into the delivery room!" (my personal favorite)

Congratulations Cindy and Dave!!!! I hope this works!

Weekend Update

2008-10-10T19:09:00.004-05:00

(This posted was started last week but finished this week so it may read weird.)

I didn't get a weekend update out last week so this week I am updating before the weekend. So let's see....last weekend consisted of BYU football Friday night; conference, gardening, and a movie on Saturday; and conference, Kearny, and Fablehaven on Sunday.

This weekend I am home alone until tomorrow. Julie and the kids went to Kearny yesterday because Sarah had a pediatrician appointment yesterday and one with the cardiologist today. Tonight and tomorrow I hope to get some cleaning and unpacking done without Lizzy undoing everything. Also tomorrow I hope that we can go to the fair. I know the kids are excited about it and I am actually sharing their excitement. I hope they have good craft and photography exibits. Man does that make me sound old. Anyway nothing too exciting.

The main reason I wanted to write today (apart from taking a break from cleaning) was to update on Sarah's heart. In order to do that I feel like I should give some background. Not because I think there are people that read this blog that haven't already heard it all but because this blog is actually more of a journal for me then a fun read for others. (Not that I don't enjoy haven't people read and comment it is just that if you were here for fun then you are not very good at the internet. There are sites that are way more fun than mine. I mean I don't even have a cool mp3 player on the side.) OK. Here we go...

So on June 21st Julie went back to our room in Kearny to get some scissors for Ginny (which has story of it's own that is nothing short of a miracle) and found that Sarah had stopped breathing and was already blue. She screamed and started giving CPR. I ran back and by the time I was back there Sarah was breathing but was still blank. I could still see the white outline where Julie put her hand on Sarah's face when she had given her breathes. Sarah had a distant look on her face, was lethargic and despite having Julie blowing in her mouth was not even crying. It was a frantic time and a lot happened during the next few minutes. It was clear that even though Sarah was breathing she still needed help but unfortunately both the ambulance and the medical helicopter in Kearny were out on calls. (Not a wonderful part of living in rural Arizona.) Julie and I loaded in the car and raced towards Superior and Mesa to meet the first ambulance we could. We were able to meet up at the fire station in Superior and they flew Sarah to the hospital from there. Once we got there they started putting oxygen next to her face and she really started to improve. We knew she was going to be OK but still were quite shaken up.

Julie and I drove to the hospital after the helicopter but Bruce and Andrea happened to be in the valley so they were there to meet Sarah. It was really sweet actually. When Sarah arrived she was crying pretty good and the nurse was not having much success calming her. Andrea asked to hold her and as soon as she took her, Sarah calmed right down. Anyway, Julie and I were mostly concerned about brain damage due to lack of oxygen but fortunately we had a fantastic ER doctor. Ssince Sarah had showed some sucking reflexes he was wise enough to look for the cause of the incident. Sarah's heart beat was extremely elevated (over 200 bpm) which was very high even considering the ordeal she had just had. He ordered an ECG right away and saw that her heart rate pattern was missing a wave. We were booked in the PICU and were set up with visits from cardiologists.

By the end of the weekend we knew that Sarah had a heart condition and that it was at least controllable with medicine and possibly a surgery around 7 years of age. There was also a chance she could outgrow it. Anyway, she was in the hospital for two weeks. She had a whole bunch of tests including a muscle biopsy and when we left she had 5 prescriptions but at least she was home. Her progress since then has mostly been OK but she has had a hard time getting back to normal in terms of her heart strength and size. The results from the muscle biopsy also seemed to show that she might have a mitochondrial disorder so things had been a little discouraging.

The strange thing with everything has been how normal she seems. The doctors seemed to be painting this grim picture but by looking at her you could never tell. She is the the happiest baby we have had. She smiles all the time. She is developing normally. She has even figured out that if she wants to get across the room she can just roll there. So anyway, I have had my doubts. Julie says I was in denial but I just figured doctors can be wrong and especially when it comes to disorders in the cells.

So the first really good news we had was about a month and a half ago when we got results back from one of the blood samples that she did after the muscle biopsy results. All was normal! Then last week she had an appointment with the cardiologists and he said that her heart looked perfect. We are so happy. The doctor has taken her off one of her medicines and has started weening her of another. Really this has been the best news ever.

Another Weekend

2008-09-30T20:28:00.003-05:00

This weekend was not nearly as eventful as last but it was still good. We watched 4 nieces and nephews starting on Thursday night through Friday night. It all came about because I had a conversation with my sister-in-law and I began speaking completely without thought and I very forcefully offered up our services without even discussing it with Julie. She was good natured about it and my sister-in-law really needed the get away so we got them. For the most part things went pretty well. I, conveniently, had to work all Friday so I only had to deal with them for a little while. Friday night we went to the park and let them play for quite a while so that was nice too. The best part of it was that when Julie's brother and our sister-in-law came to pick them up the stayed and visited until very late. It was really fun.

What made it even more fun was that Stephen didn't get enough of us last weekend so he came down to spend some time here. He got here Friday night and ever since then it has been a party around here. (We have seen more of John and David then we ever have!) Stephen's birthday was Sunday so for his birthday we had grilled brats and hotdogs. They were fantastic. Stephen and I used the German mustard that I use in my brisket rub on the brats and it was so good. We also had the key lime cheesecake that the lady on the plane last week gave use the recipe for.

Anyway, other than a lot of visiting we have had fun watching various TV shows. The main show of the weekend was Chuck (see the image above) . It is very good. A lot of Julie's family have been watching it and they recommended it to us. We caught Stephen up on season one and then watched the premier of season two Monday night. If you haven't watched it I would highly recommend it. It a lighter spy show with good comedy and romance. One of the main characters is also in Firefly so I also really like that.

Let's see...other than that it was a basic weekend. We did get a fair amount of chores done in between everything including getting my lawn mower fixed so that I can mow the weeds in my back yard.

Our Weekend

2008-09-22T21:42:00.004-05:00

I am not going to apologize for my lack of blogging. I don't need the guilt. Instead I am going to move right on with nothing more than it has been a rough couple of months. Anyway, Todd's blog is nice because he just updates us with what he has done over the last weekend. That is my new goal.

So last weekend was kind of a big one for Julie, Sarah and I. Thursday the three of us drove down to Phoenix for our flight to Utah for the BYU vs. Wyoming game. The best part of the drive was watching people look at Cliff (my Jeep) in the city. I had been in Morenci the day before so Cliff was very dirty with mud from the pit. Julie and I had a lot of fun giving words to people's confused looks as they contemplated that strange brown substance on the side of Cliff. I also took great pride in driving by other Jeeps and 4 wheel drives that were all shiny and clean. That being said I can't wait until I stop going to Morenci for awhile so that I can wash my car. It is really really dirty. I want to see it shine again.

Anyway, Sarah did so well on the flight, I was very happy. The lady that sat beside us was very nice and chatted the whole way. Unfortunately, she and Julie chatted mostly so Sarah and I were left as the third wheel. Stephen was there to pick us up and all went over without a hitch. Shauna also had a gourmet meal of Italian food waiting for us. FANTASTIC!! We got to visit with Steve, Shauna, and Stephen that night which was a nice surprise since we didn't expect Steve and Shauna to still be there. I got people particularly excited about white shirts and ties at church at one point but there was plenty of topics to go around. Sorry Stephen about all the statistics talk.

Despite the late night visiting I was up bright and early so I went with Stephen to take Katie to school. Trying to eliminate a trip later Stephen and I decided to head to BYU and visit some old professors and get our BYU gear for the game on Saturday. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any professors and it turned out Julie want to go get her own gear. So we drove back to get her and once back I was able to catch all three professors that I wanted to and we got our gear. We really wanted to each lunch at the Legends Grill but we had to hurry back to talk Shauna to the airport for their cruise and since I had talked too long we were in a hurry. Deciding we had enough time to have a quick lunch we went any way. At first our thought was if they are quick and we eat quick we should be OK. It quickly moved to if we get our food soon we could box it up and still be OK. After 45 minutes which included serving the entire soccer team that apparently called in their order right before ours they finally STARTED making our food!!! Apparently the legends of the place are of how long it takes to get your food. Needless to say we weren't too happy and were a bit rushed to the airport. In the end though it all worked out.

The rest of Friday was pretty much spent visiting with Whitney, Amy Candi, and Stephen. We played a cool railway game and that was that.

Saturday was game day. The traffic was pretty good getting there so we were on time and everything. We started the game off with hotdogs and brats. Man I love the stadium brats. If you didn't see the game it was awesome. The offense ruled as usual but the defense was the star of the show. Shutouts are so fun. There were a couple of times when they got close but each time our defense stepped up and kept the shutout alive. It is also great going to BYU games because people are not drunk and are nice about the kids. The guys right behind us kept cooing and talking to Sarah the whole time. She was a big hit.

After the game we went to an old friends' place in Provo visited some more. In the end we visited 75% of the weekend, traveled 10%, and the remainder of the weekend was spenting eating and going to the game. Good times. Good times.

Thanks Steve and Shauna for the tickets and for a place to stay. Thanks Stephen for the rides everywhere. It really was a great weekend.

Evelyn is Sarah

2008-04-27T14:27:00.008-05:00

OK, it has been forever since I have posted on this blog so I doubt there is anyone who still checks it. However, I have promised Brooke and Todd that I would start a new so here we go.

As most people who know me know we recently had our 4th baby. She was born Thursday morning (April 24th) at 3:13 am (technically 3:14 but oh well). She was 6 lbs 14 ounces and 19 inches long. She has thrived on the outside world much more than any of our other children. Originally, she was Evelyn Leigh Bauman but by the time we left the hospital Friday afternoon she was Sarah Lynn Bauman. Anyway here is a picture of her as she is getting ready leave.

So far Lizzy has done OK with her. There have been a few breakdowns but for the most part she likes her. Our real trouble comes from keeping her calm and not getting too rough with the baby. Here is a picture of her kissing Sarah.

The other exciting news that happened the last few days is Amelia broke her arm. While Julie and I were at the hospital waiting out labor Amelia was playing at home on her scooter and fell. She was so brave and by the time she was at the hospital she was in really good spirits. She joked around and was fascinated with the whole process. I don't have a great picture of her with the break but here is the best I have.

Just so that I can get a picture with everyone here is a picture of Jacob inside of a cave that we went exploring yesterday. It was pretty cool.

Oh and here is my other baby, Cliff.

Striving for Excellence

2007-12-06T12:06:00.000-06:00

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

2007-11-01T23:22:00.001-05:00

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

2007-10-11T19:36:00.000-05:00

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

2007-10-01T21:40:00.000-05:00

****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

2007-09-30T19:52:00.000-05:00

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

2007-08-09T23:05:00.000-05:00

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!!!!

2007-03-30T18:18:00.000-05:00

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

2007-02-01T21:43:00.000-06:00

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

2007-01-24T19:35:00.000-06:00

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

2007-01-03T17:03:00.000-06:00

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

Elizabeth Ann Bauman

2006-12-29T22:37:00.000-06:00

So it is late and I am significantly tired but I wanted to put these pictures out there. Sorry that I do not posses Jacob's natural ability for clear, artistic pictures.

Elizabeth was born 2:52 Friday morning on December 29, 2006. She was 5 lbs 4 oz, 17 inches.

Jacob Originals

2006-12-07T18:59:00.000-06:00

So my kids have been particularly funny lately. To start Amelia has lost 4 teeth in the last month and so in turn has gained 4 whole dollars from the tooth fairy. Well it seems that all that money has gone to her head. Last Sunday (the morning her final dollar appeared) Julie and I were debating on whether we really wanted to get out of bed when we heard an upset Jacob approaching followed closely by Amelia. It was clear Amelia had done something to Jacob that he didn't appreciate and he was going to tell us about it. Not wanting to be as sharing with their going ons Amelia was trying to persuade him to not tell us. Just as he got to our door we heard Amelia plead her final offer, "I'll give you a dollar if you don't tell!" Well if that wasn't funny enough later that night I overheard Amelia ask for the toothpaste during teeth brushing. "I'll give you 100 dollars if you give me the toothpaste." I wish I could get the interest that turns 4 dollars into 100 in such a short time. In other Amelia news, here is a picture of Amelia with her new bangs.

Jacob has also had his funny moments as well. You'll have to ask about the undie dance. But on top of his significant comfort with his own body we discovered last night that Jacob has an artist side that we didn't know about. I was working on a photo project last night so I plugged the camera into the computer to transfer some recent shots. To my surprise I found many random photos that I didn't remember taking. "Julie, have you been taking random pictures?" Nope, not her. Jacob. Well, we explained the importance of not using the camera without permission or when we were aware of it, but as it turned out some of the pictures aren't too bad. So here are a few.

And a special request from Andrea. Here is a picture of Julie. The due date is 1 month from today but we are hoping for an earlier arrival in 3 WEEKS!!!!

Blog Redemption

2006-11-17T07:49:00.000-06:00

There is only one way to redeem myself from having neglected posts for so long....post pictures of my cute kids. This first picture was inspired by my wonderful sister. She kept asking if the leaves have started falling yet. Well Phelan, they are falling. This picture was in the beginning of it all. A guy from work let me borrow his leaf blower to collect and mulch my leaves. This was more at his request then mine because as it turns out it is way easier to rake and hand bag leaves then it is to blow them around and then mulch them. The only disadvantage of that is it takes more bags. So far I have filled 23 large black bags with leaves and I haven't even done the back yard. But I think the leaf season is over for the most part now. Phelan when you come here (which we are very excited about) I have more leaf pictures for you.

This second picture is of the kids' new PJs. I wasn't going to post it but it is just too cute. We got these about a week ago and the kids are loving them. Other recent happenings of the kids include a end of soccer season party, Jacob tried to shave but has decided to wait, and Amelia has lost 3 teeth. That of course is the last picture. She is very excited about it too because the tooth fairy has come 3 times leaving 3 whole dollars. I sure wish there was a hair fairy. I'd be rich. :)

Well, I do apologize for not posting for so long. Really though there hasn't been much exciting going on. But at the same time I have been very busy. I will try and be better moving forward. Things to look forward to include Cindy and Dave's visit, Thanksgiving, and more blogging fun. Actually, I want to plug Stephen's blog again. He is amazing with his blog. He is constantly putting up new songs and updating. You should really check it out (and leave a comment) But after Thanksgiving he will be posting Christmas songs. Not only is this a fun idea but I will be trying to contribute a little. I have been working on compiling some of my favorite Christmas songs and albums with comments to send to him for his blog. So check it out.

This year's Halloween

2006-10-28T21:14:00.000-05:00

My last posts have shown you pictures from last year's Halloween, but I finally have pictures from this year. As you can see Amelia is little mermaid and Jacob is Superman. The pictures are from the ward Halloween party. It was pretty fun. I typically have some reservations about being social but every once in a while I make an effort. In this case the results were pretty good. We have made some good friends here. It is funny though because our best friends have actually just moved here from Utah as well. Also, I have found one sure fire way to making friends in the ward. Stay and help clean up. This observation actually started last week. So last week I went to clean the church. I wasn't originally scheduled to do so but I had missed my turn the week before so I volunteered to make up for it. But in addition to that I had cleaned the church two weeks prior because the quorum leader had called and asked if I could help because they were short. Anyway, when I showed up last week the guy that lets people in and is kind of the church maintenance man recognized me and was surprised to see me. He seemed really grateful I was there and a big deal that I had come twice in such a short period. For me however it didn't seem like a big deal. Cleaning is easy. If I could clean myself into celestial glory then I would be set. OK, back to last night. Our good friends are on the activities committee so I thought it would be nice to stay and help clean. (Which come to find out the Elders were in charge of but nobody ever mentioned it last Sunday) Well, the point of all this is that I think the cleaning up was just as fun as the party because I got to talk and joke with the others that were cleaning. So my observation is that helping is by far a better way to make friends then partying.

Today was also a fun day. Our good friends came over to watch the BYU vs. Air Force game. We BBQed hamburgers and watched and visited. BYU kind of dominated so it got to be kind of boring because we were going to win and there wasn't much drama. I like my football when my team wins with drama. Afterwards we carved pumpkins. I did the old woman/witch from Snow White and Julie did the cute little face. I have another pumpkin but it actually takes a long time to carve these so maybe I will do it tomorrow.

New Jersey, Permits, and Pie

2006-10-22T21:13:00.000-05:00

Well, thank you all for asking about New Jersey, but as it turned out I didn't go. I think it was for the best that I didn't because it would have been a wasted trip. A lot happened and it would have been bad to have missed it. Also, I think the company that we were trying to get the bid from had already decided to not go with us.

In other random news I got my motorcycle permit last week. I know that doesn't mean too much (and to some of my family it is more of a bad thing) but it feels like I am getting one step closer to my Vespa. In case you haven't heard I am hoping to get a Vespa soon. I think the soonest it would happen is next spring but I am so excited. If you want to check it out it is the Vespa GTS. I have test rode it and it is so nice. Two guys at work have gotten scooters in the past two months and they keep asking when I am getting mine. One of the guys has offered to let me use his to get my license but for now I am happy with the permit.

So I am watching Michael as I am writing this and the part about pie just came on. I love that part. I love pie. I think it would be so fun to go to a great small town diner and just order two pieces of every pie (except the ones with nuts). Personally I am a fruit pie guy myself but Julie is definitely a cream pie person. Sometimes I wonder how we every manage to get along :) Well, that is all for now. I mostly just wanted to give an update about NJ since people had asked about it. Well, that and since Whitney has thrown down the gauntlet about posting so little (at least I hope that is what she meant) I feel the need to post more often, even if they are boring posts.

And the winner is.......

2006-10-17T20:24:00.000-05:00

So my group won the $25 gift card at work. I found out that two of the programmers that are from BYU were speculating who would win one day and both agreed that I would. I think they were bummed they weren't on my team. We had our choice of several places and I chose Best Buy. The worst part of winning $25 dollars is trying to figure out how I am going to spend it. I just want too much. So knowing this about myself I gave Julie the chance to pick where I got the gift card but she didn't catch the hint. So after much debate I bought Roller Coaster Tycoon 2 with an expansion pack for Julie and the new Barenaked Ladies (or BNL when I am around my mother) CD. In case you didn't know I am a big fan the Ladies. LOL :-) I have to give credit to Stephen and his blog however for letting me know that they had a new album. Everybody needs to visit his blog. One of his latest posts was inspired by me (at least I will claim it) because I asked him about a group called OK Go. He posted a video for one of their songs. It is funny. Stephen, of course, is a great guy. He is one the few things that I really miss about Utah. Ahhh, good times. But anyway, the new album is great. It feels more mellow then most of the past albums but I love it. (Yes I believe it is possible for me to not like a BNL album, just unlikely) To me it feels like their Christmas album "Barenaked for the Holidays". 'Course that may be just a result of being really excited to start listening to Christmas music. I know it is way too early but I just can't help myself. Anyway, I love BNL's Christmas album. It is very cool. It was one of the favorites last year among my office mates and other classmates that would stop by my office. Maybe I will do a post on Stephen's blog about it when the season is right.

Let's see......I have lost my momentum a little but I know there is something else I had in mind for tonight. Oh well, just enjoy the cute picture of Julie and Jacob from Amelia's soccer scrimmage tonight. Amelia's soccer ends this week. I think she has had a good time and she has definitely developed some stamina in the process. She really doesn't do much more then run around but at this age that is all soccer is anyway.

October Conflict

2006-10-12T23:16:00.000-05:00

Ahhhhh, October. Fall leaves. College football. Cool mornings. And the impending doom of Halloween. That's right I am not one that gets excited about Halloween. There were those days when I did but I have tried to forget them, not unlike those days when I wore MC Hammer pants. But I want to make one thing perfectly clear. I am not one of those that doesn't like it because 'Halloween is a pagan holiday'. In fact, I am willing to endure Halloween just to make those people uneasy. But let's not dwell on that (I have nieces and a mom that reads this blog). This is a picture of the pumpkins that Dave and I made last year. Mine is the less cool one. I think this year I will try the one Dave did and new one. And therein lies my internal conflict. I hate Halloween but Julie has a talent for finding the one thing that peaks my interest. Also, watching my kids get excited over these things is enough to hide my dislike. What a softy.

Well, honestly there is nothing to report except randomness. That is why the blog hasn't been updated. It turns out that deciding on what randomness to write about is difficult. Work has been busy. Home is busy. But neither one has been exciting enough to report. Next week I might have to go to New Jersey for work. At first I was excited about this but now that some of the reality of what I have to do has set in I am not so sure. I guess we will see. So as I finish this post I suddenly have lots of ideas for what I should have posted about. I should really keep a list as things hit me. Sorry, you'll have to just enjoy the picture for now.

New Van and Free Stuff

2006-09-27T20:34:00.000-05:00

So most of the family already knows this but last weekend we got a new minivan. Julie is very excited. So are the kids. We feel like we got a good deal and while this van doesn't have every convenience of the modern world it is very nice. The nicest thing about it is that we are no longer a one car family. Leaving my family stranded while I was camping was too stressful so we went ahead and got this.

My random thought for the day is to comment on the influence of free stuff. We had a training at work the other day and afterwards they gave us 'homework'. I would have done it under normal circumstances but then they offered a $25 gift card to the team that finished first. Well, I was sold. To add to the motivation, I was responsible for the majority of the task which meant that free stuff for other people was on the line. Well, this morning I turned in the work for the team and we were first. Now I just hope it was right so we get those gift cards. Well, it made me think about all the crazy stuff I have done for free stuff. T-shirts in particular can make me do crazy things like run a 5k. But I have my limits. I won't wait in long lines for free stuff. You put large crowds in lines for a long time for free stuff and the nasties come out of the woodworks. I have enough issues with people without putting myself around them when they get rude and mean. But I'll save that for another post and keep this one happy.

Thank-you everyone for your comments. It has been so fun to read them. Keep posting!

Glasses and Scouts

2006-09-25T21:28:00.000-05:00

This blog was created with the intent on giving me a place to put down some of my thoughts on the things that happen. However, for my 'first' post I want to just show off my cute daughter and her new glasses. My daughter and I both got glasses this last week. I have actually worn glasses for most of my life so I just got new ones. However, these are the first glasses for my daughter. She is so excited. I don't know what inspired her enthusiasm but it is cute. I was worried that the kids at school would damper her excitement by making fun of her but so far everyone is being pretty nice.

So my wife's family is really into scouting. Actually, it's not that they are crazy about it, it's just that they are almost all Eagle Scouts. A few years ago my wife's family had a family reunion/birthday party for her grandmother at which they had a court of honor. If you haven't ever been to a court of honor, at one point they have all the Eagle Scouts come up and form an 'Eagle's nest'. Well, let's just say that I was one of a few males left sitting in the crowd and those others were just not old enough to be Eagle's yet. But no worries, I made a choice to not be a scout when I was young and I don't regret it one bit. I know that scouting has it's good side but I also have other thoughts that my wife has told me I am not allowed to say in the presence of her family. Anyway, she has always said that I will have my chance to be a leader in scouts so that I can learn to appreciate it. Well, a couple of weeks ago she got her wish because I was called to be an assistant scout master of the 11 year old scouts. This last weekend we had a overnighter and to say the least it was interesting. It turns out that 11 year old boys can't do anything except play in a fire. Actually, they are very capable but whenever we asked them to do anything it was "But I don't know how." Some were eventually willing to try and were usually successful. However, some never would try and whined and cried at every thing. It was sad to see what city boys these boys were. So as a result I have decided that it is my quest to make sure my kids are not afraid of nature touching them.