Bloggin' from the Burg

Januaryisms

2012-01-29T23:52:00.000-08:00

I realize that I post rather infrequently. For that reason, here are a few pictures and videos taken with my phone over the last month.

I love coming home to this boy, he gets so excited. Too bad he's more interested in looking outside than seeing me on this day.

Eli loves to look out this window, it's right at his level. Except that he occasionally bites the window sill. The UPS and/or Fed Ex trucks always stop right outside and he likes to watch them.

It has been years since I've had a good Nerf War. Luckily Calin was willing to indulge me.

My first new Nerf guns in probably 15 or so years. My coworkers and I decided that since we work in what used to be the Junior High School building, we can't let the space go to waste, so someday soon we'd like to have a Nerf war. When that day comes, I'll be ready!

This boy is so dang cute. He has been off the binky since early November, but they have just been sitting on Jess' nightstand, which he can reach easily. So, every now and then this is what we'd find, one in each hand and one in his mouth hiding a big grin. The binkies have since been relocated.

Believe it or not, this is a happy face. He scrunches his face and breathes in and out through his nose. He's silly.

Eli definitely has a silly side. He loves to laugh at mom and dad when they're dancing around and being silly. He has started to dance lately.

He has also turned into a mooch lately. Here he is eating some of a fruit smoothie I brought home from work.

Our future piano man.

The three of us were able to ride to church together today, which doesn't happen often. Since we did, however, Eli and I had to wait for Jess to finish choir practice. We made the rounds in the halls, but spent most of our time in the gym. Luckily for us we took home a tuckered out little boy who ate dinner and went straight to bed! (Church is 1:30-4:30pm, choir until 5:30pm)

An hour or so after he went down, I went to check on him and this is what I found. Silly boy had the blankets completely over his head!

Thanks for taking the time to read our blog. We're a little sorry that we don't post more often, but we hope that you won't give up on us entirely!

Family Photos

2011-11-14T16:24:00.001-08:00

In early November we had family pictures taken by a good friend and coworker, Jessica Goudy (https://www.facebook.com/goudyphotography). We didn't publish this post sooner because we wanted to send out Christmas cards using some of the photos (if you didn't get one, it must be lost in the mail). Anyway, here are a few of our favorite shots. Thanks for doing an awesome job, Jess!

Ready or Not!

2011-10-07T10:42:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we received our first snowfall of the year. Not much, but enough that it actually stuck in the grass and on the cars. This snow won't last, but winter is on its way!

Couldn't get the little stink to look at the camera, he was more interested in the leaves and falling snow.

Sure is cute though!

Notice that the neighbor kids built a snowman.

Bruderer Reunion

2011-10-03T10:29:00.000-07:00

Just found this post in the "drafts" section on blogger. Apparently it never got published.

As always, the first weekend in August is the Bruderer Reunion. This year was our first camping experience with Eli. Overall he did awesome. Now that we have Eli, Dan and I thought we should start collecting camping gear so we can take care of our family. This year we got a new tent, a camp stove, a 5 gallon water cooler, and a big cooler. Looking at everything we had, we knew we couldn't get it all in our car. We are lucky to have such great family members. Missy and Curtis let us borrow their car. With Dan's excellent packing skills (which he inherited/learned from his father) we got everything in with a little room to spare. It is always fun to get together with family and this reunion was no different. This was the first year all the siblings out West were together. Dan and I had our first experience cooking on a camp stove and Dan did awesome. We learned a few tricks from Keri and Tyler and next time we go camping we are going to be eating a lot better. Here are some pictures throughout the weekend.

Calin and Kenzi were battling in the bow and arrow. They had to shoot arrows at milk jugs filled with water on a pulley system. The first one to empty enough to raise their milk jug and drop the opponents jug won, in the end I think Calin won.

Xander had a lot of expressions but this one was my favorite so it made the cut.

Grandma and Grandpa Bruderer's posterity. If I counted correctly 32 of us.

Sawyer enjoying the dirt, he sat there playing happily for quite sometime.

Eli getting his first 4-Wheeler ride. Dan has been wanting to do that for a while.

Eli seemed to enjoy himself. Of course Dan did too!

I love my boys!

The Brothers, Gilmore

2011-09-25T21:41:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, the 24th, Darin, Calin, Curtis, Ivan and I went golfing at the 9-hole Municipal Course. The girls took their girls to some princess thing at the high school, so Ivan got to tag along with us. He did surprisingly well for a 2 1/2 year old at a golf course. Overall it was a good day. Darin and Curtis ended up with a tie, while I trailed a little further behind. Calin's a pretty good little golfer, with the exception of the pictures below. Kid spent more time in the sand than David Hasselhoff!

Thanks, Darin, for letting me borrow your extra clubs and Curtis, for the golf balls. I started the day with three golf balls and finished with 16, thanks to the canal, the tall brush and the grassy area on the other side of the fence you can see behind Calin in this first pic. That area happens to be the airport, which curiously lacked "No Trespassing" signs. Well, at least it did in this particular section, I later saw one of said signs and felt bad for hopping the fence.

It is kind of funny to watch the progression of the disturbed sand as he tried to get his ball out. He was getting frustrated so I encouraged him to just chuck the ball, and he happily obliged.

His club looks bent in mid-swing.

Ivan got in on the action.

Check out that form!

Now check out that form!

And this one, too!

Bottles, Bottles, Everywhere...But Not a Drop to Drink!

2011-09-25T21:10:00.000-07:00

Jess and her mom have been toiling in the garden all summer. Here is a shot of some of the vegetables of their labors.

Tomato juice, green beans, carrots, pears and peaches (last two were purchased for bottling)

We went and picked fresh sweet corn tonight. A local farmer had someone contracted to harvest his crop, but the person backed out, so the farmer is selling it off for $1/dozen. So, we bought several dozen to blanch, remove from the cob and freeze. We did save some for just eating. It doesn't get much fresher than from the field, to the stove top, to the table, in a matter of about two hours.

Unless you're Eli, who opted to skip the stove top and gnaw on a cob while I was shucking.

He's finally standing on his own, this ear of corn actually helped to balance him.

Hard to resist that smile.

Roll Over, Beethoven!

2011-09-25T20:47:00.001-07:00

Forget Mozart, this kid's got talent! Someday he'll make mom and dad a lot of money!

Blood Curdling

2011-09-25T20:32:00.000-07:00

Eli has developed this terrible little scream. He does it when he's happy, mad, hungry, having fun, during church, whenever fits his fancy, really. He was kind enough to demonstrate for you while waiting for his mother to fix his dinner.

Summer Vacation 2

2011-08-23T19:35:00.000-07:00

After our week in Chicago, we got to spend a week in Ohio. We had a blast just relaxing and spending time with family.

Dan loves and misses the thunderstorms in Ohio. While there, we got to enjoy a wonderful rain/thunderstorm.

Dave, Patricia, Gavin, Ken, Dan, Eli and I went to the Indians game.Two baseball games in eight days. Wow! At least this game wasn't as hot as the Cubs game. We had a fun time hanging out with family. The game was amazing and we won! If you want details you will have to ask Dan. All I can remember is that we won.

Dan was excited to be able to take Eli to an Indians game. Eli looks pretty excited too!

Silly boy.

A walk-off win!

The grill was out of propane and we needed a quick fix!

Another silly boy!

It had been many, many years since Dan was home for his birthday (9 years - 2002, to be exact). This year, he was home. Happy Birthday Love!

We enjoyed an ice-cream cake. Poor Eli wanted it for himself.

Adorable Gavin!

Eli was being a stinker during the pictures. He was going through a phase where if he saw me he wanted me to hold him. So during these pictures I was hiding in the other room. It was hard to get him to smile.

Pretty cute picture!

I just loved this picture so I put it on.

Summer Vacation 1

2011-08-23T19:33:00.000-07:00

This summer we had the opportunity to go to Chicago, sure it was for Dan's job, but we still had fun. Getting from the plane to our hotel was a challenge. We had to get on a train, travel down a lot of stairs, get on bus, and then walk up a hill (only about a block long) to finally arrive at our hotel. Not so bad you say, except we had our luggage (2 suitcases), a stroller, and a car seat. I was luckily enough to have Dan's co-workers help with the stroller, but Dan had to juggle the two suitcases, the stairs were the hard part. I admit I got annoyed at some people behind us making some rude comments about how slow we were. I wanted to turn around and tell them we were more than willing to accept help, but if they didn't want to offer then please keep your thoughts to yourself. Too bad I am not gutsy enough to actually say anything. Once we got on the bus we ran into some every nice people who were more than willing to help those with strollers get on and off the bus, I was very grateful to see some kindness. Once we got to the hotel, everything was better. Our hotel was close to the Magnificent Mile, (a long strip of shopping), Navy Pier, the Bean, and a free zoo. Unfortunately it was too hot for Eli and I too explore for too long. We played in the pool and went for some short walks. We were able to go to a Cubs game. It was fun, but extremely hot. Here are some pictures from our week in Chicago.

This is Eli's first attempts at crawling. He would get up on all fours and then try to move and would eventually flatten out.

He was faster to do his army crawl, but he did try very hard to crawl.

We waited for Dan's coworkers so we could all go to the zoo together, unfortunately they took long with their other activities and we got to the zoo about 4:50, when we learned that the zoo was closing early that day because of a concert going on there. We had 10 minutes to see everything that we could.

The Bean

Sweaty boy at the Cub's game.

Poor little guy!

Note the "Feels Like" temperature.

Found a cool breeze at the top of the stadium.

4th of July

2011-08-23T07:34:00.000-07:00

This fourth of July really started on the third with sleeping outside in my parents yard. BJ (my brother-in-law) and Dan set up the tents outside. Since Eli goes to sleep so early he went to bed inside and then when we were ready for bed we carried him outside. He did awesome! Slept through the whole night. We woke up early the next morning. One of my families traditions is to enjoy a yummy breakfast before we hit the parade. It was quite warm at the parade and it seemed to last a long time. Eli was not very interested in it this year, maybe next year will be more fun. After the parade we went back to my parents' to relax before the BBQ. After the BBQ my dad flooded the lawn with water for kids to play on. Even the big kids seemed to enjoy it. This year Dan and I didn't go to the fireworks. We were tired, Eli was tired, and Dan had to be to work by 7 the next day, so we went home and enjoyed a evening together.

Sound asleep.

Woke up happy, as usual.

Seemed to enjoy being in the tent.

At the parade

A little boy who is done with the parade

BJ made this "car wash," the kids loved it.

Dan took Eli through it...

Eli did not love it.

You can see how wet he got by the water drops on his face.

Eli had fun just playing on the lawn.

Josh and Bryn also love playing in the water.

He was just content to sit and play.

I do have to mention that the water was freezing and he sat in it.

The boys thought it would be fun to run and slide on the grass.

This one is BJ.

All in all we had a great fourth. Dan and I are so grateful for those who sacrifice so that we may have our freedom, simple words but truly meant.

Splish, Splash

2011-06-28T20:59:00.000-07:00

This boy loves the water! The last few days he has been going crazy in the tub. The times in the video where he is splashing, he usually does that for 10 or 20 seconds at a time! By the time bath-time is over, I'm nearly as wet as he is!

On a less-related note, this is what I found when I went to check on Eli this morning. That is NOT how we put him to bed. Silly boy is growing up on us. Oh, and he has a tooth popping through too! (You can kind of see it in the video, on the bottom, our right, his left)

Army Crawl

2011-06-28T20:54:00.000-07:00

At just over seven months, our little guy finally decided he's tired of just sitting around!

Twiners, Twice

2011-06-19T19:55:00.000-07:00

Today was my first Father's Day. Although I've only been a father for just shy of seven months, my life is completely changed. I love that little boy more than I ever thought I could. And I am extremely grateful for his mamma, my sweet wife, Jess. The two of them mean the world to me.

Matching ties

Eli already had this onsie, then Jess saw this shirt for me and just HAD to buy it!

Sweet boy

Look What I Can Do - Number 4

2011-06-19T19:05:00.000-07:00

This boy loves to make faces

Look who learned to roll! He started in the middle of this blanket.

But he especially loves to smile!

Just reading the paper

Why are you interrupting me, mom?

Utah - June 2011

2011-06-19T16:33:00.000-07:00

At the beginning of June we went down to Utah for Xander's baptism. Here are a few shots from the weekend. (Somehow I didn't get a single picture of Missy or Kate's families, or at Temple Square, for that matter)

Sawyer being Sawyer

Kenzi being Kenzi

Xander being Xander...with very white legs.

Keri being Keri

Boys being boys

Dawson being Dawson...Click to enlarge and see the brown in his right eye that Keri was referring to in this post

Eli being Eli

Wearing daddy's hat

Who turned out the lights?

End of an Era

2011-06-19T16:09:00.000-07:00

After seven years as the librarian at Madison High School, Jess has resigned. Instead of going back in the fall, she'll focus on raising our little one full time. I am grateful for not only her willingness to work when we needed it, but to now stay home with Eli. It's unclear which job is "harder," but one is definitely more rewarding and more fulfilling.

Last-day flowers

She loves gerbera daisies

Believe it or not, this is a happy face!

Twin Falls - May 2011

2011-06-19T14:11:00.000-07:00

In May we went to Twin Falls for Jess' cousin's mission farewell. Here are a few shots from the falls.

Picnic in the park

I do NOT smile on command!

It's a good year for water in Idaho

How cute are we?

Lovin' Grandpa Squires

Look What I Can Do! - Number 3

2011-06-13T11:47:00.000-07:00

Sir Laugh A Lot

2011-05-01T15:10:00.000-07:00

Eli had fun with Uncle Trev swinging a pillow.

Look What I Can Do!

2011-04-17T13:24:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Eli rolled over for the first time. He seems to be a stubborn boy who will do what he wants, when he wants...regardless of what his mother thinks!

He also recently discovered his toes, which actually makes changing him significantly easier!

Look What I Can Do! - Number 2

2011-04-17T13:23:00.000-07:00

Tonight Jess had a Women's Fireside at church, which left Eli and I at home. The plan was to start bath time at 7:30pm, read some books, then put him down for the night. At around 7:10pm, little man started filling his diaper, no big deal, so I took him up to change him. While holding his feet up, I started to clean his bum. All was going well until I heard little man start to kind of gargle on his drool a little. I lowered his feet to see a line of wetness going from his nether regions up his belly and chest and finally culminating on his face. I then realized that it was not drool he was gargling on. Needless to say, we started bath time a little early tonight!

All clean!

Bowling Fun

2011-04-10T16:02:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we went bowling with the Nielsen's and Herzoff's. Here are a few shots (don't get mad if you did or did not make it one here).

Just missed it!

I'm not sure what's worse, missing the pins or that face!

Anxiously waiting.

This is a silly little girl who was done with bowling by the 4th frame!

A Post!

2011-03-16T22:16:00.000-07:00

Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's been a while. I'll try to be better, but no promises. As most of you know, Eli joined our family back in November. Yes, it's been four months and we haven't posted a single picture of him on this blog. Making up for the last four months of not blogging will come slowly, but for now I'll try to keep you current. Here is a clip of our little man enjoying his bath on 3/14/2011.

In the Nick of Time

2010-11-28T15:55:00.000-08:00

As some of you may know, we have been refinishing a crib the last few months. It is the crib that Jess used as a baby. Jess' parents offered it to us and we thought it would be a fun project as well as save us a little money.

Covered in 20 years of dust from the barn.

After hours and hours of sanding.

Isn't she cute?

Priming and avoiding breathing in the cloud of primer so as not to hurt the baby.

On Saturday November 20th, eight days before Jess' due date, I decided I'd better put the crib together in the baby's room. Good thing I did, because that night Jess woke up with contractions! Twelve or so hours later, he was here!

It really is much more white than these pictures portray.

The coming-home outfit

Reunionized

2010-08-22T16:59:00.000-07:00

The first weekend in August is traditionally when the Bruderer Family Reunion is held. The last few years, including this one, it has been held in Kendall Canyon, in the mountains between Idaho and Wyoming. Here are a few shots from the weekend.

We saw this moose and her little one downriver from the Palisades Dam.

The directions we received were sketchy at best. They sent us up this little road that was no more than a 4-wheeler path. When we got to the top, this is what we found, it dead-ended in this clearing, with cliffs all around.

A shot of Kendall Canyon.

This shot was taken during the retiring of the colors ceremony. Uncles Ed, Raymond and Delbert(?), as well as G&G B, among others.

Darin & Naiya during the treasure hunt. Of course Miss Naiya had a melt-down when she received her prize, because it wasn't "pretty". Funny girl.

Calin, Kate & Uncle Ray. Calin received a prize that could be considered "pretty" which he promptly gave to Naiya. What a great big brother!

Looking for his prize.

Naiya riding the "Bruderer Express"

The elusive huckleberry! Jess and Darin picked quite a bit for us!

A little archery action. Naiya didn't seem to enjoy it quite as much as Calin. Go figure.

I think Kate enjoyed it. Here she is just after release.

The real question is, were here eyes open when she shot?!? (Clearly a different arrow, as you will notice the guy in the background is in two different places).

Jess even got in on the action.

Frankly, Calin frightened me a little. He would draw the string back and try to aim, but as he went to release, he would always begin to drop his arm (as evidenced by the many "burst mode" pictures I took, which I won't be posting).

These were our targets. Ping-pong balls with air pushing them up so that they were hovering/floating.

Darin hit his and knocked it off.

I managed to stick mine! Only one other person accomplished that!

My trophy!

Jess and I were happy to support G&G B by camping Friday night. Kate, Darin & co. joined us early Saturday morning. We were surprised when Alaina and Emilee came later that afternoon.

Shooting Grandpa B's crossbow. Darin definitely bested me at that. I ripped one of my customary ankle-socks, and this was the only other pair I had. You love the look!

Announcing...

2010-06-02T10:01:00.000-07:00

For those of you who don't know, Jess and I are pregnant! We're just shy of 15 weeks along. After several BAD days, which included two trips to the doctor for IV's to get her fluid levels up, she's feeling fine. Some mornings were tough for her to be to work by 8am, even when she wasn't feeling sick, because she has been SO tired! For those of you who know Jess, you know that she LOVES to sleep! The first few weeks it was common for her to come home from work and take a two hour nap, have dinner, then nap some more before bed! She is excited that she is now done with school for the year though. Our expected due date is November 28th, so we'll be adding another name to the long list of November birthdays in our family. But, we're excited for our Thanksgiving baby.

Our little Gummy Bear

Party Time! Excellent!

2010-05-18T10:41:00.000-07:00

We had a party this weekend to celebrate my graduation. For my graduation present, Jess got me a new camera. It's a DSLR, which is different than a regular digital camera. I haven't had a chance to play with all of the settings yet, but here are just a few of the nearly 300 pictures I took this weekend.

The Ivans.

G&G B.

Classic Kate.

Daronius.

Kinda bright, but a good shot.

Being Silly.

Look at the glee in her face after hitting a child (Trin?) with a Frisbee!

Reach for it, Curtisius.

She's cute, huh?

Brynlee had fun playing with Naiya and Trin.

Here they are turning Naiya into a mermaid.

Nice snag, BJ.

Wayne and Heather came, they're our only non-family friends.

Sometimes Calin's throws were a little crazy, imagine that.

Yes, Kate threw that Frisbee at me!

But I got this one!

Hey look, someone else has the camera!

Nice grab!

Kate was my least objectionable subject this weekend.

Yes, an ear may double in size when struck by a Frisbee.

And even bleed!

I'm not sure that's exactly the best way to eat watermelon.

Caught in the cupboard!

Darin being Darin.

Kate being Kate.

Ivan being Ivan.

Naiya and Trin were hiding from me, this is Naiya's face when she realized I found them.

Naiya being Naiya.

Being silly with Curtis.

Mmm...Ice cream sundaes!

Playin' catch.

Kate learned to play catch!

Testing the close-up.

Ivan kept missing the slide as he backed up to sit down.

Pomp and Circumstance

2010-05-11T22:05:00.000-07:00

Well folks, after nearly a year and close to 25,000 miles, graduate school has come to an end! I am now Dan Bruderer, MSW (Master of Social Work). Here are some pics from graduation last night (5/11). Now the job search begins (well, continues, I haven't heard back from the school district yet).

We made it!

Couldn't have done it without Jess

She loves me

Master Dan

Of course the diploma won't come for a few weeks

One Crazy Week

2010-03-05T09:30:00.000-08:00

I took this shot with my phone while driving to work on 2/26.

After getting off work last Friday (2/26), I donated plasma then went to the public library to wait for Jess to get off work, so that we could go fulfill a sealing assignment. While I waited I ate a small bag of trail-mix. Apparently this was insufficient, because as I knelt during the assignment, I passed out. I fell straight backwards and hit my head of the floor. I was only out a few seconds and when I woke up I was SO hot! I could feel perspiration forming everywhere and there was a bit of a throb to the back of my head. I made it back to my chair and with the help of a couple glasses of water, made it through the rest of the session. Jess and I promptly went a got some dinner, and I was fine the rest of the night. This experience will not soon be forgotten, especially by my poor wife who was admittedly a little frazzled! Sorry, love!

Rexburg Idaho Temple - Taken 5/2008

As some of you may know, I grew up in a house with, among other pets, a dog and two cats. At the time, my eyes always bothered me, but I never linked it to the animals. In recent years I have come to the realization that I am, in fact, allergic to animals. My allergies don't discriminate. I have reactions to cats, dogs, horses, etc. It's not uncommon for hives to develop rather quickly after coming into contact with an animal, but usually only one or two, never like a full blown breakout or anything. The reactions are especially bad when I touch an animal and forget to wash my hands and then touch my eyes, such as taking out my contacts.

Not sure exactly when this was taken, probably late 2004.

Yesterday (3/4) I was reminded of just how bad my allergies can be. At my internship we have a staff meeting every morning. About 15 minutes into the meeting my eye began to bother me. This, also, isn't uncommon, as those of you who have seen me this winter know, because I have dry skin patches on both of my eyelids. I hadn't yet put ointment on the patches, which generally keeps me from rubbing/scratching the itch, so I decided to rub my left eye just a little to satisfy the urge. Big mistake. Within minutes I knew it was something bigger than just dry skin, as it continued to itch and water. When a coworker across the table did a double-take when he glanced in my direction I knew I should excuse myself. So I did. When I got to the restroom, I was shocked to see how bad it was! It looked like I had been punched in the eye (or hit with a pillow - Dave)! The skin above and below my eye was red and swollen and the eye itself was far more than blood-shot. I took out my contact and rinsed the eye, but to no avail. I put in eye drops, but it continued to itch/burn. I decided that nothing I could do at work would alleviate the situation, so I went to tell my boss I was leaving. Her office door was closed, so I turned to the administrative assistant who immediately said "Oh my gosh, what happened to your eye?!?" I explained that I was having an allergic reaction and that I was leaving. When I got to the car, I took these pictures with my phone which do not do it justice.

Sorry for the extreme close-up.

Are your eyes watering yet?

I must have picked up an allergen somewhere between home and work, and once I touched my eye it was all over. I went home, took out my contacts and popped a couple Benadryl and settled in for a long day at home, since I wasn't even at work an hour when this happened! After a few hours all of the redness/swelling were gone.

I'm not sure that I ever blogged about it, but a month or two ago I had an interesting experience at the plasma center. The phlebotomist stuck me, but the needle needed a little adjustment. As he was doing so, he pulled it a little too far and actually out of my vein, which resulted in blood squirting out and all over the machine. What's your first reaction when something springs a leak? You plug it! That's just what the surprised phlebotomist did, by shoving the needle back in! After a little clean up the rest of the donation went smoothly and I was back in for my next routine donation the following week.

This was taken with my phone in 11/2008.

Well, this morning (3/5) the same thing happened at the center. The phlebotomist stuck me, adjusted the needle, a leak sprung, and was thus plugged. The guy sticking me handled it pretty well and was not nearly as surprised as the last guy to do that, even though it was the first time it had happened to either of them. While he went to get the cleaner, I snapped this shot with my phone and the rest of the donation went smoothly.

Just missed my pants and computer!

But the fun was not over! After I finished donating and my arm was wrapped (by the same phlebotomist) I walked toward the window to get paid. As I was doing so, I looked down at the arm I had just used to donate, which I happened to be using to carry my computer. Someone call a plumber, we've got another leak! This time I soaked through both of the cotton pads he put on and out the top of the wrap. I had two trails of blood streaming down my arm and onto the lid of my computer! I set the laptop on an empty bed an was escorted to the sink where I was un/re wrapped and washed off my arm. I'm happy to report that in both cases my clothes escaped without so much as a drop of blood on them! I told the guys at the center I was glad that I could add a little excitement to their Friday.

So, now I sit at the public library, in the same chair as last Friday, waiting for Jess to get off work. Perhaps I should get some lunch?!?

A Few Thousand Words

2010-02-13T12:35:00.000-08:00

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Well, these pictures were all taken with my phone, of things that I found humorous or that otherwise enticed me to capture them. Hopefully you'll be able to enlarge these, as I'm unable to zoom on my phone. The pictures are in no particular order (definitely not chronologically), especially since Blogger loads them all in reverse order.

This was the scene in front of a house in Rexburg. In the center of the photo you can see a cannon and a stack of cannon balls.

Hard to see, but the second full snowman from the left has a hole from the cannon

Jaguar hood ornament mounted on a late 90's Ford Ranger (Which has since been removed, possibly stolen)

You know the state is in financial trouble when this is the ice scrapper in a state car

Hard to tell, but this is the top of the steering wheel in the same car, worn down to the metal!

Out the back door at the Squires'

Taken a week or two ago while driving to work

I should probably fill up

This is something dead, a K-9 of some sort, that I came across while 4-wheeling on the hill behind the Squires'

Wait, so THOSE wires could kill me?!? (Taken while 4-wheeling)

A "crop-circle" on the backside of the hill

July 16, 2009

When I'm in Twin Falls I stay with Jess' aunt, who has two 18 y/o boys and a 14 y/o daughter. These signs were on the door of the pantry

Make sure you hold on tight when pull-starting the 4-wheeler (My thigh)

I could have sworn it was the 14th

A Topaz, just like the one I used to drive (although this one has one Tempo tail-light)

Who knew Hollywood video dealt in kids!

January 21, 2010 (In Twin, clearly not Rexburg)

Ford Econoline, similar to the one we had growing up

Yes, that snowwoman is pregnant. And yes, that pig, with a syringe in its butt that says "H1N1" is being held up by red, white and green balloons, the same colors as the Mexican flag (blame much?). (Doctor's office in Rexburg)

Only at K-Mart is "clearance" considered items priced between $1.99 and seven hundred dollars!

Lesson Learned

2010-01-16T12:09:00.000-08:00

So Xander and I were playing with a plastic fireman's ax on Friday. I pretended to shave his head with it, and he pretended to shave my face (since I haven't shaved in three weeks). Later that night Keri sent the boys up to get ready for bed. Dawson came down complaining that Xander wouldn't let him in the bathroom, and he had to go! Keri asked Xan what he was doing, but he wouldn't answer. A minute later he comes down the stairs crying that his finger is bleeding. As Ker and Ty tended to him, I saw a patch of scalp on the side of his head...also bleeding. I went upstairs and found Jess' razor laying in the tub with a chunk of skin and hair in it. After quite a while and a lot of blood loss, they got him taken care of! Of the situation, Xander said, "I learned a lesson the hard way, huh?"

Christmas at the Squires'

2009-12-27T14:31:00.000-08:00

Our little Christmas tree (one of the three we own!)

True love = Giving your spouse something you hate! (Cinnamon Bears)

Wrapping presents is an all-day ordeal for a quasi-perfectionist!

Jess was excited to get her Willow Tree Nativity

She only got the starter set of Mary/Jesus, Joseph, Shepard/Lamb, Donkey and two lambs...The rest will come!

Bill and Trev rockin' out on Guitar Hero

We're cute!

A Quick Update (Without a Witty Title)

2009-12-22T10:04:00.000-08:00

School has ended for both Jess and I. Jess is now off until early January. I'm off until January 19th. The best part is that as an intern, I'm covered under the school's liability. Because of this, if school is not in session, I'm not allowed to be at my internship! That means that I have five weeks of full freedom with zero-obligation! Well, not quite, but no papers to write (other than a talk for Sunday) or clients to meet with! However, I'm feeling a little under-stimulated. I'm having trouble sleeping, which I believe is because I'm just not using enough energy during the day.

The break (which officially started the 14th) has been good on the car though. So far I've only driven about 150 miles, instead of my usual 600 per week, and have yet to fill the gas tank! I think I'm kind of going through withdrawal symptoms from not being in the car so much though, sometimes I just get the itch to take a drive.

My semester went well. As expected, I procrastinated all of the major papers and such, putting them off until the last possible minute (or even a week after the last possible minute), but they all got finished. I ended up with three A's and a B+. Who knew grad school would be so easy? Okay, so it's not easy, but I'm getting through it. Only one more semester to go!

But who can really think about that anyway? The only thing I'm thinking about is enjoying my time off and spending time with family and friends during the holidays. Watch for more posts, including pictures, as the holidays progress. Merry Christmas!

Just Some Videos

2009-12-01T08:52:00.000-08:00

Playing on the floor

Cute boy, right up until he got my lens!

Gobble, Gobble, Giggle

2009-11-30T20:05:00.000-08:00

We had Thanksgiving dinner at Jess' Grandma's before going to Missy's house. We had a great time with family. Here are a few of my favorite shots from the week.

This isn't as easy as it looks!

Cousin Fun

Being Silly

I thought this was cute!

Let a sleeping kangaroo lie

Don't worry, I asked them not to stand on the couch

Turkey boy!

Banana boy! (Love this pic)

Story time with uncle Dan. It was the epic tale of Princess Sarah-Naiya-Are-You-Crazy. Apparently Naiya disapproved of the name I selected and corrected me by saying: Princess NAIYA, are you crazy (for picking Sarah)? This made me miss my Partial Care kids.

T-Nizzle Turns Five

2009-11-14T22:06:00.000-08:00

Playing in the smoke after blowing out the candles

Opening presents

Hangin' out with Uncle Jordy

This is for you, Mom. They were excited over the presents

Twin Falls

2009-11-10T17:53:00.000-08:00

After getting my tire replaced today, I decided to take a drive around Twin Falls. Here a few shots that I took.

The Shoshone Falls

"It was this big"

Throwing it back

A Chapman Halloween

2009-11-07T17:23:00.000-08:00

My sister-in-law Jen loves to decorate and entertain. Here are some shots from her Halloween party.

Homemade rootbeer

After bobbing for donuts

Pumpkin Patch

2009-11-07T16:30:00.000-08:00

We decided that our mini-pumpkins weren't enough, so we carved regular pumpkins too. Jess and Lynne grew so many that Jess and I decided to carve two each.

Jess' Ghost - The shape of the pumpkin made it really stick out

One of mine

Lynne's Witch Legs (Shaved and painted)

Jess' Crazy-Eyes

My other one

Frustrated with the lack of symmetry/perfection

For The Birds

2009-11-07T15:55:00.001-08:00

One Saturday morning in October, Jen, Jess and I were sitting in the basement while Bill and Lynne were upstairs with Brynlee, Jen's little girl. All of a sudden we hear "OH!" and movement upstairs followed by a "BAM!" We ran upstairs to see what was going on. Turns out Lynne opened the back door and a bird flew in! After trying to fly into two windows with closed blinds, and pooping on the floor several times, it managed to find its way to a window without blinds, emphasis on WINDOW. This is the result:

Smacked into the window and landed on the bench below

Lynne gingerly scooped it off the bench with a shovel and placed it back outside on the porch. It laid there for a while before finally ending up in the position. Jen and I went out to take a look. After several minutes of it just sitting there like this, we decided to walk away. Just then it took flight, buzzed right by our heads and flew off into the field. It made Jen jump, which made me laugh! :)

Cousin Fun

2009-11-07T15:11:00.000-08:00

Here are a few shots of the kids on the trampoline back in September.

Before the chop

Watching Curtis on the dirt bike

A ball of energy!

Worst Drive Ever...So Far

2009-11-03T13:30:00.000-08:00

So my trip to Twin started off on the wrong foot. After getting on the road I switched the heat from defrost to floor. Upon doing so I immediately began to smell something foul. I slid my shoe off to find it covered in poo. After debating whether or not to just pull-over and wipe it in the grass, I realized I was passing my sister Melissa's exit. So I swung by her place and hosed off my rubber floor mat and shoe. Not entirely convinced the smell was gone, I left the mat and shoe in the trunk and drove in my slippers (yes I bring them for my over-night in Twin). When I left her house I knew I'd be pushing it to make it to class on time, but little did I know that poo would be the least of my problems on this trip.

About thirty miles out of Twin I began to hear something on the passenger side rattling. I looked at the passenger seat belt and messed with the stuff on the seat. Didn't quit. I then looked in my rear-view mirror and noticed that it was kind of shaking. I looked at the road to see if it was my lane, but didn't see anything out of the ordinary. It was then that I decided something might be wrong and I began to slow down and pulled off the road. I opened my door and looked at the rear tire and found this:

I got the tire changed without any real problems and was back on my way. Luckily I have a full-sized spare so I didn't have to drive 45mph the rest of the way there. Needless to say, I was late for class, but I was safe.

Come Here Often?

2009-10-25T19:29:00.000-07:00

Well, apparently I don't come here often. Not much has happened since our last post on September 6th, but at the same time, a ton of stuff has happened since we last blogged regularly, which was July. So, in the following posts I'll try to update you with what we've been up to, but can't guarantee that the events will necessarily be chronological.

August

2009-10-25T19:28:00.000-07:00

August was a busy month for us. I finished my first semester of graduate school. I'm doing my Master's in Social Work through Boise State. Classes are Mondays and Tuesdays in Twin Falls, which is a little less than 3 hours away. I also quit my job doing Partial Care/PSR toward the end of August. I enjoyed the experience and learned a lot. I'd do Partial Care again, but would avoid PSR, it just wasn't for me. I quit my job because I have to do a practicum (internship) for grad school.

I'm interning with the Department of Health and Welfare. Specifically I'm with the Region VII Behavioral Health Crisis Team. We work with clients who are at immanent risk of becoming homeless or committing suicide, or who have We provide group therapy, individual counseling and medication management. So far I'm enjoying it. This semester I'm doing a lot of observing and not a lot of real work. I observe initial assessments, counseling sessions, Designated Exams at the jail, assessments at the Behavioral Health Center (last stop before they're committed to the state hospital), and sit through meeting after meeting. Seriously, I've never sat on my butt at a job so much in my life! I do get to co-facilitate some of our groups and have run one or two on my own.

I'm required to do 20 hours a week, so I'm there Wednesday, Thursday and Friday from 8-5, but I usually leave early on Fridays. I forgot to mention that the DHW is in Idaho Falls. So, between driving to Twin Falls once and Idaho Falls three times a week, I'm averaging about 600 miles a week. That's a LOT of time in the car, by myself. But it has given me time to listen to a couple books on CD. Right now I'm listening to Truman G. Madsen's lectures on the Prophets series. I'm enjoying learning about each prophet individually.

The bad part of the internship is the fact that it's unpaid. For this reason, Jess and I could no longer afford the rent at our apartment. So, again toward the end of August, we moved in with Jess' parents in Archer. It's not our preferred living arrangement, but it's helping us get by without going into debt to pay rent. On the more difficult days we remind ourselves that it's only until May, when I'll finish grad school.

So, in a nutshell that's about all I remember from August. Sorry no pics for this post!

September

2009-10-25T19:27:00.000-07:00

What to say about September? Well, Jess went back to work in September (may have been August, but oh well). This is her 6th year working in the library at the high school. She really enjoys her job, even though the administration and students can be frustrating at times. She really likes the head librarian and of course loves books! She also loved having a week off for potato harvest (which may have been during October, but I'm struggling to remember anything that happened in September). During homecoming week the school has theme days. Being the fun loving girl she is, Jess participated in a few of those days. Here she is on "Geezer Day."

I've been feeling terribly under-active lately. With being in Twin all day Monday and Tuesday and working full days (rare for social workers) the rest of the week, plus donating plasma on Wednesdays and Fridays which doesn't put me home until usually after 7pm, I just haven't had much time to be physically active or have any fun. In an effort to remedy this I've been taking four-wheeler rides in the evenings. It's a nice chance to get out of the house and enjoy the country-living Archer has to offer. Here are a couple shots I took one night while on a ride.

October

2009-10-25T19:26:00.000-07:00

Things haven't slowed down any in October. Last week for my internship we held trainings for police officers to teach them more effective ways to work with people with mental illnesses. The trainings went well and hopefully will keep the officers and mentally ill safe (as well as out of jail). Here's a shot I took with my phone while driving to work on Friday.

Friday night we went to a magic show at BYU-Idaho. The magician was The Great Kaplan. It was a pretty good show, we enjoyed it. On Saturday we went to Idaho Falls for a concert with Jenny Oaks Baker (daughter of Elder Oaks and very talented violinist) and the Teton Chamber Orchestra, which Marinda, my sister-in-law, is in. This was also a great show.

Tonight, Sunday, we had a family Halloween party at Jess' grandma's. There is always a pumpkin carving contest at the party, but we didn't feel like carving today. Instead, Jess decided just to decorate a few of the mini-pumpkins that she and Lynne grew in the garden. I tried my hand at carving them.

Jess' spider web and ghost pumpkins

Who knew you could carve mini-pumpkins?

Reminds me of a character from Super Mario World

My beautiful Greek goddess

At the last minute we came up with a Jack the Ripper costume for me

Like she'd really go that easily!

Tough As Nails

2009-09-06T20:32:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday, my nearly 85 year-old Grandfather fell and broke his neck. I went by on Thursday and we talked for a few minutes before he fell asleep and again on Friday, but he was asleep the whole time I was there. On Saturday Jess, Melissa and I visited and he seemed himself, cracking jokes and all. One of the nurses commented that he is the toughest man she'd ever seen, having the halo inserted without any pain killers or sedatives. Grandma Bruderer commented that his "halo" is a little tarnished, and anyone who knows him would probably have to agree! Also, when they brought him in they discovered he had the MRSA virus, but RaNea thinks its just a staph infection. For this reason, the hospital required us to wear gowns, masks and gloves. By Saturday they said as long as we didn't get too close, we'd be ok without. Here are some pics (taken Saturday) for the family to see just what's going on. The pics were also taken so that Grandpa could see, as there isn't a mirror in his room. He commented on how much facial hair he had growing and even asked RaNea to bring a razor!

During our Saturday visit I noticed how swollen his hands seemed.

I asked if he was able to pick up any radio stations with this gear.

Grandma commented that maybe the extra holes in his head would help him hear better!

I got a little expression in this picture, but unfortunately he blinked!

Kids Say...Part 2

2009-07-25T15:01:00.000-07:00

While sitting on the couch with Jess and my 4 year-old niece Trinity, Trin looks at her mom (my sister Missy) and says "When are Uncle Dan and Aunt Jess going to have a baby?" We all smiled and chuckled a little, and Missy asked her "Why do you ask?" (Noting that Trin and Jess have been playing together for several hours, so clearly she had not been prompted) To this, Trin responded, "Cause her tummy is fat!" At this we all busted up laughing. Jess wasn't offended, because it was just the way she was sitting on the couch. They have had a great afternoon playing dress up and having tea parties. Trin loves her Aunt Jess!

Enjoying the fruits of our labor

2009-07-21T11:23:00.001-07:00

I know not everyone gets as excited over a garden as I do, but that's okay. I am still going to tell about my garden.

One of the downers of renting is not being able to have our own yard or garden spot. My parents are very kind and let me share their garden spot. It is a great arrangement for the both of us, my mom gets help and I get to have a garden. My mom and I planted the garden ourselves and it took us 6 1/2 hours one day and about another 2 hours another day to fill the wall-of-waters around our tomatoes and peppers. The pictures aren't much to look at because you can't really see any of the plants.

We lay the black plastic down to help control the weeds and it really does a great job.

You can tell in the pictures we didn't fill all of the wall-of-waters. By the time we finished laying down the plastic, planting and watering the plants by hand, placing the cages and wall-of-waters around the peppers and tomatoes we were pretty tired. We spent 2 hours the following Monday to finish filling the wall-of-waters.

Here is what the garden looks like now. My mom and I are so excited over the garden because this is the first year, in many years, that we have had the whole garden grow. We got a new watering system, a tri-pod sprinkler, and it works great.

On the left side, what you can see is the pumpkins and behind the pumpkins are zucchini and cucumbers. In front of the pumpkins are the peppers. The main plant in the picture are the tomatoes.

In this pictures are the onions and the beans.

Here are the peas! This is what I am most excited for. For the past 5 to 7 years we have tried to grow peas but our watering system was not great and the peas never got enough water. Well, this year we will have peas and I am thrilled. I even got to pick about a dozen this past Saturday and they were delicious. On the right side of the peas are more tomatoes. We plant a lot of tomatoes because me and all of my siblings go through a lot for spaghetti and salsa.

This is another one I am excited for. Raspberries! My grandma and uncle used to have a huge raspberry patch that my siblings and I used to pick in. It was kind of side job for my uncle and we worked for him during the summer. One summer they decided they didn't want to take care of it anymore so they got rid of it. I was really sad because I loved those berries. So my mom got some starts and we started our own patch. If you look at the first picture behind the last row of wall-of-waters, that is were the raspberries are. They have grown a lot and have tons of berries on them. There is one problem however, the TURKEY'S. They eat everything before they are ripe enough for us to eat. So we will have to do our best at keeping the turkey's at bay.

I love summer, I love the green grass, the green trees, the beautiful flowers, and gardening. It is nice to actually have something to show for all of our hard work in the garden.

Nothing's Too Hard...

2009-07-19T21:45:00.000-07:00

"I want, want want, what I want, want, want, and this is how I get it...I take, take take what I take, take, take...and I never let it!" I came across this link and it made me smile, I'm sure it will do the same for my siblings. http://www.scripturescouts.com/ssbom.html

Join the Club

2009-07-08T20:42:00.000-07:00

Now, I never have been one to give into peer pressure often. This was especially helpful when attending Lorain Admiral King. But, apparently family has more sway on me. For the entire time I have known Jess, I have always felt a little out of place at her parent's house. It's not because I'm from a "real" city, but it's the fact that that city is located in Ford country. My Taurus has always been out of place in Jess' driveway filled with Toyota Camrys. And by saying filled, I mean FILLED! Her mother, father, brother, sister, brother-in-law and two of her aunts drive Camrys, not to mention SHE drives one as well! After four years of feeling out of place, I've finally let go of my Taurus...and purchased a Camry!

I'll miss my V-6, but not at the gas pump!

My 2005 Camry LE - Only 36,000 miles!

I've never been too into naming cars, but I'm considering it. Suggestions?

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

2009-06-14T13:50:00.000-07:00

Saturday we went to Calin's tee-ball game

Here he is during one of his hits

Look at the intensity as he runs the bases!

Dad coaching Calin at third

Naiya cheering on her big brother

Sibling Fun

2009-06-14T05:41:00.000-07:00

I love how well these two play together, although I'm sure that's not always the case. They're cute though!

Looking for attention, much?

The result of an almost four year-old in a saucer

Kids Say...

2009-06-11T10:43:00.000-07:00

So, my parent's house, which I grew up in, only has one bathroom. As the youngest of five kids, this was a problem! More than once you had to "close your eyes" so someone could go, if you were in the shower.

Well, this happened as I was in the shower today, Calin, my 7 year-old nephew, had to go. After several minutes of him being in the bathroom, I said "How we doin' out there?" To which he responded, "um, I'm out of toilet paper!" I then told him where he could find more, but he said he couldn't reach it. "Well what are we going to do," I replied. He then said "well, um, I was thinkin' maybe you could get me some when you're done in the shower." Made me laugh!

As I was turning off the water I heard him flush, because he found a way to reach it without me. He left and I was about to step out of the tub when Naiya, Calin's 3 year-old sister came to the door, also needing to go. After ensuring I wouldn't peek, she went. While going she said, "Uncle Dan, why did the eyeball fly over the house?" "Well, I'm just not sure, why Naiya?" "So it could eat the roof off of the house!"

I tell ya, it was an entertaining shower!

The I Do's of the Day

2009-06-08T10:38:00.000-07:00

Friday we drove down to Utah for my cousin's wedding reception. It was super fun, it was a beach / Hawaiian themed reception. I was excited to go because I know what my aunt and uncle are capable of, and they didn't disappoint. Here are a couple of shots of the reception.

Here is the entrance to the festivities.

My uncle made the columns for my older cousin's wedding and then reused them for this reception. My aunt decorated them.

The beautiful center pieces. I think I heard that the sea shells came from the dollar store. (Side note, we got a lot of our stuff for our wedding from the dollar store as well, it is a great place to shop.)

I thought that this was a clever way to display their pictures and still make it fit the theme.

Just a cute fountain.

My grandpa and I worked the food table together. I would make the drink and fill the cups and my grandpa put the umbrella in and kept the table organized. There were fruit kabobs, pulled pork sandwiches, and frozen fruit punch.

We are a long way from home, 3862 miles.

Dan and I, my parents, Jen and Bryn went to Utah. Here is a way cute picture of Bryn.

Dan got this amazing panoramic picture. With our camera you take three different pictures and then they get stitched together. If you look close you can see the guy in the blue shirt in two different spots. My aunt and uncle did a great job and it looked great. We only had one minor problem. My cousin's wife brought the wrong wedding dress. I guess her sister is also getting married and they had both wedding dresses together and the wrong one made it to Utah from California. They did find another dress and borrowed it and she looked beautiful.

We're Leavin' on a Jet Plane

2009-06-05T08:00:00.000-07:00

We will be arriving at the Cleveland airport on Delta flight 6220 from Cincinnati at 5:40pm on Tuesday June 9th. We will then be stranded. Any volunteers to pick us up?

A Post by DAN

2009-06-05T06:30:00.000-07:00

(That title is to help those of you confused by our last post, which was in fact posted by JESS)

So all week I haven't been moving well. My upper back and chest have been hurting. It felt like my back was just out of place, but nothing seemed to help. On Tuesday, when I was getting our suitcases out of our crawlspace closet, it hurt so bad that I had to just stay in there a while. Wednesday it wasn't too bad. I felt fine enough to play Freeze Tag with the kids at work. Yesterday morning, however, I woke up super sore and it hurt to move/bend. But alas, I had to be at work, so I went. It's not easy working with half a dozen five year-olds when you can't move. The worst pain seemed to be in my general heart area, which only slightly worried me.

Anyway, when I got off I went to the doctor. He determined that it was skeletal/muscular, due to some inflammation in my chest (apparently he didn't know I just had great pecks!)

So, he decided to give me a shot to reduced the swelling. As he felt around, he said that the place he needed to get the needle was about as thick as three sheets of paper, but that the swelling was not helping him find it. He also said that if he went too far, he'd hit the lining of my lung.

Now, I hate needles, always have. Since I couldn't find a job when I moved to Rexburg, I had to accept that plasma donation was necessary. But, unlike most donors, I HAVE to watch the needle go in.

This became a problem, as I was laying on my back with my shirt pulled up, blocking where he was prepping to put the needle! It only cause mild anxiety and a little discomfort, but I survived! Through out the rest of the night, I didn't notice much change, so I'm not sure he hit the exact spot, but with the pain pills I'm feeling decent this morning.

Battle Wound

2009-06-03T07:56:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I went to the doctor for my annual check up. While there, the doctor wanted to take some blood to run some tests. One was to check my thyroid and I didn't understand what the other two were. This was the first time that I ever had to give blood and I was a little nervous. I had always heard horror stories about doctors taking blood about how bad it hurt, but it really wasn't that bad. After she was done she was worried because it was swollen and she thought it was going to bruise. She kept apologizing and saying how bad it was going to look. I could see it was a little swollen once she took the needle out but to me it didn't look bad. Once I got home I took the band-aid off, everything looked really good, it didn't look swollen anymore. The only bad thing was that it hurt to move my arm, it was really tender. Towards the evening, everything was fine it looked good and I could move my arm with no trouble. Then I woke up this morning to this.

I guess I did bruise after all. I was so hopeful that it wasn't going to happen. Now I am claiming it as my battle wound from the doctors office.

Sentsy Sensation

2009-05-29T13:25:00.000-07:00

I have finally joined the sentsy sensation! This past weekend, Missy hosted a sentsy party put on by Keri. At first I was just there to enjoy the different scents and the company of my sisters-in-law, but now I have a sentsy candle, which I absolutely love. Keri was so sweet and she let me use her half-off coupon, which made the purchase a little less painful, thanks Keri! You can see a picture of the one I bought below. Keri told me about this specific warmer a while ago and I thought it sounded so cute. Keri had brought this particualr warmer for the weekend and I instantly loved it. As you can see in the picture it has gerber daises. Those who know me know I love these happy flowers.

Picking out which warmer I wanted was the easy part. The hard part was deciding on what scents Dan and I were going to get and agree on. First I smelled the scents and then narrowed them down for Dan. For those of you who know Dan, know that one of the only things Dan doesn't care for is cinnamon. However, I love cinnamon and a lot of the scents I picked had a hint of cinnamon to them. I think it is a warm and invinting smell, plus it reminds me of yummy cinnamon bears. My dear sweet husband consented to letting me get a couple of cinnamon scents and we also got a couple of fruity smells. All in all, I love this sentsy warmer. It never gets too hot so it is kid friendly and super cute. If anyone is interested in finding out more information about the Sentsy Candles, let me know and I will get you more information from Keri.

Get to the Point

2009-05-28T21:22:00.000-07:00

When first planning our trip to Ohio, Cedar Point was on the agenda. Later we took it off because it was going to cost us $100, plus Jess gets motion sickness and was worried about going to a real amusement park. We just found out that we can discount tickets. So we were wondering if anyone would like to join us. If we go June 11, we can get tickets for 29.99 (online). Otherwise we can get tickets for $35.00 (from aunt Karen). Please let us know ASAP if you're interested in going the 11th so we can order tickets, or at least tell us what day would be better.

Memorial Day Weekend

2009-05-26T20:00:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures from our Memorial Day weekend. For those of you who are interested in knowing what we did, you can read THIS.

I promise they were having more fun than Dawon's face would suggest!

I kept taking pictures of Kenzi and this little guy, only, he is in fact NOT my nephew...oops! I might add, he doesn't look happy either! Perhaps it's his position on that bar!

Takin' a popsicle break from playing Frisbee

Mom & Son on the slide

That's a better smile...I think!

Chasing Dawson with a hydro-ball

But we're still friends!

Not 'Cho Cheese

2009-05-24T19:35:00.000-07:00

It's time for another "Good Idea, Bad Idea." Good Idea: warming up a jar of cheese to eat with nachos. Bad Idea: warming up a jar of cheese to eat with nachos until it explodes.

Note to self, when cleaning said cheese from said microwave, be careful how closely you lean!

For those of you who are trying to figure out why the words "Good Idea, Bad Idea" sound familiar, click HERE!

7 days and counting...

2009-05-19T09:25:00.000-07:00

Seven days until the school year is over, yay!!! I am ready to be done. I am tired of dealing with kids and teachers who don't listen to me. The best thing about working with the school is that I get a three month break. By June I am ready for that break, but then come August I can't wait to go back to work. The past couple of days have been really hard with different things that have gone on at work. So this month has been going so slow. Yesterday Dan and I were talking about the fun we were going to have this coming weekend and I realized it was only Monday. We still had to go through the whole week. Anyway, this year Kristi (the lady I work with) and I have had a couple of senior boys, who were our TA's and some of their friends, hang out in the library. Today was their last day so I made them a little graduation treat.

I found the recipe on the Kraft Foods website and thought they were really cute. I baked the cupcakes and prepared the tassels last night (the tassels took a lot longer than I anticipated). Then assembled everything this morning. Thank goodness I have a great husband who helped me because I was running behind, the story of my life. Dan got my lunch together and then he helped me get the cupcakes into a container so they could travel. THANKS SWEETS! Unfortunately during the transportation the tassels and whip cream slide off. I repaired them the best I could but there was whip cream everywhere, which kind of made them look sloppy. The good thing was they still tasted good and that is all that matters. Now all I have to do is get through three days this week and four days next week.

Ohio Trip

2009-05-12T20:10:00.001-07:00

As most of you know, we'll be in Ohio from June 9th to the 18th. While we are there, we have a lot of things planned. Unfortunately, we won't be able to do ALL of the things we'd like to do. We'd like to invite you family members to come with us, but we'd kinda like to know who wants to come and to which places, so we can nail down the plans. Here are the things we're highly considering, with the proposed dates (click on the underlined places to see details):

Thursday the 11th - Kirtland/John Johnson Farm

Friday the 12th - Kidron and the Hale Farm & Village

Monday the 15th - Indians Game, early enough for batting practice

Tuesday the 16th (or 17th) - Cleveland Zoo and Botanical Garden

Yes, we realize this will keep us busy and require a lot of driving, but this will be our first trip to Ohio in the summer time, so we want to make the most of it. I'm afraid the Cedar Point trip will probably have to wait until next time. If you have questions or would like to come, please comment!

Back in the Habit

2009-05-06T21:59:00.000-07:00

As many of you know, donating plasma has been a way of life for me throughout my college career. I was going as often as I was allowed (twice in seven days) for close to four years. I rarely took more than a week or two off. I've had a few bad experiences there, but the money is good, so I've always gone back. By my rough calculations, I've probably made a good $10,000 out of my right arm. This past January for one reason or another I stopped going. I have been reluctant to go back, but I know that money will be tight as Jess is off for the summer and I start grad school, so I made an appointment to go back. The day before and morning of my appointment I just wanted to call in and cancel, not that I'm somehow now afraid to donate, but I just didn't want to have to donate to get by. I mean really, I've got a four-year degree, but still need a needle in my arm to pay the bills. While in the interview process they review all of the things that could happen and then ask "do you still want to donate?" I was so tempted to say no, but I was actually being interviewed with two first-timers, so I didn't want to scare them off. So I went through with it and then treated myself to a Hot-N-Ready pizza (miss ya, B). Just when my scar was fading and I was no longer looking like a junkie, I went back. But that's ok, the extra cash will help and I get a reason to catch up The Price is Right!

Boise Bound

2009-05-05T09:09:00.000-07:00

For those of you who haven't heard, I finally finished my application paper! I know I procrastinate, blah, blah, blah, it's DONE! Anyway, three weeks after submitting the application, I was accepted to the Masters of Social Work Program at Boise State. I will actually go to an extension campus in Twin Falls, Idaho, not actually go to Boise. Classes will be held Mondays and Tuesdays from 2:30-9:30 beginning June 22nd. I was planning to commute, but after making the three hour drive for orientation last week, I just don't know. Jess has an aunt in Twin that has offered to let me stay as needed, so we'll see. It'll all depend on where I get my practicum. Since then we've considered the possibility of moving there, but I'll actually graduate next May, so the whole program is less than a year. Who knows what we'll do, but for now what I do know is that I got accepted to BSU!

We're Back!

2009-05-04T18:19:00.000-07:00

Well, we don't really know what happened with our old blog, but decided just to start a new one. So here it is, same name, different address. For those of you who asked what warning I was talking about, this it what I have been seeing: (Click to enlarge)

Frankly I don't really know what this means, but I think it would probably be a good idea to remove links to our old blog. This shouldn't be a problem for Keri, but more so for Missy, who has links throughout various posts. Anyway, we're back!