Smores in the Backyard

We sure had a lot of nice weather over the last two weeks. At least every other day was decent. We haven't been out camping yet, so we decided to have smores in the back yard. The kids asked if we could have a fire. The next time I looked, they had the fire pit set up, the wood set up, some tissues and an old box ready to light. They also had taken the hatchet out of the tent trailer and tried to chop some wood. Ooops. Chase was pretty proud of himself for lighting the fire with only two matches.

Ok. It is a bit scary how Chase is captivated by the blazing marshmallow.

Carter was enthralled by the marshmallows. He would cook them to perfection. No, these three weren't the only ones he had. I stopped counting at five. Now that I think about it, I should have counted.

Colton was playing basketball and didn't make it until the end. He didn't hear the rules of the fire. No fire out of the fire pit. I immediately informed him of the rules AFTER I took the picture.

Camree was clean. She was invited to watch the fire from INSIDE.

Cale was completely opposite of Camree. DIRTY. I think that is a mix of melted marshmallow and ashes from a previous fire's half burnt piece of wood.

He got MOST of the marshmallow in his mouth.

By the end, it was fun to gaze into the fire and watch the marshmallows turn to fireballs. The sticks made of apple tree cuttings were pretty thin and didn't take much for them to burn.

The sunset was equally as stunning.

Dishes Have Never Been So Fun!!!

I did dishes THREE times yesterday. At least it took me three times before I finally finished. LUCKILY I had help. As soon as Cale saw the bubbles, he immediately dragged a chair over to help with the dishes. I never realized how fun dishes were until watching him.

You can see the sink full of dishes. These are the dishes he washed for more than an hour. After an hour, the same dishes were in the sink waiting to be washed.

He discovered how the plug could go in the sink and block the water from going down the drain.

Now he is proud of himself.

Have you ever seen such a big smile doing dishes?

I finally took over and finished up. I don't think I had the same smile J




 

Tour De Cure - Thank You!!!

I would like to thank everyone who donated to ADA as a part of Melissa's Tour De Cure ride.  Because of you, she was able to raise enough donations to ride, and more, all towards Diabetes.  She is very excited to be able to ride the 65 miles in this event.

Thank you!!!

Phishermen are getting really good!

So I get this email in my inbox this morning.  It is from one of my friends.

I'm writing this with tears in my eyes we came down here to Kent,United Kingdom for a short vacation unfortunately we were mugged at the park of the hotel where we stayed,all cash,credit card and cell were stolen off us but luckily for us we still have our passports with us.

We've been to the embassy and the Police here but they're not helping issues at all and our flight leaves in few hours from now but we're having problems settling the hotel bills and the hotel manager won't let us leave until we settle the bills. I'm freaked out at the moment.

My Friend

Ok, I have seen things like this before. Scam.  I talked to my friend yesterday and she didn't mention anything about a quick trip to UK before our Cub Scout pack meeting on Thursday.  But then I get on facebook and my friend starts chatting to me over facebook chat.  Well if she is emailing me from her email and talking to me on her facebook account, it must be real.  This is our conversation:




6:40am -my friend--
hi
6:40am Me
good morning
6:41am -my friend--
good morning
6:41am Me
your not in Kent, UK, right?
6:42am -my friend--
did you get my email?
6:42am Me
yes
6:42am -my friend--
thank God
i need your help
6:43am Me
are you serious?
6:43am -my friend--
am dead serious
did you read the mail
6:43am Me
yes
6:44am -my friend--
can you help us?
6:44am Me
yes, what do I need to do?
6:45am -my friend--
i need you to loan me some cash
i promise to refund it back as soon as we get back home
6:46am -my friend--
are you there?
6:47am Me
yes. how long have you been in UK
6:47am -my friend--
since on monday night
6:47am Me
so I know it is you, what are we doing Thursday at 7pm?
6:48am -my friend--
omg
so you don't believe me?
6:48am Me
sounds fishy!!! So you don't know what we are doing?
-my friend disconnected-

Dear friend, if you are really stuck in the UK, I am sorry because I didn't believe you...  You should have known that we had Cub Scout pack meeting this week.  And if you forgot about pack meeting then you really were not my friend anyway.

Just kidding... I called my friend and besides being freaked out about the scam, she seems to be doing fine.

Tour De Cure

Melissa is planning to ride her bike 65 miles in the upcoming Tour De Cure. She is riding with her mom and I. It is June 12th in Brigham City. She is trying to raise $150 for the American Diabetes Association. There is a link below, if you would like to donate. Even as little as $5 or $10 will help. All donations are tax deductible.


http://bit.ly/dnFanP

Crazy Savings

When Melissa first told me she was going to run to the store and by 30 boxes of cereal, I thought she was joking.  Then she added, "and a bunch of granola bars".   I looked at her and she was NOT joking...

The crazy thing is that this will all be gone in the next month.  It is amazing how much food 4 boys can go through.  But the best part...Melissa is "Super Shopper" and saved $352.  The total bill for all of this and more was just over $100.

Did I ever tell you how lucky I was to have an awesome wife!

Panda Shot

I went for a quick ride to Wolverine Canyon today.  It was a bit windy, but I love going up and down the "rollers" near the canyon.  It is very much like a roller coaster.  Here is a picture of one of the hills:

I hit 35 mph going down that one.  4 mph going up :)

Here is another one...

The area is a bit dry looking.  It isn't yet spring here in Idaho.  This should green up in a month or two.

You are probably wondering about "Panda Shot".  There are no panda's here in Idaho so you don't have to worry.  One did not get shot.  I have recently learned that a "Panda" shot is a picture of yourself while riding the bike (preferrably at a slow speed without any accidents).  Here is my first attempt at a panda shot:

Luckily you cant see the sheer terror I felt as I put the camera down to find I was gaining speed quickly down the hill.

On a separate note, a few days ago I got my "Rider in Training" long sleeve shirt for my Tour de Cure ride I have coming up on June 12th in Brigham City, UT.  Doesn't it look awesome!  It makes me feel like I can fly!

This is NOT an April Fool’s Joke

Last night I went for a short bike ride. My plan was to get to Wolverine Road and back, a total of about 38 miles. At 3:30 pm the weather was looking pretty good. There was sunshine for the most part. A few clouds... I knew Melissa wanted to get a new cycling helmet so we headed to the bike shop. At about 4:30 we were back. The clouds were building, but I really wanted to go for a ride. So I did. I brought my phone and told Melissa I would probably be calling her to pick me up when it started raining. I got about 5 minutes into the ride when I started getting hailed on. Just a little hail, I thought and I could see sunshine ahead. So I kept riding. The roads were wet and I could feel my back getting wet. That lasted only a few minutes and then there was sun. I peddled on, for 15 miles. And then I hit the next storm. The storm appeared to have consumed Wolverine Road. I felt strong winds and could see the wall of rain/snow falling. I immediately turned around and headed for home.

I could see a second storm over my house. Looking at the two storms, the walls of rain/snow were slanted toward each other like a "V" with me in the middle. I was in sunshine, but surrounded by storms. I felt a little like Moses parting the Red Sea. The two storms seemed to be battling it out. The winds couldn't make up their mind which direction they wanted to blow. At times I would have a terrible head wind and my average MPH dropped to 15. Then the wind would switch and I would jump up to 25 mph. The storm from the south started to win and I had a tail wind the final stretch until about 5 minutes from home where I again got hailed on, rained on, and snowed on. I rode for a total of 27.7 miles for an average of 19 mph. It was a great ride and I loved every minute of it.


I got home to find Melissa was not there. Katie was watching the kids. Melissa had gone out looking for me. She went to "rescue" me from the storm. Somehow we missed each other. She arrived 15 minutes later having been driving around for 45 minutes. I felt bad that she had gone out. Looking back, I can see why she was concerned.

At dinner time, the snow started falling. It came in huge flakes and quickly turned the grass white.

In the morning, this is what we found

Snow on the Bushes:

Snow plastered to the house:

Snow built up on the roof.

And the same roads I had cycled on just the night before were covered.

And the BEST or WORST thing about the snow (depending on if you are a kid or parent) .

The kids get to stay home from school. Either the snow is really bad outside our neighborhood OR the school district thought it would take a last opportunity to use a "snow day".

Modern Day Hero

After 2 years of heavy use, our bread machine broke today. The loaf of bread we made by hand today was only second rate. After researching the cost of a new one, I was motivated to see if I could fix it.

I took screw after screw out being very careful not to lose any (which is what ALWAYS happens anyway). But not today. Not a single screw lost.

Easy as pie. The belt had fallen off.

I am a modern day hero! Melissa says I am just pretending to be one!

Easter 2010

Today we were able to celebrate Easter. We had a lot of fun as a family. We used a "monster" themed decorating kit on the eggs this year. It was by far my favorite Easter egg decorating kit we have ever used. The kit came with fuzz for hair, pipe cleaners for arms and quite an assortment of colors.

There was no stopping Cale. He kept coloring eggs and didn't want to stop.

Carter was equally excited to color the eggs. He is very detailed oriented and made sure each egg looked perfect.

Chase took a second to color an egg too, but he and Colton were too excited for the game they were playing on the Game Cube to invest too much time into eggs.

I have the cutest wife ever!

This is the egg I created.

Here is a car egg. It has 4 purple wheels. I can't remember who came up with this idea, but I love it!

The orange haired monster… Oh my, that is scary.

This is the beard monster. This egg had a big crack and the beard was the perfect way to hide it. The yellow spiked Mohawk adds the final touches.

After a session of watching conference talks on the TV, we headed over to Great Grandma Byerly's house for a scrumptious ham dinner with all of Melissa's family. It is a tradition to have an outside Easter egg hunt. Camree got a head start. She got the hugest smile the first time she saw an egg lying on the ground. She quickly put the egg in her basket.

Cale was giggling with joy as he found eggs.

Carter was more curious about what was in the eggs than anything. He found a dollar bill in one and lots of candy in the rest.

Colton was too old this year, but there were still a couple of eggs the rest of the kids could not find. He was such a good sport about it.

Happy Easter everyone!








 

Bikes and Scooters and Rip sticks... Oh my...

Last week we took a trip to the greenbelt around the Idaho Falls River.  Cale recently got training wheels for his bike.  Chase and Carter took their scooters, and Colton chose the rip stick.

Cale was beyond excited as we arrived.  This was his first bike excursion outside of the neighborhood.  He was so excited that as soon as his bike was taken out of the back of the car, he jumped on and headed downhill.  In all of his excitement he forgot how to use the brakes.  At almost full speed he hit the curb of the parking lot head on.  After a brief stunned look he said, "I'm OK!" and let out a laugh in relief.  

Cale had a great time cruising the trails on four wheels.

 


Carter had a great time on the scooter

 
Chase only stopped long enough to get in a pose for the camera man.


 

 

Colton got his workout on the rip stick. I still don't know how it is possible to ride that thing.

 

Camree had fun being pushed in the stroller… for a while. Then she decided it was more fun to push the stroller.

 

 
I didn't even have to ask for a photo session with each of the kids. I guess they know me pretty well by now to know that they are going to get a few pictures taken whenever I have the camera around my neck.

Chase is growing up quick. I think he has his Mother's good looks (in a manly sort of way). No wonder he has so many lady friends at school!

  


Carter choose the "thinking chair" built into the rock wall.

 
Colton was usually a mile ahead so I was lucky to have a moment where he turned and smiled.

In addition to the photo session, there was also a lot of climbing involved.

  Chase has been whistling for a week straight now. It is not quite a melodic whistle. It is more of a constant, non-stop, "been asked 100 times to stop" kind of whistle. This trip was no exception.


 

 
We also went bird watching:

 

The best part of all was being together as family!