Missouri Was Amazing

We just came back from Missouri this last Tuesday. It was a fabulous 6 days spending four with Sarah's dearest sweet grandparents, Jim and Jayne Creed and a day and a half with my oldest brother, Gary and his wife, Teri and their five great boys.

We loved the whole experience and came away with one big takeaway - Missouri is an Amazingly Beautiful Place with Great People. If we had more family permanently clustered there, we'd move in a heart beat.

Here were the highlights:

• First airplane ride for Levi and Ellie and first Caleb remembers.


• Caleb went fishing for his first time and caught 3 Blue Gill that we ate for supper.


• First time in a long time I've seen 2.3 inches of rain in a matter of hours - Reno had a healthy .5 inches in 5 days. Woohoo.


• First time I've seen so many natural ponds collecting run-off


• First time I've made the connection that all that green stuff is watered naturally and no one has lawn irrigation systems. Wow!


• I was reminded that I like humidity and we had lots of it.


• I was reminded how great it is to have a wife that doesn't get motion sick.


• I was reminded how much we love family.

Here is a long string of photos with a few headlines:



WINGS - Caleb was thrilled to sit in the cockpit of our plane.



MOVIE BUFF - Thank you to a Disney movie for entertaining Caleb - is that any surprise?


SHE CRASHED - Finally on the third and last flight, Ellie crashed and slept almost 2 hours like this. Cute girl



ARRIVAL - we finally got our rental car at 1:00 am and we were tired of lugging this big cart of luggage. Bless Sarah and the kids hearts - they were great troopers. We arrived in Columbia at 3:30 am and we were tired. ;-)


SUNSHINE STILL LIVES - Now, if you don't know Sarah's dear grandparents, let me tell you they espouse my theory of limiting consumption and Sunshine is one 40+ year-old example of that. Grandpa drives this most day to and from his errands and the University. Grandpa Creed even let us know it had ~184k miles on it. It was a lot of fun. We went from their house to the backwoods country store for candy. It was something else to see the warped floor boards and carefree patrons and employee behind the counter - it felt like I was in a different country.








ELLIE RELAXING - While Caleb was off somewhere, Ellie was quite content just lounging and smelling flowers and worrying where she left her purple lip gloss. I'm pretty sure she checked every inch of this grass she laid on to make sure there was NO Goose POOP!






FEEDING THE CATFISH - Grandma and Grandpa gave us food for the catfish and I couldn't believe how quickly they came to the water's edge and gobbled up these nibblets. They got so close Sarah petted the back of one and then she screeched when it instantly splashed away. Here Caleb is trying again to touch one of these ugly fish



GOD'S BEAUTY - I died watching the sunsets every evening we were there. This captures the beautiful lush growth, the calm waters and the peaceful evening. Most nights we were wandering in the yard, chasing Geese, watching birds or chatting on the deck.



NEW LIFE - This foal was less than 12-hours old and lived across the street from the Creeds.


POTATO BUG FITS - Caleb is a bug nut and he thought it was so funny to put the potato bug in his belly button and he laughed when it crawled out. Agghh we have a 150% boy in him.





Kansas City with 12 Kellers







SWIMMING - We were bummed when we arrived at our hotel to find the pool was broken so we whipped out the speedos and spent Memorial Day afternoon at the pool in chilly water.



COMMUNITY OF CHRIST TEMPLE - Strange place that only administers one prayer a day at 1 pm for World Peace. We went in but were not warmly welcomed and with 8 kids, headed right on out again.

FAREWELL PICS - Cousin pictures to capture the fun memories



FLIGHT HOME

Levi Eating Sand

This was a dejavu moment. We are always catching Levi eating sand but this was the best yet.

This was an amazingly nice day - 90 degrees or so and we went to Tahoe for the first time this Spring and while it was a blast just like always - we couldn't believe the fortuitous luck that we had the camera right at this moment to capture Levi - okay, who am I kidding. I pretty much have a camera holster with my camera right there for all of these small moments.

Sarah's laugh sure makes this even funnier and to see Levi do exactly what Caleb did at about this age - take 5 or so bites of sand (dirt in Caleb's case) one after another and then only after that, try and spit it out.

It was too much. We might just send this in to America's Funniest Home Videos along with Caleb's that we still need to send in.




Caleb and I also went on a Father and Son's campout 15 minutes away from our house. Yep you read that right - it was a-mazing to have such a cool place so close. Wow, what a place we live in.

Ellie likes long hair

The other day I was buckling Ellie into her carseat and she started to play with my hair. I asked her if she liked long hair and she said, "Yea, I like your hair and Ashlyn's hair (her good friend) and Jesus' hair". I thought it was so cute that she noticed Jesus' hair and thought it was nice enough to mention. More funny comments to come, I am sure.

Oh, let me count the ways I love thee

So, Happy Mother's day to all you women out there that make this world go around. Thank you to my own Mother, my mother-in-law, my Grandmother's and so forth.



Today, I want to pay special tribute to my wonderful wife and mother to my children with a special 11 Reasons I Love You (In no specific order)

1. You care so deeply for your four awesome kids (Caleb, Ellie, Levi and . . . Me you sillies)


2. You try so hard to follow the rules in life.


3. You are gorgeous intellectually, mentally and physically


4. You care about giving back to the world and doing good around you


5. You are a great cook and keep us eating healthy


6. You work hard to keep yourself healthy and in good shape


7. You make me laugh


8. You are a very hard worker (as long as Biggest Loser, American Idol or Who Wants to Be a Millionaire aren't on) ;-)
   
9. You like to travel


10. You indulge me and you go to the local craft fairs with me in spite of all the rift raft that comes out to join us.


11. You have a really awesome family

If that wasn't enough, I got the kids on camera telling Sarah why they love her.

Ellie was very sincere. Levi was clueless and uh, well, Caleb's was 90% plain silly.



Any way you say it, we love you very much Sarah whether you are our friend, Mom, Wife, Daughter, Sister, Grand daughter, Cousin or Aunt

And here you are in your natural beauty to accept our humble singing

LEVI IS STANDING!

Caleb is growing up!

Last night Chris put Caleb to bed and told him, "Caleb, you are growing up so fast, aren't you?" Caleb got a big grin on his face and said, "Yea, it's because now I can wipe myself, run fast and ride a bike!" I laughed so hard at the wiping myself part. So great that he considers that "growing up". I have been trying to get him to wipe himself for almost a year! I told him that I can't come wipe him in first grade at school! One less thing for mom to have to take care of.

I also spent some time with Caleb teaching him how to ride his bike without training wheels this weekend. He did great! He is a pro. It took him a while to want to practice. We went to the park on Saturday and he spent the entire two hours riding on the trail. I laughed a few times as he worked so hard just to get going. He will be six soon...how time flies.

Levi also stands in the middle of the room for over a minute at a time. Whoo hoo! He will be a walker soon! He also loves animals and books. He will scream until I get a book that he is pointing to and read it to him. Oh, the screaming has started!

Ellie and Caleb are doing ballet/gymnastics, respectively. They are both loving it. Caleb is thrilled to be able to do flips legally (because I wouldn't let him do them on our tramp at home) and Ellie is thrilled to be dancing in a ballerina outfit and acting like a princess. Fun times!

Will my Rental Business Fly?

I need Five minutes of your time to take a survey for me, please.

I am developing a business idea that is like eBay for Renters of Recreational Vehicles.

I would facilitate the transaction and provide all the middle services to make the transaction happen just like eBay does for items sold.

If you know me, I've been madly in love with all fast recreational vehicles and I'm really hoping this idea works out but I really need honest survey takers to tell me what they really think, so please spend 5 minutes and take this survey and then pass the link along to anyone who likes recreational vehicles which includes anything from Motorhomes to motorcycles and includes all water, snow and land vehicles that average Joes like us might own.

Click Here to take survey

Thanks so much!

Chris

Donner State Park and Lake

We went to Donner Memorial State Park on Saturday for a little excursion. We spent an hour at the Ranger Station and then an hour at the Lake.

Here is the monument memorializing the Pioneers who were in the Donner party in 1845. What a crazy October. They had 23 feet of snow, which is equivalent to the top of the shaft just below the statues. Wow, that is a lot of snow.



Here are the statues zoomed in



Here is the plaque on the back of the monument telling the story



Here is the rock that made up the North Wall of the cabin that one of the pioneers stayed in the first winter for months by himself. It is also the cabin under which many of the bodies of those that didn't make it was buried.



We then went to the beach and the kids had a ball. Here, you can see it in Levi's face



And the look after he ate a handful of sand.



And Caleb and Ellie dashing from the just melted slab of ice



And Ellie - our adorable



Sarah gave us all a run-down on the state of the lake and our crazy kids



And you can see the effects of cold water and sand on poor little Levi's legs



She was super surprised how much cold Levi could bare.

Kids to Work Day & Earthquake

So, we had a cool week. Thursday, PC-Doctor did the coolest thing. They created a day with activities for kids and let employees bring them to work for a day.

Caleb and Ellie came along with me from 8-12 and then came back at 4:30 for a movie. It was great fun. We started off with a breakfast for an hour and then opened up a computer and put parts back together again. Caleb liked it a lot but Ellie rather wanted to draw on her poster.

I grabbed some funny videos. This one is of Caleb walking by my cubicle down the aisle. He had on a button down shirt like Dad and a name badge like Dad and I spiked his hair like mine is spiked. It was fun.



Here is a short video of Caleb and Ellie drawing on their posters between activities.



Georgia, in our accounting group thought the kids would enjoy shredding papers for her. So, they huddled in Pam's office and shred paper. I don't think she expected what ensued - a shredded paper party. It was so funny to watch. Take a look at who is pulling the paper out of the shredder and who at the end had the big wad that flew onto Pam's desk. I thought one of the other adults would stop the fun. I couldn't. I had to keep filming and didn't want to bump the camera. ;-)



And right before lunch, the kids found the dart guns our developers use for entertainment and roamed the cubicles looking for targets. ;-)



We went to lunch, then the kids came back at 4:30 and watched Indiana Jones.

Interestingly, at about 2:30 that day, I felt my first big earthquake, a 3.7 I believe and then a 4.1 15 minutes later. It really messed me up for a good 30 minutes. I got a bit spooked.

Well, Friday night at 11:40 pm, I was sleeping in bed and shot up out of bed. I felt the earthquake that was a 4.7 and got really spooked. Our house moved a good inch, it seemed and it only lasted a few seconds but it sent shivers down my spine. I woke up Sarah and we sat up wondering what to do next. My mind went wild thinking about the gaps in our food storage. I spent 15 minutes trying to calm my nerves and it took another hour for me to get back to sleep again.

It was a bit spooky to think about the culmination of all the things happening in our world - our dependence on gasoline that is edging close to $4/gallon and the banking challenges, our impending recession, drought, famine, war and political unrest across the world.

This article from the WSJ.com hit me pretty hard:

R.O.I.
By BRETT ARENDS



Load Up the Pantry
April 21, 2008 6:47 p.m.

I don't want to alarm anybody, but maybe it's time for Americans to start stockpiling food.

No, this is not a drill.

You've seen the TV footage of food riots in parts of the developing world. Yes, they're a long way away from the U.S. But most foodstuffs operate in a global market. When the cost of wheat soars in Asia, it will do the same here.

Reality: Food prices are already rising here much faster than the returns you are likely to get from keeping your money in a bank or money-market fund. And there are very good reasons to believe prices on the shelves are about to start rising a lot faster.

"Load up the pantry," says Manu Daftary, one of Wall Street's top investors and the manager of the Quaker Strategic Growth mutual fund. "I think prices are going higher. People are too complacent. They think it isn't going to happen here. But I don't know how the food companies can absorb higher costs." (Full disclosure: I am an investor in Quaker Strategic)

Stocking up on food may not replace your long-term investments, but it may make a sensible home for some of your shorter-term cash. Do the math. If you keep your standby cash in a money-market fund you'll be lucky to get a 2.5% interest rate. Even the best one-year certificate of deposit you can find is only going to pay you about 4.1%, according to Bankrate.com. And those yields are before tax.

Meanwhile the most recent government data shows food inflation for the average American household is now running at 4.5% a year.

And some prices are rising even more quickly. The latest data show cereal prices rising by more than 8% a year. Both flour and rice are up more than 13%. Milk, cheese, bananas and even peanut butter: They're all up by more than 10%. Eggs have rocketed up 30% in a year. Ground beef prices are up 4.8% and chicken by 5.4%.

These are trends that have been in place for some time.

And if you are hoping they will pass, here's the bad news: They may actually accelerate.

The reason? The prices of many underlying raw materials have risen much more quickly still. Wheat prices, for example, have roughly tripled in the past three years.

Sooner or later, the food companies are going to have to pass those costs on. Kraft saw its raw material costs soar by about $1.25 billion last year, squeezing profit margins. The company recently warned that higher prices are here to stay. Last month the chief executive of General Mills, Kendall Powell, made a similar point.

The main reason for rising prices, of course, is the surge in demand from China and India. Hundreds of millions of people are joining the middle class each year, and that means they want to eat more and better food.

A secondary reason has been the growing demand for ethanol as a fuel additive. That's soaking up some of the corn supply.

You can't easily stock up on perishables like eggs or milk. But other products will keep. Among them: Dried pasta, rice, cereals, and cans of everything from tuna fish to fruit and vegetables. The kicker: You should also save money by buying them in bulk.

If this seems a stretch, ponder this: The emerging bull market in agricultural products is following in the footsteps of oil. A few years ago, many Americans hoped $2 gas was a temporary spike. Now it's the rosy memory of a bygone age.

The good news is that it's easier to store Cap'n Crunch or cans of Starkist in your home than it is to store lots of gasoline. Safer, too.

Write to Brett Arends at brett.arends@wsj.com

Levi is One Today

Levi turned one year old today. We took a short little video this evening before dinner and the ice cream cake. He loved the ice cream and the presents but I think his sister and brother loved the festivities just as much.

I also uploaded some photos from the last 3 weeks. They include pics from our kids last Saturday out in the backyard playing in, yes, the sprinklers. It was a ton of fun to watch the kids jump on the tramp and play in the water.



Here is a video of the sprinkler session.



I intended to include this clip too - it is very funny to watch Levi eat sand and to watch Ellie and Jared play in the water.

Russ Talbot won $17k on Wheel of Fortune

I know many of you know Russ, my best friend from Shelley, Idaho. We've been best of friends since and he is now sort of famous. . . at least he is the first I've known to get a spot on a national game show.

Better yet, he won $17k and should have beat this other lady who with some really good luck came back to beat him out.

We've been waiting for a month for this day and we all sat around to watch the show. Here are the best 10 minutes with no commercial interruption, only a little commentary from yours truly.

Dancing Snow Angels & a Smack to the Head

Okay, let me say now this is probably my last post for a couple nights, if not for a couple months. ;-)

Ellie was so cute doing a snow angel on the carpet.



I also had to include this clip of the two dancing. It was funny to watch backward in slow motion. Ellie gave Caleb a wallop to the head with the nerf sword at the end which is your beginning. It was funny to watch how innocently she lost control of the sword and it flung against his head.

ArtistsWeAre

What can I say - I disappear for 3 months and then you can't seem to get rid of me. Yep, you Google reader people are seeing a lot of me and those of you who do the old fashioned click and view see me a lot too.

Well, once again, my kids were doing funny things and I had to capture a little of it on camera for the world to laugh along with me.

You see Levi is perfecting the art of food eating - he wears it, draws in it, sings through it and some times eats it.
Can you guess what Sarah was thinking in this video? Yep, your guess is probably right - something like, "Would my ANNOYING HUSBAND GET OVER HERE AND HELP ME OUT INSTEAD OF TAKING MORE DUMB (oh, those turned out cute) PICTURES."

The "Oh those turned out cute" is what she normally says after the kids are in bed and she has a few moments to see my artistic work.

See there you have it - we are all budding artists in some form or fashion.

Dirt Cores look like Turds

Today, coming out of church, we were all walking in a line like sheep. Ellie was the last and cut across the lawn 50 feet or so behind the rest of us. Out of nowhere, she stopped with one foot in the air and screamed a blood curdling scream. We turned on a dime and asked what was wrong. She pointed down at the ground that had just been aerated. She sad, "AAAAAggghhh, I can't move because all of the poop." We lost it and laughed so hard, that she screamed again. This time, she was mad that we were laughing.

We told her it was dirt cores and to come. She didn't. We went to the van and loaded up and I started the van. She freaked out. Ah, the fun of a spunky girl.

Yesterday, I got the bird house out that was a project to complete a promise to Caleb (we built the bird house 6 months ago - :-) ) and we finally finished the painting yesterday.





Earlier in the day, I went on my first mountain biking ride of the year. It was a ton of fun. Bryan Hakanson and Shaun Bowen two great guys from the ward were my biker companions. It was an easy ride and I discovered my rear brakes were loose and my rear gear shifter didn't work properly. Needless to say it was a softy ride and I was the softy struggling up the hill in high gear.



Here is a little video of our stopping point. The trail was free from snow until it wound around the North side of this hill and we found a couple feet of snow pack.





On Friday, Ellie went to a party that was perfect for her, a Princess Party at Ashlyn Edwards house. Ellie loved it and put on her princess dress for yet a fifth time this week. ;-) You can see Ashlyn in the background looking through her cardboard castle.



Lastly, Sarah threw a great party I hear with 18 other women who came to talk about The Goose Girl. Sarah has prepped for this evening for the last 4 months and has worried about it weekly since then. ;-) We are both glad to have that event done. Now, she can get on to the end of her 1200 page book she is reading right now, The Count of Monte Cristo. It is her hobby and I can't believe how much time she finds when she used to have none at all to read 12000000000 pages. She is fanatical.

Super Funny Video - impressionist comedian

Okay, I had to share these videos with someone. I was reading the WSJ.com this morning and saw a funny banner. I clicked on it and found of all companies, Nationwide Insurance, using viral videos to spread humor and build awareness about their company.

Check out this video - you'll bust your gut. It typifies the nosy neighbor and the tough moments most couples go through when talking about a tough topic.



Here is another I liked a lot. Sarah and I are talking about our own will.



Lastly, this is a gut buster too. Caleb has been starting to do some funny things that make Sarah and I start to wonder when we are going to have the Birds and Bees talk. I think I was 7 when my Pops - thanks Dad, took me on a long walk through the park to confirm what the stupid neighbor boy put in my head. Darn kid took away my innocence. ;-)

Day before Easter Morning Videorama

We had a busy day. I went on a four wheeler ride at 7 am with a local friend, Chris O-Neil.

We went for about 2 hours and the view at the top of this hill overlooking Washoe Lake was great. The last 1/8th of a mile to this peak was very steep and rocky and my 2 wheel drive four wheeler was precariously bobbing up and down and losing traction as I bounced over rocks - made for a fun ride.



Then we went to a local Easter Egg Hunt - lots of candy and fun. Here is a video of Levi eating grass and crawling.



Then, can you believe, we bought and picked up a large 12'x 12' rug and nice comfy pad that makes such a difference. We all took our shoes off and wriggled our toes in the soft carpet. Yipee. Today is a day to celebrate



Here you can see a close-up



Then, the kids and I went to the park while Sarah ran some errands. The park was definitely much more fun.

Take a look at how much fun the three were having on the swings - I know you only see Levi but listen to Ellie and Caleb's laughs. Levi was a hoot kicking and grabbing for the camera



Ellie loved the slide and notice if you will that she has on socks, sandals because she couldn't find her shoes, pants to protect her bum on the swing, the dress from earlier today she had to wear for the Easter Egg hunt, the second brown dress on top that she daily reminds me came from Kylee and then the necklaces and then her favorite pink jacket - what a funny nut.



And both Ellie and Caleb have a fun time squeezing on this tricycle. I had a vision of both of them as teenagers still being best buddies.



To top it all off, Sarah gave Caleb and I haircuts and now it is 11:26 and we are pooped and I failed to meet my "to-bed" by 10:45 goal. ;-( And would you believe this is three posts in less than a week - amazing.

Oh, and to top off the post, here is a link to 19 photos from the day:

Sarah Reminiscing about being MVP of Girls Freshman B-Ball

I thought this was a cute video of Sarah reminiscing about an old trophy we found in a box of junk.

Cute Sarah

Levi singing Dadda, Caleb showing off his coloring and the Missing Tooth Video

Did you hear that. He sang Dadda first. Sorry, Sarah maybe you'll hear Mama next time he needs his diaper changed. ;-)



And there

Here is the video of Caleb showing us his tooth and writing a letter to the tooth fairy to ask for him/her to save the tooth so he could show his class. I thought that was funny and for some reason Caleb was being stubborn and a little standoffish. I think it was the camera in his face once again. Yes, I'm afraid I have injured my kid for life. ;-)

Caleb Lost his First Tooth

Well, some of you thought we had faded away to nothing without posts for so long, but guess what? We are still here and to prove it, here are some great pics in slideshow fashion:



And here is a funny video of Caleb talking about his first lost tooth. He wrote a note to the Tooth Fairy asking him to please leave the tooth along with the mullah so he could take the tooth to school to show his friends.

He also told me the Tooth Fairy would leave him $1. Wow, more than the tooth fairy ever left me. I guess his bounty is appreciating with time too. ;-)

Thanksgiving to the First Snow

Alright - so we really aren't consistent anymore but we do have a few new pictures to share from Thanksgiving to the last snow fall we had last week to some pictures of the tree and Ellie zonked out at the table. What a beauty she is.