Sicko's

So I haven't written anything for the longest time...We're all sick right now which totally bites! It is not very amuzing to say the least. Brian got into yet another accident with a company vehicle, he should really start trying to formulate some type of bubble transportation! So I'm wondering when everyone is coming home or if they are coming home? Brian may be leaving for Iowa in a matter of weeks which is a mix of emotions. My children adore their father, but it is an increase of funds? We're hoping CCI lands a City project that would allow Brian to obtain "prevailing wage" which is approximately 2-3x what he makes regularly. CCI has seemed to be heavily hit by the slow down in the economy. Jackson just turned 8 months and is getting ready to walk. He pulls himself up on everything and is quite a little ham! Noah holds complete conversations with us and last week we went and caught frogs at South Beloit Park. We caught a bull frog the size of my hand, and two leopard frogs. We enjoy the mating field toads that have filled the pond with toadpoles! Noah is going to be three already and he is the sweetest boy! Anyway hope all is well with you guys! If you want to look at pictures of Noah and Jack, Sam has the link to look at some pics from JCPenny. Interesting documentary to watch...The Business of Being Born.

57 on 57

To celebrate my 57th birthday, I recruted Ken Davis (no longer DeForest) and Mark Stewart to go with me on a 57 mile bike ride. The ride wasn't bad, but we had 20 - 30 mile per hour head winds on the way back and it took forever (6 hours) and was really hard. But we made it! Poor Mark was making his first ride of the season and had to go home and sleep for 5 hours afterwards. Next year we may do 58 on 58 in May. You will note from the sign, that the good people of Illinois haven't gotten much friendlier in the last 160 years. Love ya all, Dad!

Dove Onslaught(er) Video

http://www.greenpeace.org/dove

Hey YouTubers..

To all you who always put those YouTube clips, which I can't figure out how to do, search DOVE ONSLAUGHT(ER) now and watch the 1 minute video and find a link to sign the Greenpeace letter to Dove urging them to stop cutting down Indonesian rainforest for their evil palm oil that they put in their evil products!!!!!!!!!

Air Force Banquet

I was invited to the Air Force end of the year banquet which Lisa my roommate just happens to be in. I thought you all would enjoy pictures of my new dress and and cute Air Force boy date. It was fun aside from listening to a General drone on for like an hour about Utah National Guard! :)

Tuesday Night Movie Review 4/22/08

This week's movie of choice was "The Forbidden Kingdom" starring Jet Li, Jackie Chan and a bunch of other people I've never heard of. It was really good. It's along the same lines as "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and "Hero" but with more comedy. Linda and I give it two thumbs up!

Heartwarming Story

In 1986, Dan Harrison (pictured above) was on holiday in Kenya after graduating from Northwestern University.

On a hike through the bush, he came across a young bull elephant standing with one leg raised in the air. The elephant seemed distressed, so Dan approached it very carefully.

He got down on one knee and inspected the elephant's foot and found a large piece of wood deeply embedded in it. As carefully and as gently as he could, Dan worked the wood out with his hunting knife, after which the elephant gingerly put down its foot.

The elephant turned to face the man, and with a rather curious look on its face, stared at him for several tense moments. Dan stood frozen, thinking of nothing else but being trampled. Eventually the elephant trumpeted loudly, turned, and walked away.

Dan never forgot that elephant or the events of that day.

Twenty years later, Dan was walking through the Chicago Zoo with his teenaged son. As they approached the elephant enclosure, one of the creatures turned and walked over to near where Dan and his son Dan Jr. were standing.

The large bull elephant stared at Dan, lifted its front foot off the ground, and then put it down. The elephant did that several times then trumpeted loudly, all the while staring at the man. Remembering the encounter in 1986, Dan couldn't help wondering if this was the same elephant.

Dan summoned up his courage, climbed over the railing and made his way into the enclosure. He walked right up to the elephant and stared back in wonder. The elephant trumpeted again, wrapped its trunk around one of Dan's legs and slammed him against the railing, killing him instantly.

Probably wasn't the same elephant.

Joke's on you kid

Holy crap look at this kid try and breastfeed! HAHAHAHA

Our First Nephew

I was looking through some pictures on the computer and I found one of Bizzie's firstborn son Emmerson.

Questionaut

I found this game on another blog. It's cute and only takes about 20 minutes to finish.

Play Questionaut

Did the cougar look like this?

If so I think I know who it is...

And remember kids give a larbage throw out your garbage!

Watch out..

I was watching the news while working out yesterday, and I saw that a man sighted a cougar lurking around a neighborhood in downtown Chicago!!

English Lovers

All you lovers of the English language might enjoy this .

There is a two-letter word that perhaps has more meanings than any other
two-letter word, and that is 'UP.'
It's easy to understand UP, meaning toward the sky or at the top of the
list, but when we awaken in the morning, why do we wake UP? At a
meeting, why does a topic come UP? Why do we speak UP and why are the
officers UP for election and why is it UP to the secretary to write UP a
report ?
We call UP our friends. And we use it to brighten UP a room, polish UP
the silver, we warm UP the leftovers and clean UP the kitchen. We lock
UP the house and some guys fix UP the old car . At other times the
little word has real special meaning. People stir UP trouble, line UP
for tickets, work UP an appetite, and think UP excuses. To be dressed is
one thing, but to be dressed UP is special.
And this UP is confusing: A drain must be opened UP because it is
stopped UP. We open UP a store in the morning but we close it UP at night.
We seem to be pretty mixed UP about UP! To be knowledgeable about the
proper uses of UP, look the word UP in the dictionary. In a desk-sized
dictionary, it takes UP almost 1/4th of the page and can add UP to about
thirty definitions.
If you are UP to it, you might try building UP a list of the many ways
UP is used. It will take UP a lot of your time, but if you don't give
UP, you may wind UP with a hundred or more. When it threatens to rain,
we say it is clouding UP When the sun comes out we say it is clearing UP ..
When it rains, it wets the earth and often messes things UP ...
When it doesn't rain for awhile, things dry UP .
One could go on and on, but I'll wrap it UP , for now my time is UP,
so......... it is time for me to shut UP .!

Oh . . . one more thing:
What is the first thing you do in the morning the last thing you do at
night? U-P

In the Spirit of old photos. . .

I always had my fingers in my mouth. Usually one was up my nose too.

Easter Sunday '87

















How hill billy is this picture! I think we did that every year before we planted the garden. Gotta love life on the farm.

Fun Family Pics Part Two

My new backyard friends

I recently purchased a bird feeder. There are always so many birds in my yard and I wanted them to feel more at home, so I put out a feeder. It took them a day to find it but now they love it. In case you're wondering, I am planning on getting another one so more birds can enjoy. Now all I need is a bird book of birds in my region and I'll be all set. :)

This made me laugh...

It came from Not From Concentrate.

The boys..

While talking to Mom the other day I realized something when I asked her how "the boys" were, and she proceeded to tell me about the dogs. We have three sets of "the boys" in our family: Brian & Ben, Fry & Bender, and of course the two I was inquiring about Noah & Jack...I guess they come in sets around here.

Earth Day

I came across this chart on www.treehugger.com (a great environmental blog if you're interested) and thought it gave some easily implemented ways to reduce our impact on the planet in preparation for Earth Day (and everyday for that matter). I had to convert it from pdf to jpeg so it's kind of fuzzy. Here's the link if you can't read it too well... http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/04/hok-go-barefoot-on-earth-day.php

The parents need to get one of these for Bender.

Fun Family Pics

I wanted to try out my new scanner/printer so I was looking through my box of pictures and found some that I thought I'd share with you guys. I don't know about you but they made me laugh. Enjoy!

Hi there! Want a marshmallow?

Ok, Katie's cute and all but can we talk about why the fish I have a mullet?!?!

Ta Da!

Lauren before the operation.

Comfy!

I really don't know how I ended up with this picture or who the other people in the picture are.

Such a beautiful family. (Jessica what are you doing?)

Apparently Ben didn't make it into the bathroom on time. And I didn't manage to keep my fingers off the lens.

Discussing affairs of state.

Quite frankly I'm shocked that Gramma let Brian in the house looking like this.

Caught in the act!

Food!

Ok, now what do we do?

Cody & Superpig

He used to be so cute!

This IS my happy face!

Bizzie hanging out with her celebrity friends.

I remember Brian & I thought this was so funny.

Brian & Nick

(another pic I don't know why I have)

Japanese Ronald McDonald

For those of you with fragile minds do not watch the following clip! To everyone else prepare to have your minds BLOWN!

Ward Talent Show

For my ward talent show I performed bird calls that are in my bird field guide. I thought it might be awkward but everyone loved it!! I didn't make it to the stake talent show but I'm ok with that, I think my bird calling days are over! But I did come in third place so yeah!!!

Dedicated to Bido

No joke I almost peed when I watched this! "I'm so excited, I'm so excited, I'm so...scared!"

Sorry to hog the blog

But Ben and I biked into the city today to see the Cherry Blossoms. I wanted to share these pictures with everyone. Rick, you would have loved to be there with your camera. You would have taken hundreds of pictures, and your batteries wouldn't have died like ours did. It was a lot of fun and the festival is definitely a great time for visitors.