Blog Changes

So, if you visit my blog often you might have noticed some changes. I'm hoping the changes will get me excited about blogging a little more regular, more then once a week. One of the things I added is the flickr bar. If you don't know flickr, it is a photo sharing site that is free or you can pay a yearly fee for a pro account that offers some bonuses. If I was a little more into photography I think that I would go for a pro account. The free account only allows so many pictures to be downloaded a month, so I don't have many pictures on my flickr account. Mainly because after a month, I forget, then I remember, I max my limit and by the time I remember again it's months down the road.

The flickr pics on my blog are set on random, so every time you check my blog it will be a different set of pics. Just thought I'd let you know, so if you see some picture of a building or something a little odd, your not thinking to yourself "why on earth would brad pick that picture to post on his blog".

The Fox and the Hedgehog

While driving the other night, I can't remember where I was going and I rarely drive outside of going to work or school by myself so this was a strange event. Anyway, while driving and listening to the radio, I listen to a lot of talk radio, well not a lot because I don't drive much, and T hates it but will put up with it a lot better then b. b gets very upset and complains about listening to news and just wants to listen to her music, right now it's the hot and cold song. I have a hard time listening to music stations, they all play too many crappy songs and I would rather listen to something where I might actually glean useful information. I am a bit of a news addict, but really I could quit listening/reading the news whenever I want, though that wouldn't make any sense. Where was I...listening to my talk radio, KRCL, they play a wide variety of music and have a wide variety of talk shows. This night they were talking about the concept of "The Fox and the Hedgehog".

The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing. This comes from a Greek poet, Archilochus, who made the statement in a poem. No one knows what he meant when he said it and I'm sure there are people who would love to philosophy about it for days. I'm good with what others think it means.

Right away I knew, that I was fox.

So here is the synopsis of the The Fox and the Hedgehog; Isaiah Berlin wrote an essay critiquing Leo Tolstoy and other authors and thinkers using “The Hedgehog and the Fox" philosophy he writes about the sentence “taken figuratively, the words can be made to yield a sense in which they mark one of the deepest differences which divide writers and thinkers, and, it may be, human beings in general....those on one side, who relate everything to a single central vision, one system less or more coherent or articulate, in terms of which they understand, think and feel-a single, universal, organizing principle in terms of which alone all that they are and say has significance-and, on the other side, those who pursue many ends, often unrelated and even contradictory, connected, if at all, only in some de facto way, for some psychological or physiological cause, related by no moral or aesthetic principle; - The first kind of intellectual and artistic personality belongs to the hedgehogs, the second to the foxes"

There are other sayings that basically mean the same thing, "Jack of all trades and master of none", one for Utah, "your knowledge is like the great salt lake, big and shallow, you know very little about a lot things". Maybe this is why I moved towards planning, which is very much about knowing enough about a lot of things but never a great understanding of any one thing. This also explains my short attention span. I pay enough attention to pro-sports and sporting events like the Olympics, Xgames and Tour de France to be able to participate in conversations. The only reason I really care to watch award show's is to be able to talk to it for the next week. I also have a hard time studying one subject, something in that subject will reference another subject and that will catch my attention, so I'll have to check that out, while checking that out, I'll run across something else that looks interesting and instead of sticking to one thing and coming back to the others, I just try and fit them in all together. Maybe that's why I can never remember anything I study.

V Day

The most romantic song
BENS FOLD - The Luckiest

Skip to min 2:30

Lincoln's Birthday

I spent the past week in Washington DC for work. This is my second time visiting DC, both for work. The first time, I got deathly ill during the week and spent two days dying in my hotel bed. I then spent my last day walking around the mall in a dayquil daze, ending up missing my plane and having to spend another night there. I did get to visit most of the big sites the first time around. This time I didn't get sick or miss my plan, YEA!! I also got to see some things I wasn't able to the first time around. I think I have it now to where next time I can hit up a museum and not have to try and get a bunch of site seeing in.



Our hotel was in Pentagon City/Crystal City right across the river from DC and on the other side of the freeway from the Pentagon. My room didn't have a view worth noting but our meeting room and where we ate breakfast and lunch both had a nice view of DC. The weather was beautiful for February and we kept the balcony door upon most of time during our meetings. It was hard to keep focus on work while day dreaming at all the history the area holds while looking down on it. That and I kept wondering if I went over to the Capital if I could sit in on their stimulus debating.



The Pentagon looks a lot better from the air, from the ground it looks like a big ugly forbidding building. The Pentagon 9/11 memorial was sobering. They had one of these (in the above picture) stool type things with a pool of moving water under them for each person killed at the Pentagon. They are organized by the year the victim was born, the first year you come to is 1998, then 1994 all the way down to 1920 something, can't remember the oldest person, I just remember thinking that they were old. Standing in the middle with all of the little pools of water making noise, I felt flustered and couldn't help get but get upset about the whole thing. It was much more calming when there were just one or two of the moving water pools.



For an uplifting experience I then went to Arlington Cemetery. Not really uplifting but not as somber until the Unknown Soldier. The cemetery as a whole is really net and insanely huge. Who would have thought that there were so many people buried there? I didn't understand the layout at all, not sure there was much organization and was surprised at how many family members (not mine but of military personal) were buried there. Lots of wife's and children. Another peculiarity is Bobby Kennedy, JFK is buried with his wife and two children both of whom died with in the first year of being born. Bobby is buried all by himself in with this little marker just around the hill from his brother. Robert E. Lee owned the land before and had a nice huge house on top of the hill that overlooked DC, I thought this was odd as well. Just odd that no one else before had built their house on it? Seemed like a prime location and the house didn't start construction until about 1801 or '02.

The Unknown Soldier was a great experience and defiantly a place to reflect on the country. It was amazing to watch the soldier pace back and forth, then the changing of the guard. Truly amazing.



I then made the wise choice of forgoing the Metro ride to the mall and decided to walk there. I don't know if my choice was good or bad, all I know is that I walked FOREVER and thought I was going to get blown into the river by the wind. I did get a nice shot of the Washington memorial from the bridge.



I'm not sure if there is a short way from any Metro station to the Lincoln. I had to stop by Lincoln, it was his birthday that day, how could I pass that up? Nothing going on there, although he did have a ton of flowers and reefs around him and he had the most visitors.



I then walked from Lincoln to Jefferson. Again, I don't know if this was the wisest choice but it looked like all of the Metro stations were about the same distance away and would have walked a ton no matter what I did. I did get to walk through the FDR memorial on my way. That was pretty net, would have been better if it had been light. I really wanted to see Jefferson on my last visit but just didn't make it, it's so off the trail from all of the other memorials. Jefferson is one of my favorite presidents and I made sure I was going to see his memorial this time. I wasn't able to take many good pictures, all of the ones I took closer didn't turn out that well. The walk was well worth it! It is an amazing memorial and I really enjoyed the information under his memorial, there is a little Jefferson museum that gives his life story.

I then made another great choice and I walked to the Metro and took it to Alexandria to walk down Kings Street. Kings street was way sweet and would have been a ton cooler if it had been light and if I wasn't so sore from all of my walking. But I had to do it. I get to places like DC and I have to try and see everything I possibly can even if it nearly kills me.

I was also able to visit China Town the night before, it's like the China Town in Philly, one intersection that spreads down all four roads for about a block, maybe two. I understand that China Town in San Fran is the same way. I have always pictured the China Towns of being quit a bit bigger, like blocks and blocks or something, anything more then what they really are.

The kids were excited to have me home. They all wanted to sit with daddy, even Jet was fighting for his spot. And yes, my feet and legs are still sore but I made my flight on time!



Oh, Brett if you read this and think "Brad, you should have called" I thought about it, but didn't want to trouble you and I wasn't sure what my scheduling would be like. But thanks for the thought.

Mine's Bigger Than Yours!

Cash and his bff g-money went the bathroom together, not together together, they took turns. Both now stand up to pee and are quit proud of themselves of this feat and they both do relatively well in keeping it all in the toilet. They do better when they have something to aim at or you remind them to make lots of bubbles.

This post might be crossing the line a little but it was too good not to share with everyone. I wasn't there but T told me and there is no way that she would ever post this. She was blushing just telling me the story. The story as told by T and understood by me.

Here is their conversation as g-money goes the bathroom while cash watches;

Cash: you have a small penis, mine is big

g-money: NAAHAAA!!!

Cash: mine is bigger

g-money: I have a big penis

Cash: my penis is bigger

T wasn't sure what to do or say, so she told them it didn't matter and got them out of the bathroom. Not really sure where they learn this stuff from, unless they heard my conversation with g-money's dad last week that went pretty much a long the same lines. Really though, is this just ingrained in boys at birth to think of such things?

Cash & the Doctor

I had to take JJ to the doctors the other day. After Cash stared at the doctor for a while this is how the conversation went.

Cash: My daddy has that tie!!

Doctor: He must be a good guy.

No reply from Cash.

Doctor: Is your daddy nice?

Cash (nodding): Yes.

Then Cash looked like he was thinking really hard and said: No, he's a monster!!!

The night before Brad was playing the monster with Cody, I guess he was just
reflecting. The doctor thought that was great.

2009

I thought it would be best if I waited until January was almost over before I posted about our New Year events. Ok, not really, I'm really a huge slacker that just hasn't felt like posting anything. It's funny how I have to be in the mood to write a paragraph or two about what we've been up to. It's not as if I'm writing some master piece, it's just a blog. Well..........anyway.........




We had our annual T's birthday/NYE party and it went down with a bang. We are tying to make this an annual event, this was our third year throwing our party and my third year making my NYE chili. This year I did remember to bake a cake for T; yes, I totally forgot to make her a cake last year, although I still managed to forgot the candles. One of these years I'll get it down without forgetting something, at least she got something more than tupperware for her b-day this year. It's a good thing that she likes me or I would have been out on the curb long time ago.




We had a pretty good turn out for the birthday part of the party and quit a few people stuck around for the New Year Eve bash. We played a lot of Guitar Hero and those who weren't playing were more then likely on the internet and probably on facebook awaiting their turn to be a rock star. B want's nothing to do with playing guitar hero but she loves to dance to the music, which gets frustrating when she dances right in front of you and you miss ten notes!!!!




The kids had a blast, they always do whenever they're all together. B was excited ALL day long, constantly asking when the party was going to start and when were we going to bang pots and pans. All of the kids that stayed for the NYE bash made it up past mid-night with the exception of K-bug, she's an early bird though and woke all the other kids up bright and early the next day, sometime around 7am. Cash and b are night owls like their parents and were running strong 'tll some time around dark thirty, they were the last of the kids to doze. The parents didn't do much better, we played a game of fact or crap, it was fun for a while. We stopped after we hit the crazy tired laughing hysterically at stupid things stage, which was sometime after 1. Then a couple of us crazies played guitar hero 'till sometime right before the kids woke up and proceeded to run around the house yelling.



I'm not much of one for making New Year resolution, so I didn't and don't expect me to anytime soon either. Although, I have been sick more than normal this year, normal for me is twice a year, since I can remember I get sick twice a year, sometime in the fall and again in the spring. This year it seems like I've been sick since November only feeling better here and there. So needless to say something needs to change to fix whatever the reason is that I have been sick all winter.



New Years Eve party's are a great measuring stick to see how much your life has changed. Currently, I'm pretty satisfied with my NYE party's, crazy kids running around, hanging out with a bunch of fogies and drinking Mt.Dew all night long. Hope that 2009 treats us and you all as good if not better then 2008!

Snowboarding Coolios!!

They are so darn cute!! What more can I say.

Rock Star Cash Money

My parents bought Guitar Hero for Christmas and it's a huge hit! Cash loves it! He plays it in spouts, he'll want to play a few games then he'll be done, play with his cousins for a bit then he's ready to rock again. He gets into it and actually hits some notes.

We are currently potty training cash. He's doing pretty good. He hasn't pooped in his big boy underwear yet and only a few peeing accidents. It's hard calling them big boy underwear after years of b's big girl panties. Everyone calls his underwear panties, boys don't wear panties they wear underwear. He only has about a half dozen or so underwear were b easily has 20-30 panties, sometimes more sometimes less and ever changing all depending on exchanges with her cousins.

Cash gets a new toy (from the dollar store) every time he poops in the potty and a hand full of marshmallows for peeing in the potty. I wonder what will happen once the toys run out, which they are about to do. I also wonder if we will be giving him marshmallows for peeing in the potty when he is 6?

Potty talk is.....interesting to say the least. Kids are so interested in body parts, theirs and ours and where the poop and pee come out of and where they go after flushing the toilet. They love saying goodbye to their work as they flush it down, "goodbye poop" "goodbye pee". Our daily conversations are not really what I ever thought I would be talking about with anyone. I cannot wait until I'm done changing diapers and wiping bums!! That day will not come soon enough!

I-DA-HO

We spent Christmas week, or at least the better part of it in Idaho, up on the ranch. T's grandpa and uncle have a ranch in the small town of Almo. The good and bad of it was there is no cell reception and he doesn't have internet access. It was kinda nice to be away from the technology but after a few days I was starting to get the shakes. Luckily there is a little gas station in town that just this last summer started offering Wi-fi, I made a mental note of that when we visited for the family reunion. I would have visited it more and longer then the one time half hour that I did if the weather wouldn't have been so crappy. But it was just long enough to get my fix.



We stay at grandpa's with T's family, her bro and his family, her parents and her aunt and cousin. T's other cousin's stay up at their parents house, it's just up the lane and a bit from grandpas. On Christmas eve when Santa comes, he brings all of their gifts to grandpas house. So at 9 pm while our kids are still running around, supper excited and nowhere close to being ready for bed, the other family wants Santa to come so that Santa can get to sleep. While their kids are still awake, we had to entice our kids to stay up stairs in bed, really we had to take turns sitting with them until they fell asleep. Meanwhile everyone was walking in and out of the door bringing things in from their hiding places. This will be the last year we're able to do that. I'm pretty sure that seven year old's, if they still believe, will question why everyone is awake and going in and out of the house. After spending a few hours setting everything up I have decided that for now on I'm going to have to set things up prior to Christmas Eve, even though I enjoy the feeling of staying up late putting it all together while picturing the excitement of the kids.



B is at the perfect age for Christmas, she is excited but not soo excited that she wakes up at some crazy hour of the morning. All the kids are about the same age, so it works nicely and we get to sleep until after 7. We take the kids down under blankets so they can't see all the presents, into the kitchen to wait. They all walk into the room at the same time to see what Santa brought. They were all a little confused and not sure which presents were theirs, well b knew exactly which one was hers. After the parents pointed everything out, everyone was pretty excited.



Chaos then took over for the next three hours. B loved her big big barbie house. Ludo and cash were perfectly happy with their toys that Santa left out. So much so that they had no interest in opening any presents. b was buried in presents and was opening them as fast as she could, she was opening, jet's, cash's and hers. Felt kinda bad for the jet, b's first Christmas it was all about her, we helped her open every present, took tons of pictures of her. Cash's first Christmas, wasn't much different. Jet's first Christmas was spent on T's aunt's lap playing with paper and bows from presents. The minute that presents were all open, dinner (which on the ranch is lunch) was started on, actually the turkey was put in the oven sometime in the middle of the night. Just as the kids were taking in their hoard, we had to pick it all up so that we could set the table and eat lunch.



After all the excitement, the realization kicked in that a months worth of build up and preparation were all spent in a few hours time. Ludo hit the jack pot of three or four buzz lightyears (his favorite, "to finaty beond") and the second toy story movie. Ludo spent the rest of the time either playing with his buzz lightyear or watching the movie, but mostly both at the same time. Luckily we had two laptops, one that was constantly playing toy story and one for the other kids to watch what they wanted. The toy story laptop was upstairs until ludo decided that he didn't have time to go downstairs to use the bathroom (he was being potty trained), he didn't want to pee his pants though, so he pulled his pants down and peed on the carpet, and continued on as if that's what your suppose to do.



The weather wasn't just snowy, it was frigid cold! Everyone took their snow gear, we wanted to go skiing/boarding while we were there. Pomerelle is a short drive away and is supposed to be a decent resort. The day after Christmas, the wind was blowing so bad that if the resort had been open the roads probably would have not. The next day, T and I decided not to go, the road we needed to travel on was closed anyway. There was a long enough break in the wind to enjoy some time out sledding behind the four wheeler. B loved it! We had to make cash get in the sled and he was happy as long as it was moving, the minute it stopped he wanted out, but we just made him stay in the sled until his cheeks were frozen solid. This way of sledding is so much better then going down the hill, there is NO climbing back up!

The kids did great together for being stuck inside a house with each other for almost a full week. I do think that if we had stayed another day, or even a few more hours then what we did, grandpa would have booted us out. Don't get me wrong, he enjoyed the company, especially the first couple days but old men can only handle crazy, rambunctious kids for so long. I can only handle crazy, rambunctious kids for so long. And that point had been met.

Where to Start.......

Christmas is a fun time of year. It use to be a pretty relaxing time of year but not with three kids and parents who think they need to see their grandkids and cousins who want to play and sisters who think we need to spend time together. Throw in a few Christmas parties, all the shopping, and traveling in bad weather. It gets kinda crazy.



We had an early Christmas party with the Bartholomew's this year. I read in one of the Sunday school lessons, of how they use to have all the adults eat dinner first, then let the kids eat after. I have since been trying to convince the family that this is they way to go. As it is now, we cram in all the adults around the dinner table, so close that we sometimes use the same plates to save room on the table. Then the kids eat at a smaller dinner table in the middle of the kitchen, well, now we have added another small table for the boys. Once everyone is seated, your seated. There is no getting up to get something we forgot at the table, not even to beat the rowdy kids. So instead we all just yell at the kids as we try and have a conversation. "STOP PUSHING THE TABLE!!" "SIT DOWN AND EAT!" "DON'T FEED THE DOGS!"CASH, STOP STICKING PEOPLE WITH YOUR FORK!" And so on and so forth.



B is our little dancer. She dances to everything that has a beat. Haeli was playing some Christmas music on the piano while everyone was hanging out after dinner and waiting to open presents and b was just dancing away.

Hello?

Yes, we are still here. I know, I know, we have been totally slacker crackin on the blog updates. You know, just haven't felt much in the mood to write anything. We have had a lot of things to write about, I didn't want to force anything.

Here we are a good week into the New Year. For me it hasn't been a good week. Took the kids sledding/snowboarding over the weekend. They didn't care much for the sledding at all. B loved the snowboard and cash liked it for a minute and then he was done. Well, I was the chair lift, carrying the kids up the hill so they don't have to take the snowboard off and walk. Somewhere in picking the kids up and first taking them up the four foot hill and then the bigger hill, I did something to my back. T hates it. About once a year sometimes twice, I tweak my back up good enough that I can do nothing but lay in bed and complain. Luckily this time it only lasted a couple of days and I didn't have to go to the doctor. T already had some pain killers from giving birth earlier this year and boy did they work. Knocked me completely out. Too bad she only had a few left.

Coming back to work after having two weeks off isn't very fun. I know, I shouldn't be complaining about getting all that time off work. It was nice spending time with the fam and being around to help T out, especially after the craziness of December. But coming back to work was not fun. I'm having the hardest time trying to remember where I was on all my projects and what needs to be done. The bad back didn't help any and now I'm sick. What a great way to start the new year off. Hopefully this isn't a sign of things to come for the rest of the year. I'll be posting some more blogs to catch everyone up on what we did over the holidays.