Funny Old Home Video

So we found this funny clip the other night and decided to do a bit of editing to make it even funnier. Perhaps it is funnier when it is your own kids and it is time for bed. . . but Marthe and I were laughing for quite a while. So we thought we'd share it with you.

Fun Times in California

We enjoyed our vacation to California to see my grandparents.
Who knew that road construction in the middle of Nevada could be so fun. The following video shows how funny the little bumps on the side of the road are. . . you know. . . the ones that are supposed to keep you awake.


We stopped by the Reno Temple. It is the first small temple that I have seen up close. . . even though I have worked on several of them.

Tuesday was really stormy and rainy.

Wednesday before lunch we walked around downtown Sutter Creek and let the boys & Marthe peek in the windows. They always have good window displays.

Marthe caught a frog while we were wandering down there. No doubt it was out with all the wet weather the previous day.

Later on Wednesday, we drove in to Sacramento and went to the train museum. We all had a great time there. There are so many cool things to see.

They had lots of toy train displays along with the full-size trains. It is amazing how decked-out some of the train interiors are. Too bad the normal airplane cabins aren't as cool as old train cars. It kind of takes the fun out of traveling. Now they just try and distract you from how uncomfortable it is with a movie. Old trains would have been a really cool experience.

We helped Grandpa pick walnuts. Luckily no one came out with black hands. Apparently if you pick up walnuts without gloves, your hands will turn black and they will not go back to the regular color for about a month. Nothing will take the stain out. . . soap. . .turpentine. . . nothing. It was fun doing a chore that was a bit different than the usual ranch chores I have helped out with over the years. This is the first time I have been down there during walnut season.

We got home without too much trouble. Sadie barfed once. She is the only one of our kids who has ever gotten car sick. It wasn't a big deal. . .fairly tramatic for her. . . but she settled back down after we cleaned her up pretty quick.

First Lost Tooth

Tommy lost his first tooth today.
He had to be bribed to let me pull it out.
I learned how to pull out teeth from the Berenstain bear's book about going to the dentist.
So I just got a napkin, got a good grip and quickly pulled up.

Tommy was quite shocked that it came right out and didn't really hurt.
Mark never let me pull any of his teeth out.
Tommy is a little more die hard. . . especially if there is a good bribe.
Uncle Swayne gave him $1.50 for his bravery.
Here's the proud Tommy.

The State Fair

We made our anual trip to the State Fair. We saw lots of white trash, stinky animals, ghetto rides and got to tell our kids "no" a lot. But they were able to come home with a lot of free vendor junk that will probably get thrown away today. . .
We did go dow the big slide which is always fun. And we did the "Little Hands on the Farm" which the kids really enjoy. . . because they get a treat at the end.

Spencer Blowing Out Candles

St. George Trip - July 2009

We recently took a trip down to St. George.
My brother-in-law's family has a condo down there.
His family was going down and so we went with them.
We spent a lot of time in the indoor pool because outside was so hot.
Here's my niece McKenzie:

Here's another niece. . Michaela.

The other kid seems familiar. . . but he's too crazy to be mine. . . or maybe not. Here's another niece. . . Maddie
Michaela and Sadie spent a lot of time together. Sadie calls her kaka. . . somewhat amusing. . .

We took one day to drive down to Vegas and enjoy the aquarium at the Mandolay Bay casino.
We stopped by the M&M factory while we were down there so we could buy some M&Ms at twice the price that you can buy them at a regular store. Spencer had his birthday while we were down there. There were some candles there luckily. . . the funny part was that they were the re-lighting type.

We went to sacrament meeting down there before coming home. Before church the kids enjoyed playing with everything in the kitchen.
On the way home we tried to see a ghost town at Silver Reef, but it was pretty disappointing. However, we did stop at Cove Fort which was a much better historical stop. Cove Fort was the crossroads of a couple main routes for the telegraph, mail and travel in central Utah.

For more information on the fort go to : www.covefort.com

It was a nice break from the car.

There were missionaries there to give guided tours, so it took a bit longer than expected, but was more informative than just looking at the rooms and fort would have been.

Sadie enjoyed it.

Here's the big front doors. and a cute family.

(On a side note I noticed that the hinges to the doors leave the pins on the outside of the fort when the doors are closed. . . so when the doors were closed, someone could potentially pop the pins of the hinges and pull the doors off. . . so I guess it is good the never had any battles here. The fort was recently restored. . . so the hinges on the wrong side could have been a result of the restoration).

Anyway, it was a fun .

Rub a Dub Dub. . . A Bunch of Kids In a Kiddie Pool

After a fun day playing on the big slide, it was time to relax with the cousins in the pool.

Sadie enjoys singing.

Fireworks on the 4th were fun.