Sledding Fun

Today we hit the slopes! The drive was pretty quick to the mountain. And the whole family went! I am happy to report that good times were had by all, with the exception of some bad equipment that we used. We lasted around 1 1/2 hours before everyone was tuckered out. All-in-all, well money spent. Madelyn says we have to find some bigger hills next time. I didn't know how much of a daredevil she is. I will have to look for some black diamonds in the future...

Be sure and check your email for a link to some photos and a VIDEO!

Its all about Family

We recently moved to the geographical center of our families. My family is about a days drive from here, and my wife's is about the same. It has been amazing since we moved here early this year how much family we have seen. Just this year we have had both sets of parents visit at least once, 4 sisters/sister-in-laws, 5 brothers/brother-in-laws, grandmothers, aunts, uncles, & cousins. OUR FAMILY IS WONDERFUL!!!! We recently just had my sister and brother-in-law out to visit. It was soo good to catch up on each others lives. I am a little jealous of two of my sisters that see each other every week. That would be so nice to visit with family that often. sigh...I love family.

Christmas Wishes

Well, it is Christmas night. My wife and I had an in-depth conversation to try and understand each other regarding this terminology. The 24th is known as Christmas Eve-all day long. So if you are trying to talk about Christmas eve vs. Christmas Eve, it is easy to get confused. We had get-togethers planned with both sides of the family. One on the evening of the 24th, and the other on the evening of the 25th. And we kept getting confused about what the other person is talking about. We finally reached a resolution the other day. Christmas Eve will be known -at least in our household- as the 24th. Then you have to add a noun to clarify what time of day you are talking about. Christmas is a little less cumbersome. Christmas morning...Christmas day...Christmas night.

When you start a new family, you bring traditions from both sets of parents. I think why people start preparing for Christmas back in October is that you try to plan for both sets of family traditions, and with each new generation the traditions get more elaborate.

Next year we would like to have all the presents bought around October so that we can focus on the more fun traditions. Below are some of the traditions that we have done in the past that were neglected this year do to the rush around Christmas time.

I like to make a type of cookie called a peppernut. Very good cookie, but we didn't get around to it this year. We also didn't get a chance to decorate the outside of our house. The neighbors were neglected, as we hadn't planned for treats until the last minute. My wife's valiant efforts to make something at the last minute didn't work out, and so nothing was given. We have piles of Christmas books to read to the children, but these were forgotten in the Christmas rush. In college, we used to do a good bit of caroling, and didn't get a chance to do that this year.

On the positive side, we did get presents under the tree for the girls, read Luke 2 on Christmas Eve at my Grandmothers, sing Christmas songs on Christmas Eve, we attended the Crèche in early December, took the children to see Santa, listened to the Christmas Devotional, had cookies and milk and a note out from Santa for the girls, decorated the tree, made gingerbread houses, and probably a few other things.

All-in-all a pretty good list of traditions, but there are always a few more to add. I am looking forward to focusing more on helping the children see the giving aspect more than the getting. So we will try that for next year.

Christmas traditions are also fun with a new family as you can take the favorites from both sides.

Well enough of my ramblings today. I had a great Christmas as I was able to spend it with all my famiy, and while there were a few with a little cough, or sniffley nose, it was nothing compared to the Christmas a couple of years ago after my wife's car accident. I am grateful that we are healthy and happy, and that my siblings and in-laws are for the most part healthy with a roof over their heads and food on the table. I am grateful that we have this time of year to reflect on the birth of the Savior, and upon the things he did during his life. I am thankful for the many friends we have, and that we are friends with our family. I am grateful for the gospel, and the church. To be able to meet together with others that share your belief system and values, and are willing to lend a hand when you need one.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Itunes Magic

Just a short post for all those that are hooked up with RSS. I stumbled upon a cool feature inside of Itunes. It allows you to have an RSS of recently purchased tunes as well as what your favorite artists are. You can see this in action on the right. I had to modify the size Now I need to update my Itunes library to really reflect what I like. It has crashed several times and all my ratings have largely disappeared. Check out my blog and see what I have bought and am listening to. If you are interested, sign into your Itunes account, and enable "My Itunes" near the bottom of the page. You can then copy code for various widgets.

Going Public

Well,

I have decided to go public with the whole blogging thing. So I am starting an IPO. Shares will be valued at 11 dollars per good memory. Bad memories have been forgive by the bank. :)

Centennial Pioneer Inc. expects to collect between $10 and $20 million through this offering...

Note (Legal Jargon): These statements may contain forward thinking... j/k

No really, I am going to go to a public blog. My fellow siblings have convinced me through example that this is not a bad thing. But now I am coming down with blogger's syndrome. I feel these compulsions to write about something, and then like a kid waiting for Christmas morning, wait for the one (or two) one liner comments.

I just finished making "Honey Spiced Rubbed Pork Tenderloin." I will let you know how it turns out. I also started another blog! Okay, enough with the groanings! I heard a collective sigh in my mind from you when I wrote that. No seriously, I am starting another blog that will be devoted to news tidbits, and other websites I find. Check it out at http://tech-speck.blogspot.com.

Today I had a funny incident. It happened around 11:00 this am during lunch. I get a little bored and end up eating early when I come to a challenging problem. So anyway, I am getting ready to eat my yogurt. When I go to open it... it squirts me. but not just a little bit. Somehow I end up with 2 tablespoons jumping about 18 inches onto my shirt. The wierd thing is...I'm wierd. My 1st reaction was, "Woah! That's cool!" The 2nd reaction (about 1 min later) was to clean up my messy shirt.

well, all for now.

Houses, Casas and Radon...Oh My

Hello,

Today finds me happily blogging away and eating red licorice that my father-in-law left behind after coming all the way from Olathe KS to do a home inspection on our new house. What an odd beginning...Let me back up a bit.

We have been harpooning for houses for around 6 months now. I took some time the other day and started to mark on a map of all the houses we have visited. It is still very incomplete (maybe 20-30%), but I will put it up anyway for those curious souls. Here it is. These are the houses that we physically went inside. If I count all the virtual tours, email alerts from multiple website, and the plethora of hours we spent talking about houses, driving by houses, and then talking about what we talked about...It is not a pretty picture. Multiply that number by a factor of 10 AT LEAST!! I think we put enough time in that it would count for another full time job.

Well, we finally found one that we are interested in. It is on the above map, but here it is again for those lazy souls. For those that missed the pictures of the house, here is a link (highlights) to more than you would care to throw a stick at (more photos).

To say we are excited about this house would be milquetoast. We are in LOOOVEEE with this house! I ran upstairs just a minute ago because I thought Jenny had fallen down. No...She was dancing about this house. The short...it is a nice big house with a 1/4 acre lot close to church, school, and all the day-to-day shopping you would need. Call me if you dare for the long version...

We saw this house a few days before the Rooster, Nurse, and 'lil Stinker came for a visit. We low-balled the sellers, and they countered with a still low bid. So we took it. Before R, N, & S (RNS) had a fighting chance, we drug them out to see it. I will post on their visit later. It was stinkin fun! I think that is what you get when you have a bunch of diaper-wearing toddlers running around. Lots of fun, and LOTS of diapers. K- I am going off on a tangent, back to the house.

After we were under contract, we called Jenny's dad to come out and do a home inspection. I had never heard of home inspectors before I married Jenny. For those prospective home buyers (even ones looking at brand new homes) I would recommend one (be sure and get one that is ASHI certified and has had 20+ years experience). Having a relative do an inspection gave us a great discount, and a full blown inspection. There were many items found, but the big ones that gave me pause were a wrongly installed pressure vacuum breaker -in current state allowed sprinkler water to get into potable system. Not good for those that spray chemicals on lawn, or have a pet- and poorly installed windows that allowed the window frames to start rotting. There were several other items that were found, but those were the biggies.

We also had our eyes open to the dangers of Radon. Now if you are like me, you know radon is bad, but that is about it. Radon is deadly. After smoking cigarettes, radon is the number two cause of lung cancer in the US. Those that have high levels of radon in their house are giving the occupants the equivalent of two packs of cigarettes a night when they go to sleep. That is how much lung damage it can cause. Here are a few links for the curious.

http://www.epa.gov/radon/index.html
General primer on Radon. I have a pdf I can mail you if interested.

http://www.epa.gov/radon/zonemap/utah.htm
This shows a map of Utah and the dangerous zones in the state.

http://www.epa.gov/radon/zonemap/colorado.htm
This is the same thing, but in ColoREDo.

http://www.epa.gov/radon/rnwater.html
Radon in drinking water.


K, for those of you still with me, radon had my attention. We had a person come out and perform a radon test in our basement. With our basement fan on, we averaged 2.2 (OK). without it on, we were around a 5. Now radon drops roughly in 1/2 every story up. So it would be around a 2.5 on the main living area, and 1.25 in the upstairs bedrooms. As we need to have our basement fan on at all times to keep the structural floor from molding in the basement, we will be fine.

Fun Fact--Did you know that if you live in pittsburg the average radon level is 12-13 pico-curies/liter? Just walking around breathing the air! That is on the equivalent of smoking a couple packs of cigs a day. I guess that is not to fun. Morbid Fact maybe?

So for those of you living in a red or orange zone, you should get your place checked. It varies from house to house on intensity. Jenny's sister, KC Nurse, just bought a ranch house, and has to deal with radon even though she doesn't have a basement.

-K- that is the end of my radon kick. The house is great. We are excited. Oh...I wanted to tell this tidbit. We took Madelyn down to register her at her new school. We found out that even though we live a mile from the school, they bus the kids. I guess since the route to get home crosses a busy intersection, they bus the kids. So she has a 10 min bus ride in the am, and pm. Jenny is relieved because she doesn't have to pack up the kids to take her back and forth every day. Year round school will be interesting. Well, I have to run. My 3-day weekend is at an end, and tomorrow I have to get back to work and projects.

Busy Weekend

Wow! If every weekend was this busy, I am not sure when I would rest. Friday evening, Jacob (Jenny's brother) and I went up to Downtown Denver (LoDo to the locals). We went to Rodizo's Grill to treat Jacob to a Churrascaria. It was his first Brazilian BBQ. He loved it. We took the light rail from Belleview to Union Station. After dinner, we rolled down to the theatre and watched Transformers. The CGI was pretty sweet. The plot was somewhat laughable. Well, no bones about it, it was darn right silly.

The light rail was pretty fun to ride. I had a free pass, as my company had given all the employees "Eco-Passes." Basically a free ride anywhere on RTD. Which is pretty sweet! However, there are always a loony or two that ride as well. Jacob and I were lucky enough to have a cuckoo ride behind us with a potty mouth. That ruined part of the trip up. We just switched trains and ended that.

The next day we went to Tiny Town. Basically this guy back in the early 19th century built a bunch of houses to a very small scale. Jenny, Jacob and I were thinking we were going to film a King Kong or Godzilla movie there, but there was a fairly large crowd. The buildings were also bigger than we were thinking, and heat was a damper. Charlotte freaked out at the train whistle, but enjoyed the 9 min train ride around the compound. That night we went to a mystical magical childhood memory of mine, Casa Bonita! It left such a wonderful impression on me as a kid. I remember it being this maze like place with these cool....things. I don't really remember the food, or much of anything. I do remember the water and glow necklaces. I really loved those glow necklaces. It was fun to take the kids back. Jenny had no such illusions. She remembered a cheap place with bad food. The food was so-so. I think that Disney took lessons from this place on moving people through a cue. Craziness! We were seated deep in the abyss. We watched a magic show that the girls thought was fantastic. While we were waiting in line, they had TVs blaring talking about the grandeur that is CASA BONITA. They stated that there was over 52,000 sq ft, which they were stating was over 5 football fields. To pass the time, I tried to do some calcs in my head to figure out how many square feet a football field is. My guess was around 45,000. I think the official tally came in around...shoot, now I have to look it up again. Just a sec. K, not including the endzones, the total is 48,000 square feet. SOOOO...their estimate was only 4 football fields bigger than it should be. I am tempted to write them a note. If so, I will let you know. Well, it is a late Sunday night...we are in the middle of a Star Wars marathon, and Jenny and Jacob are having burping contests. Timeless entertainment, sigh... Got to run.

Michael Michael Mr. Motorcycle..uh Bicycle

Today was Bike To Work Day. It was a lot of fun. I think that I am going to do that more often. I also got to buy a nice bike pump, and get my bike all fixed up. So I think I am going to be a fair weather biker. When it is nice, and I don't have anything pressing, I will get some exercise. Jenny was saying that there were about 20k people that biked to work today. It is SO nice to be able to bike to work, and do things outside without all the humidity. Well...All for now.

Mike

House Harpooning Safari

House Hunting...
coloradohomefinder.com
coloradohomestop.com
zillow.com
These are just a few of our favorite sites that we have been using to locate our "dream house." Of course, none of these sites really measure up for what I want. These sites allow you to search by school, neighborhood, property type, bedrooms, square footage, and a variety of other methods. However, they don't allow you to graphically select what you want. In my ideal world, I would have a website that would search MLS (property listings) for all the above criteria. In addition, you could say you wanted a commute time of X minutes. The site would contour all of this on a map. There would also be cookies on the site so that you don't have to put all this information back into the site EVERY time you visit!

Enough ranting about websites. It really is quite nice to type in your searches and have a map pop up with all the listings that work for you.
Here is a print screen of one of my searches. 202 items match my criteria. That will be narrowed down a bit, but there are a lot of homes out there!! We had our eyes on one house that looked pretty nice. Unfortunately, someone else had their eye on it as well. We are currently in a 12 month lease, and really can't be buying until around October. So we were a little bummed, but it is a good learning experience.

We saw this house today that I thought was pretty nice but Jenny did not like. It is all a matter of perspective I guess. Jenny grew up in a two-story, and I grew up in a ranch with a basement. Going into a basement brings back memories of home. Jenny has images of a dark cave. Her parents basement wasn't finished, and was more like a dark cave. So I can understand that. Living on the 2nd floor sounds nice.

So it has been a learning experience for both of us. Trying to find a nice location with things we both like. What we both think is ideal is 3000+ sq ft, 1/4 acre, and 5 miles from work. And make it within our price range. The last one gets a bit tricky. Most of the houses with a short commute time to the DTC are about twice what we want to pay. Stay tuned...We will keep you aware of new developments.

Applesauce

One of my favorite memories growing up was canning and eating homemade applesauce. Mmmm was it ever tasty. I remember being shocked at going over to a friends house one day and finding store-bought applesauce. "You can buy applesauce from the store?" I asked incredulously. That was my introduction to the bland boring goo that companies have the audacity to call applesauce. And over time, my tastebuds acquiesced into accepting the bland mush.

Over the years, I have moved from a sugared applesauce, to an unsweetened variety. After all, "High Fructose Corn syrup --It's making America Fat!" For the past few years, we have been consuming the "Great Value" unsweetened applesauce. Bland, boring, and a little too tart for these taste buds.

The other day, Jenny brought home some Treetop brand applesauce. No sugar, but it sure tastes like homemade. Go ahead and spend 20 cents more for a happy mouth.

Worth it? My kids think so

Here is a picture of my wonderful sister-in-law and the "girl posse." The Nurse came and helped out after our 4th was born. She was a big help and good company.
My cousin and our 2nd swinging. Take a look at her face. Pure Joy.
More swinging in Boulder.
The girls adored the cousin. They had a lot of fun.

Rantings of a sleep deprived ______

My sister suggested that I start a blog. Now I am one who usually embraces technology, but blogging has not really been my thing. For one, I am not quite sure what I would write. Current stuff? Well I am involved in our companies efforts to start a philanthropic program. We are looking into Engineers Without Borders. I love a good cause, and it is fun to be a part of a program that does this sort of thing. We should have something up and running within the company in the next few months.

I am love taking photos of my family, and I am an avid news reader. My favorite feeds are: www.drudgereport.com news.google.com, cnn.com and digg.com. It is surprising the amount of interesting news that pops up. One of my favorite "diggs" was this video..

You should do a google search and see all the places I pop up. I was surprised at all the locations I turned up. When I was browsing the internet yesterday I came across a really intriguing website. This guy took pi and turned it into music. Wierd things like that facinate me. I have often pondered on writing something that involved mathematical expressions. I also liked this youtube.com site. It has a collection of the buffy musical, "Once more with Feeling" episode. Gooood Stuff Maynard!!

We just finished watching "Night at the Museum" with Ben Stiller. It was a good "Check your brain at the door" movie. I LIKE those movies! Tomorrow I get to cut the grass and have an emissions inspection for my car. Here are a few photos for your enjoyment.

Oh yeah, I am also training for a crazy race this September. Check it out below.