I wish I could blame

the lack of posting on my allergies...so I will.

Stupid allergies.

Another Video

New Toothbrushes

I use antlers in all of my decorating...

Rippped down a cupboard a few nights ago. It's the one that hung over the peninsula separating the kitchen from the family room. It's a shame to lose the storage space, but it hung low enough that you had to duck to talk to people in the other room. It opens it up a lot now.

Now to get the time to finish pulling down the wallpaper in the kitchen, patch up the ceiling, and paint the whole mess.

One man and 3 babies

I'm watching the kids today while the wifey's at work. Their friend Tia is coming over this morning and she's going to spend the night.

Any bets on how long I can last without losing it?

Ted Nugget, get off my stage!

A woman I work with was telling me about her son playing the video game Rock Band recently. He was in the other room and she heard him yell, "Get off my stage, Ted Nugget".

It took her a minute to realize she was talking about Ted Nugent.

Hilarious.

Bath Time Beards

Ok, really, last ones

Last ones

From our friend Steph, Allie's Mother:

Couple More

Grandma bought the 3 matching outfits for the girls. They were super excited about them. Noah was disgusted by this rampant consumerism and showed his distaste by wearing only a diaper, a dirty t-shirt, and socks.

Lexi's Birthday Party

So we had 4 kids yesterday for Lexi's 4th Birthday Party. Two of our own, along with Tia and Allie, her two best friends. Her birthday isn't officially until Tuesday, but it was the best time for a sleepover. Allie didn't sleep over, but Tia did. Horrible idea, that.

Ok, it wasn't horrible at all, it was exactly what I expected. Getting 4 kids to settle down at the end of the night isn't easy, but they did well. Here are the pictures.

Valentine's Day Outfits

20 years on

Last time I was home to see the parents I bought this cd second hand after not listening to the cassette for at least a good 15 years or so. I was somewhat amazed to see how well it held up and how much I still loved it. I say still, though I remember hating it when it first came out. It was the exact opposite of what everybody was expecting as a follow up to the debut album, License to Ill.

10 out of 10.


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2009's starting off rather dull

And it's not just because Coldplay are on the Grammy's right now (rim shot!).

I've been thinking, but not about anything worth sharing.

Yes, the leaky pipe is still holding. I learned from the best. Now if my in-laws would only tell their daughter how great I am. I've even got the beard going to prove it.

Heard this on the comedy station the other day, "Wouldn't the Republicans be pissed if they one day found out that stem cells cured homosexuality?" I forget who said it.

Mitch Hedberg said, "I like an escalator because an escalator can never break, it can only become stairs. There would never be an escalator temporarily out of order sign, only an escalator temporarily stairs. Sorry for the convenience."

Kids are still hilarious. They yearn to go to restaurants to eat these days. They've been pretty good too, so it's been a not-horrible experience. We were at teh Cheesecake Factory the other night and Noah told the waitress, "I want soup, please!" Lexi's 4th birthday is in a week and she's very excited. I said something about her being four the other day and she told me, "I'm not 4, I'm only 3 1/2". She's very literal. She's been reading Charlotte's Web with Mandy then got to watch the movie which she barely paid attention to. She just liked mommy reading to her.

The kids are loving Scooby Doo the most though. You can't even turn on a Spongebob, it's just Scooby and the rest of the Mystery, Inc. gang. Every once in awhile Noah will say, "I love Velma", or "I love Freddy". There are some great Scooby Doo cartoons. And there are some absolutely terrible ones.

I think the kids are messing with me though. Every once in awhile I'm pretty sure they're saying swear words to see if I notice, but when I ask them what they say they won't admit it. They're mumble-swearers.

Finally found Herman Hesse's 'Knulp' at Powell's yesterday. I've been looking for it for years, but it's usually about 35-50 dollars; I was able to get a used copy for only 10 dollars. The kids were not the best bookstore shoppers. I think I might have done some mumble-swearing.

Any questions? I thoght not.

Manly Man

My wife didn't think I could do it. She said we should just pay someone to have it done.


She's probably right, but I did it anyway. We'll see how it looks tomorrow, but I think it's fixed.

Thanks to my dad for teaching me how to fix a leaky pipe many, many years ago.

It took me only 6ish hours. Here are my tips on how to do it (the wrong way):

1. Go buy a shovel.
2. Come home and dig up where you think the hole is.
3. Fill in the hole where the leak was not, and try another one.
4. Fill in the second hole and dig up the first one again.
5. Make the first hole a lot bigger and hope you're eventually gonna find that hole.
5b. Cry a little when you realize the leak is coming from underneath the driveway concrete.
6. Look up the number for a leak detection place that will charge you $300.00 to laugh at you when they see your two holes and still couldn't find it.
6b. Keep digging because you don't want to pay the 300 dollars. Rejoice when you see the water gushing out of the hole and hit the white pipe.
7. The leak was at a connection where a pvc pipe turned into a metal pipe. Makes you wonder if just replacing that connection is going to be durable enough, but oh well.
8. Go to the store and buy the stuff you need to fix the pipe now that you know what kind of leak it is.
9. Go back to the store after you get home and realize you forgot one very important connecting piece.
10. Fix the leak.
11. Go back after showering and doing a load of laundry and see that the pipe is solid.
12. Go to bed and hope in the morning the street won't be covered in water.

Look, a 12 step program. Oh my back.

New Year, Resolved

You see, last year I made a resolution to write more on this blog. And I think overall I did a pretty good job.

This year I did not resolve to do it. And I've done a pretty good job of it. Only 4 posts in January. Not good.

It hasn't been an extraordinarily busy month really, I just haven't gotten around to it. Here's why (in pictures):

Haystack Rock

Goonies!!!!!

Olliemae Coombe

Olliemae Coombe 1909 ~ 2008 Olliemae Hansen Coombe, went home to her mom and dad, her husband Frank, and her many sisters and brothers on December 27, 2008 in Lake Shore, Utah at the home of Janice and Sam Clayson, just barely missing her 100th birthday.She was born on Jan. 10, 1909 in Goshen, Utah to Charley F. and Carolina Holmstead Hansen. Even though she had no children of her own, she had many nieces and nephews, whom she considered her children. She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband and 13 brothers and sisters. She is survived by her many nieces and nephews. Those in the area are Janice (Sam) Clayson, Lake Shore; Leah R. Bonney, Santaquin; Guy (Jr.) and Hannah Marie Farley, Salem; Ferl (Bob) Dillenbeck, Pleasant Grove; Doug (Aileen) Hansen, Orem; and Ed (Deanna) Hansen, Payson. The family would like to thank Janice and Sam Clayson and family for their care and devotion they have given Olliemae these past years. They would also like to thank Alpine Hospice for the wonderful and considerate care they have given her, Jason, Yvonne, Shannon, Mary Ann, Tyler and Matt. Funeral services will be Friday, January 2nd at 11 a.m. at the Holladay Brown Funeral Home, 66 South 300 East, Santaquin, with a viewing one hour prior to services. Burial, Goshen Cemetery. Condolences may be sent to the family at www.holladaybrown.com


Aunt Ollie was a good friend of mine. She wasn't really my aunt. She was my grandma Vera's aunt. When my Dad dropped me off at college, we went by Olliemae's house and she fried us up some ham and eggs. Every time I'd go to visit her after that she always seemed to have some ham in the fridge for me.

I didn't go there often, probably once every month or two for about 3-4 years. It was always nice to just relax, catch up on the latest family news, watch her favorite Utah Jazz basketball games, and just enjoy each others' company.

Aunt Ollie could be a crotchety old lady too. She was always critical of idiots and morons (which is why we got along so well) and loved to talk about how everybody's always in too much of a hurry and just need to slow down and enjoy life. We could sit there in silence and just enjoy the peace. I haven't talked to Aunt Ollie in years. I think I called her once several years ago and I don't think she really remembered who I was exactly, but that's ok, we enjoyed the time together that we had.

I really thought she'd live to be 100.

Rest in peace, Aunt Ollie. We love you very, very much.

Cleaned the garage today

It wasn't exactly a resolution for the new year, but it sure felt like it.

Took me about 4 hours. Mostly going through my archives, winnowing out the 'not so necessary' part of my boxes. I'm down to about 4 boxes of personal stuff in there now.

Woohoo!