As a kid, whenever anybody would ask me what my favorite holiday was, the answer was obviously Christmas. After all, what kid doesn’t like Christmas? Free toys, lots of candy stuffed into clothing designed for feet, and did I mention free toys?
Now that I’m a bit older, I still love Christmas (I think it’s the free toys thing), but I’ve developed a deep appreciation for other holidays. Thanksgiving is awesome but the Fourth of July holds a special place in my heart. There’s something about seeing an American flag flying as a wing of F-16s fly overhead that makes me extremely grateful to live in this wonderful country. Add to the the fact that we’ve developed some really fun family traditions, and you have a day that we all look forward to each year.
Tags: Alex, candy, Family, family traditions, fourth of july, Friends, Fruit Heights, holiday, Holly, Jeremiah, Kaysville, parades
Alex, Emma, Family, Friends, Hannah, Holidays, Holly, Jeremiah | Jeremiah, July 4, 2008 11:34 pm | 
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Well, I’m not but Alex thinks that he is. He has two Batman shirts, a Batman vest, a Batman hat, and a Batman mask, ears and all. He loves putting on one of the shirts, the vest, the mask, and a pair of gloves and pretending to be Batman. He even goes out in public like that. People think it’s very cute but we all know that if I went out like that, I’d be mocked until I cried. It’s amazing what kids can get away with.
Emma is also a big Batman fan. She likes to join in on the fun by wearing all black (if her Batman shirt isn’t clean) and then running around with Alex. It doesn’t matter to her that Batman’s sidekick doesn’t actually dress like Batman. At least I hear her talking about Batgirl so she’s aware that not all characters in the Batman universe are actually Batman.
I just wanted to take a minute and let everyone know how proud I am of Holly. Last week she took the test to become a licensed LPN. The test took her a few hours but in the end, she passed. So now Holly is officially a licensend practical nurse.
After she graduates in the fall, she’ll take the test to become a registered nurse. Given how smart she is, I don’t think that test will prove any more difficult than the LPN one was.
On Saturday, I noticed that Emma was wearing one of the nastiest pairs of flip flops that I have ever seen. They were old, filthy, worn out, and to top it off, about two sizes too small for her feet. I can’t have my kids looking like they do their clothes shopping in the dumpster so we stopped by Old Navy to pick her up a new pair.
Since Old Navy has them at two for $5 or one at $3.50, I bought Alex a new pair as well. But what about Hannah? Yeah, I got her a pair too. Since I was buying three pairs, I might as well pick up a fourth so I got myself a pair as well. Yay! New flip flops for all! (Holly got a new pair a couple of months ago so she opted to not get any.)
This past week we had our stake Lagoon day. Since we had free entrance tickets and the ability to go on a few rides, we decided to take the kids and go have some fun.
I love amusement parks. It used to be that I could ride roller coasters all day long. As I have aged, I’ve learned just how much fun traveling at high speeds in an open car along a steel track can be. That being said, Lagoon just doesn’t excite me like it used to. The kids, on the other hand, are thrilled at the prospect of going to Lagoon even if it’s only for a few hours.
Tags: Alex, amusement parks, Emma, Family, Hannah, Holly, Jeremiah, Kids, Lagoon, Pioneer Village, roller coasters, tilt a whirl, Willy Wonka
Alex, Emma, Family, Hannah, Holly, Jeremiah | Jeremiah, June 21, 2008 5:40 pm | Comments (0)
Today as I was eating my breakfast, I was visiting my usual morning websites when I came across one of the most amazing articles on global warming I’ve read in a long time. It was written by the founder of The Weather Channel, John Coleman. It’s a long article but it’s well worth the read.
You can go here to check it out but, for your convenience, I’ve included it below.
Global Warming and the Price of a Gallon of Gas
by John Coleman
You may want to give credit where credit is due to Al Gore and his global warming campaign the next time you fill your car with gasoline, because there is a direct connection between Global Warming and four dollar a gallon gas. It is shocking, but true, to learn that the entire Global Warming frenzy is based on the environmentalist’s attack on fossil fuels, particularly gasoline. All this big time science, international meetings, thick research papers, dire threats for the future; all of it, comes down to their claim that the carbon dioxide in the exhaust from your car and in the smoke stacks from our power plants is destroying the climate of planet Earth. What an amazing fraud; what a scam.
Over the past few months, the Colt has acted as though the the fuel pump was trying to die. I decided that instead of paying somebody $500 to fix it, I would do it myself. After talking with some “car guys”, I came to the conclusion that I should try replacing the $15 filter before I tackle the $199 pump. It was an easy enough job and seemed to resolve the problem. That is, until Monday.
Monday afternoon I had to go to the DMV to pick up plates for my scooter. Just as I pulled into the parking lot, the car died. It had been trying to strand me for a few miles so I’m glad that it died where it did. Luckily, Holly was in Kaysville and was able to pick me up before I was even ready. I’m not sure if that says something about how fast she was or how slow the DMV was… Anyway, we left the car and went to pick up my scooter then came back a few hours later. What do you know? The car was fine. Based on past experience, I was pretty sure at this point that the fuel pump was bad.
With gas at nearly $4.00 a gallon, Holly and I are looking for any way to save money that we can. We don’t do a lot of driving but I manage to go about 30 miles each day to and from work and Holly seems to be spending a lot on gas for the van. She doesn’t drive far but costs seem to be adding up due to the fact that it’s a van that doesn’t get great gas mileage.
We’ve been talking about it for a few years, but after running some numbers, factoring in current, and probable future gas prices, we finally decided that it was advantageous for us to purchase another vehicle. No, we didn’t get a hybrid and we still have both the van and the Colt. We bought a scooter.
A lot has happened in the past week that I’ve wanted to blog about but work has kept me too busy. I’ve been working long hours and then, when I get home, there’s so much to do that I don’t usually get a break until around 8:00.
This weekend, we decided to take a break from our busy lives and take the family camping with some of our friends. Like last year, we headed up Logan Canyon with hopes of catching some big fish and, like last year, we came back empty handed. I’m getting a bit ahead of myself though. Let me start at the beginning.
Last night was the annual fathers and sons campout for our ward. When I learned about it a week ago, I decided that it would be a good opportunity for me to spend some time with just Alex. I figured that he would enjoy camping with just me. It turns out that I was right. We had a great time.
Because I got off of work a few hours later than I had planned, we got a late start. Combine the late start with rush hour traffic through a construction zone and, by the time we got to Morgan, it was after 7:00. There was no way that I was going to set up camp and make dinner before it got dark so we stopped at Subway and got some sandwiches. As we sat at a table eating our dinner, Alex seemed pretty pleased with the fact that it was just the two of us. That is, until he got mad at me for forgetting to ask for pickles on his sandwich. Lucky for me though, he got over it pretty quickly. I think that it had something to do with the bar-b-que chips that I got for him.
