Aric's scythe

I'm pretty happy with this new tool. You can see the area I'm working on with the scythe, and how our grass came in. It went from almost completely dead to pretty green in about a week.

Tragedy in the Peterson driveway!

WARNING, EXPLICIT PHOTO NOT SUITABLE FOR YOUNG CHILDREN !

Looks like we're down to just frog...oops.

It's a...

Girl!

Monday Night

Don't you just love it when Dad cooks dinner? Best part, no dishes (drinking mustard is a close second).

Happy Easter

A Sunday Drive

I'm not sure how she got in there, and I'm not sure how she got out. When they're both content I try not to ask too many questions.

Megan Update

Megan's latest and greatest include:
wearing mom's shoes
growling at Addie
talking on the phone "hi, hi, hi, hi, . . . "
hiding in the shower
running away at church
and refusing to eat peanut butter (that's pretty significant around here).

Today's Life Lesson:

Never a good idea to sleep on wet hair.

Addie - Future Bull Rider

Thanks for the Cookies!

When Esther posted that she had a new mixer, we just didn't believe her. We told her we needed some evidence in the form of baked goods. Esther took the bait and sent us a bunch of AMAZING chocolate chip cookies. THANK YOU!

Now Esther, I don't think you know how to wire money to account number 124 2345 23636. No way, I don't think you have it in you, especially large sums of cash, like oh, say $4500.00.

Fact Check

1. We are having a baby in July
2. We do not know the gender of the baby.
3. We will not be naming our baby Reagan or Ronald or Ronnie.

How would they look?

We heard the Manwarings wanted to name thier son "Truman"...that got us thinking...

We thought, I wonder what our kid would look like with the name we have chosen...

Don't worry, Aric's three day weekend is over.

Sunday Night

Click to enlarge

FYI...

...we're having one of these in July. Have a nice night.

The Christmas Story Re-told

We decided to ask Adeline about the Christmas Story. We thought, she's recently been in heaven, maybe she'll give us some insights...

Q -So how did Mary and Joseph get to Bethlehem?

A - Eight tiny Reindeer.

Q - What part would you and Megan play in the Nativity?

A - I'll be Mary, Megan can be the donkey.

A Christmas Miracle

Adeline was the last child to get on Santa's lap, but she finally did it.

Megan isn't sure about Santa...

Really starting to get nervous...

Yep, she pretty much hates Santa.

Mike's Farm

There isn't much to do in the winter around here except sit and listen to artillery rounds go over your house. We did however find Mike's farm tonight. They took us on a hay ride behind a vintage tractor through a neat light display. They have a restaurant and a cool gift shop with fudge, mmmmm....fudge. One of our better FHEs.

She walks!

Megan can walk! Heaven help us.

After further review, the moron speaking during the filming of this event asks that all viewers please turn off their sound while viewing. "There you go, ahuh"..... what a schmuck.

Chocolate Monster's Birthday

Happy Birthday Megan the Chocolate Monster! She didn't care about the new set of blocks, but bring on the chocolate cake... and make it a double.

Semper Fidelis

This is a shout out to Justin H. Get some! Merry Christmas. Hope things are going well.

Three CRAZY elves!

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1159795796

A couple of years ago when Sally and I were home for christmas, we caught these guys on tape. You have to see this.

Tree farm fun

Here is Addie (and Megan's legs) at the tree farm. We got a domesticated tree, not a wild forest tree like the Manwarings. Go Manwarings, choppin down the virgin forest.

Thanksgiving!

Those who are interested in our Thanksgiving pictures, click on the link. Thanks for such a great time Mordocks.
http://jjmordock.blogspot.com/2007/11/thanksgiving-pictures-plenty.html

Megan the red-nosed baby . . .

. . . took a pretty hard fall down the stairs - ouch!

Trick or Treat

Addie was one happy little princess on Halloween. She ate up all the compliments (and candy) she received at the ward party, but wasn't too thrilled with the big crowd. She gets pretty annoyed when there are "just too many boys". Megan didn't show the same excitement for the big day; her costume stayed on her only long enough to take this picture. I guess it only makes sense since she can't really enjoy a pumpkin full of candy. Better luck next year Meg.

Sliced carrots anyone?

Uuuuummmmm......is there a carrot on my head?

Adeline photo shoot

I told Adeline to give me "supermodel" and this is what I got. I don't know...

These bright purple berries are native to North Carolina. Addie uses them in her playdough pies, yummy.

Knighted

"After President Hinckley finished with the sustaining of the officers of the church during the Saturday morning session, Elder Eyring had moved to his new seat on the stand. Unfortunately, they didn't show this on TV, but when President Hinckley turned around, he stood there for a moment looking at Elder Eyring, then picked up his cane and "knighted" him on his shoulder and head. Truly one of the funniest things I've ever seen him do.

I love how President Eyring looks just like a little boy..."

Thanks for the jokes Heather.

Climb Every Staircase

Megan learned to climb the stairs. She cries when she falls. We don't like all that crying. What a baby.

A Flying Shame? I don't think so.

For those who have heard or read the Time magazine article about the V-22, here is a great rebuttal written by someone (NOT ME) who actually knows what he is talking about.

First, the link to the Time article. http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1665835,00.html

Here are the real facts.

There's sad news from our nation's capital this week friends. It turns out that the Marine Corps has been run for a quarter century by incompetent leaders who have worked closely with corrupt members of Congress to put young Marines in aircraft that will get them killed. The only thing that can save us from this cabal is courageous investigative reporting that reveals the rot destroying our defense establishment. Oops -- my mistake! I just described the screenplay for Oliver Stone's next movie.

The sad news from Washington I meant to discuss was the continuing erosion of Time Magazine's relevance in the modern world, as reflected in its goofy cover story this week about the V-22 Osprey tiltrotor that the Marine Corps and other military services are buying. Time Magazine used to be a major force in American journalism, but now it is searching desperately for readers in a news market crowded with more engaging alternatives. Faced with the same extinction that claimed sister publication Life Magazine, Time is resorting to an old journalistic tool to hold market share --sensationalism.

Since it's hard to be sensational if you have to report all the facts, Time reporter Mark Thompson has elected to include only the bad stuff.Unfortunately, this results in an account of the V-22's development that could only be true if the Marine Corps had been run by idiots for the last25 years -- idiots who don't care about the fate of their fellow Marines in combat. It isn't really necessary to rebut this ridiculous thesis, because the V-22 is deploying for combat in Iraq and we will soon have unambiguous indicators of its performance. But just for fun…

1. Time says the V-22 was so bad that even defense secretary Dick Cheney wanted to cancel it. Actually, Cheney killed a hundred major weapons programs in four years at the Pentagon, and V-22 was the one program he couldn't convince Congress to eliminate.

2. Time says the V-22 has suffered half a dozen major mishaps during development claiming 30 lives. That's true, but it fails to mention that the CH-46 helicopter the Osprey will replace suffered 44 major mishaps during its first five years of service.

3. Time says the V-22 should be equipped with a forward-firing gun to perform its assault support role. That will come as news to the military,since no assault support aircraft in the joint fleet carries a forward-firing gun.

4. Time says V-22 lacks the "autorotation" capacity that allows helicopters to descend to a survivable landing if engines fail. Well duh: V-22 isn't a helicopter. However, it has more unpowered glide capability than any chopper in the fleet.

5. Time says the latest version of V-22 is only ready to fly 62% of the time. The real mission-capable rate is 70% -- not bad for a new aircraft,and much better than the aging helicopters the Air Force uses for search and rescue in Iraq. I could go on, but what's the point? There's no market for good news about weapons systems. But you're still going to be hearing a lot about the V-22in Iraq, because any aircraft that combines the speed and range of airplanes with the vertical agility of helicopters will change the way we wage war.