Spring time!!

I'm sure we have some pictures on the camera, but these are just a couple I had on my phone. Actually some Liz sent me, blah blah blah... no body cares about that.

We are having some pretty great weather. Too bad I've been stuck inside for the last... who know's how long. Big final exam on Monday. If anyone needs something to pray for, throw me in there. :-)




As you can see, this is Elijah's favorite funny face right now. He's ridin' his bike all over town. The training wheels will be coming off before he's 4 for sure.

... worth a thousand words.

W

Ronny

You-know-who

SUCCESS

So I jumped in my car the other day in a hurry to get a movie rental back on time, put my key in the ignition, turned it, and felt a snap. My heart sank becuase I knew what it was. I slowly removed it and much to my dismay... saw only half of the key. OH CRAP!
Fast forward a few days of hassling Liz to use her car, hours of jamming things in the ignition while holding a flashlight... straining my eyes to peer into the depths of the switch to fish out the stub. FINALLY!! No Locksmith! Yee-haw.

Now I just have to put the column back together.

Shoot.

Eli D. in the house!

uPDaTe

I know it has been a while since I've updated... but I've kind of lost the blogging bug I think.

Ahh, shucks... we are all 'growed' up Sis!

The Wolfington Boys. We love our Wolfington Boys.

For Noah's 12th birthday (I know right... 12!) we did a repeat of last year w/ his good buddy David. They had a blast. They are sitting in the very front of the roller coaster. They rode this ride probably 12 times. No lines!

It may appear my brother is winning this wrAstling match, but it is but a momentary setback I assure you.

Frustrations w/ Barack

Stimulus Mr. Obama? Ha. More like spending!

In a truly partisan move by our President (who has spoken mostly of bi-partisanship...(laugh)) Barack Obama has pulled out the 'catastrophe' card in his first address to the nation to sell his 809 BILLION (yeah, that's almost a TRILLION) dollar spending bill. Some might say this tactic is reminiscent of what the media accused George W.'s administration of doing, by creating "fear" in order to push political agendas. No doubt we are in a great recession, but catastrophe? There is an ebb and flow in all things, and the economy is certainly not immune. We've enjoyed a ripe decade or so, and now we are in a slowdown... not a surprise.

Instead of developing corporate tax cuts proposed my many lawmakers, which would lower the cost of doing business in the US, which would limit jobs sent overseas thus creating them here... the left wing spending bill is 90% top heavy with social policy and only 10% economic policy. Frustrating!! And another thing I found to be an Obamanation he said during his speach was "nobody wants a hand-out". Are you serious? No one wants a handout? EVERYBODY wants a handout! Show me someone who doesn't want something for nothing, and I'll show you a real life poke-a-dotted unicorn for pete's sake.

Valley of Fire State Park

So we spent MLK day celebrating the great weather outdoors. About 45 min. outside L.V. there is a SWEET geologic formation called Valley of Fire. It's these really orangie-redish rocks, which stand out from the landscape. We went with some friends and we all had a great time relaxing.

Actual petroglyphs from earlier native inhabitants.

Eli D.

Liz had Elijah go pee-pee in the grass over the Christmas break and ever since then he has wanted to do his #1 business in the great outdoors. He likes to go by himself. "I DO IT!!"

Nothin' new going on.

It's been a while since the Christmas post, but there's not a lot of news to report on. Oliver did roll over for me last night when Liz was out bowling w/ some girlfriends. But that's really only significant to the parents I think. Elijah was doing really good w/ the potty training bit until yesterday when he had two accidents (one awake and one asleep), but again, something only significant to the parents.

Elijah said yesterday, very matter-of-factly... "mommy, come wif me or I'll punch you". He says some funny stuff.

See... I told you; not a whole lot going on.

The Christmas Post

So we had a great 3 week break from school. We spent most of it in AZ. Liz's Grandparents were great hosts at their house/cabin in Showlow. It dumped 14 inches of snow on us the first night we were there. We all had a blast sledding the next morning right by the cabin. It was the highlight of the break for sure.

Me and Elijah sledding. He loved it! If I wasn't so bad at actually taking the pictures, there would have been some good ones of Elizabeth as well.

Noah put some pine needles in his head to give our snowman a mohawk. This is the night we got there, before it dumped the powder on us.

I captured this video on my phone. This is one of Noah's more successful runs. We made a cool little jump with a transition and everything.

'I'm dreeeeeaaaaming of a whiiiiiiiiite Christmaaaaaass; just like the ones I uuused to knoooow.' Yep, the white stuff fell here all day yesterday. It was cool. I was thinking though... since Las Vegas (more accurately 'the strip') is probably the closest in evil to hell, you may want to watch out for all those promises you've made ... 'when hell freezes over'!

Ely and Olie, Olie and Ely... la la la la-la.

Elijah Dale checking out his big boy Diego undies. He's doing really well with the potty training. "I dropped a stinky!!!"

SIN City

So this is the marque of a bar right next to the Dental School. Can you believe it? Sheesh! You can just see the small UNLV marque underneath it.

BTW... Elijah 'performed' yesterday! He's getting to be such a big boy; running around in his little undies and talking up a storm.

NUMBER 2

So Elijah is doing pretty well w/ the potty training except el numero dos (aka poo poo). We think he is scarred of doing the deed in the toilet and things are starting to get a little 'backed up'. Advise? I'm thinking of getting him some X-lax or something so he doesn't blow a gasket. We've tried setting the portable DVD player on the bowl and turning him around to watch it so he can just relax and let things happen naturally, but it just aint working out so well. Poor kid.

THATCHgiving '08

We drove over 1000, yes... ONE THOUSAND miles over this Thanksgiving weekend driving from Vegas to Mesa, then to Thatcher.... and back. No accidents, or breakdowns, or speeding tickets. SUCCESS! We all had a great time. Very laid back. Saw a ton of family in Thatcher and Mesa. Thanksgiving is officially my favorite holiday.

This is out back of my Mom's place. This is actually the sidewall of a copper mine dump truck tire. Grandpa Dave is a whiz at engineering and building.

Yep... Liz milking a cow. This is my cousin Matt and his cow Daisy. Liz was very much excited about this activity. I had to "talk" our city slicker son Noah into doing it, but I think he's better off w/ a little quality life experience.

Eli D. on my Grandpa Udall's new John Deere.

NTW riding Matt's horse.

I wish we had more pictures of the zip line. It was the hit of the weekend. Noah must have gone down it a hundred times. I think I might have been the biggest person to ride it. Note the cable sagging and straining under my fat butt. Yes, that's Elijah on my lap. He loved it, but didn't want to ride it again.

Veteran's Day parade and Halloween

We had a pretty great Veteran's Day parade outing. It was pretty emotional because we happened to park and stand right next to the grandstand where our mayor gave commendations to injured soldiers from Iraq. Wow... still emotional. There were several soldiers with prosthetic limbs, arm slings, eye patches, etc. They give so much.

Pac-man!!! He had no idea what it was. It was pretty funny. He couldn't really walk well or use his arms right becuase of the design. I think it looks pretty cool though... which is all that matters! Cardboard and spray paint. Easy peesy lemon sqeezy.

VP Sarah Palin?! Liz loves Halloween. I however... am kind of a scrooge, so no, I was not her Iditarod/snowmobile racing husband. Oliver was a skeleton (thanks to the Stoddards).

... back to pics of the kiddos

A recent photo of OSW. He's starting to smile a lot, and he's getting nice and plump.

Elijah being a boy.
I actually recall vividly (I know... it's a rarity) sitting in my original Grandparent's house, in Thatcher, in the back of their kitchen table, on the long wood bench... doing this exact same thing and having my Mom and my Grandma Udall tell me I was crazy for doing this until I made myself sick (not literally). And I wouldn't just do it halfway, I would really push the speed. Anyway, just a weird sidenote. Sorry.