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.

Karl v. Tommy... YOU DECIDE

Although I have never shared my political views thus far here in blog-o-land... I thought I would stray from my usual pictures of the kids for a quick thought on this redistribution of wealth horse hockey that is being spouted from Barack Hussein Obama.

From Wikipedia - "Socialists (i.e. socialism) mainly share the belief that capitalism unfairly concentrates power and wealth among a small segment of society that controls capital and creates an unequal society. All socialists advocate the creation of an egalitarian society, in which wealth and power are distributed more evenly."

And now for a little political commentary from one of our FOUNDING FATHERS...“To take from one, because it is thought his own industry and that of his father’s has acquired too much, in order to spare to others, who, or whose fathers, have not exercised equal industry and skill, is to violate arbitrarily the first principle of association, the guarantee to everyone the free exercise of his industry and the fruits acquired by it.” — Thomas Jefferson

Furthermore... “The government of the United States is a definite (meaning having definite borders and limitations) government, confined to specified objects and is not meant to meddle in affairs of the state.” — James Madison

Like I tell my sister... if you like the philosophies of Barack Obama so much... GO LIVE IN SWEDEN or CANADA, becuase our nation was built on the ideals of capitalism!!!

p.s. I love my sister and I don't want her to move anywhere!

... and finally a quick joke to further explain the unfairness of Obama's economic proposals;
--> --> Today on my way to lunch I passed a homeless guy with a sign that read "Vote Obama, I need the money." I laughed.

Once in the restaurant my server had on a "Obama 08" tie. Again I laughed as he had given away his political preference -- just imagine the coincidence.

When the bill came I decided not to tip the server and explained to him that I was exploring the Obama redistribution of wealth concept. He stood there in disbelief while I told him that I was going to redistribute his tip to someone who I deemed more in need--the homeless guy outside. The server angrily stormed from my sight.

I went outside, gave the homeless guy $10 and told him to thank the server inside as I've decided he could use the money more. The homeless guy was grateful.

At the end of my rather unscientific redistribution experiment I realized the homeless guy was grateful for the money he did not earn, but the waiter was pretty angry that I gave away the money he did earn even though the actual recipient deserved money more.

I guess redistribution of wealth is an easier thing to swallow in concept than in practical application.

UPDATE:
1) These views are mine alone and are not to be assumed the political opinions of my fantastic wife (because they are not).
2) Please don’t think of me as a money-hoarding, heartless Scrooge McDuck (go Ducktails/the early 90’s!). I feel the welfare system has its place in modern American society, but its current state of wastefulness and gross mismanagement is sickening to me. Our welfare system is in need of a major overhaul/ privatization to bring some sense of efficiency. Yes, privatization. Competition = efficiency. Econ. 101!
3) Don’t hate me ‘cuz I’m right (no pun intended, but it works!).

poor little guy

So some of you may already know about Elijah's little accident, but for those of you who don't... Elijah got some teeth knocked out the other day at the mall.

As usual he was wondering around and running away from us at each available moment... and the kid is fast. He had run down the aisle at Dillards and I called for him to come back. Well he started back toward us in a run and I turned to talk to Liz. A moment later, I heard a thud and cries. We didn't see it, but we imagine he started running toward us while looking in an entirely different direction and veered off enough to T-bone into this display table which was just at the right height of his lower teeth. He started whaling instantly and I knew it had to be bad so we ran over there to see a bloody mouth. I cleared the blood and I could only find one of the two teeth that were out of the socket. I couldn't find it anywhere, so we left quickly and went to my school where a pedodontist was able to evaluate him. Unfortunately there isn't anything to do when primary (baby) teeth are traumatically removed from their normal position like this, so our poor little guy will be without 2 lower incisors for 4 years until the permanents come in! I still feel sick about it. This happened around 3pm and he was running around by 7pm like nothing ever happened. The accident reminded Liz and I of how special this little guy is to us. Not that we needed to be reminded, but we give him extra hugs, kisses and attention now.

The next day he says to me... "Daddy, I bonked my teeff". Poor kid!

Sorry, I forgot that I can't rotate video like I can pictures... so just turn your head a little bit. Elijah loves to jump off stuff. You can see his new jack-o-lantern smile right at the end.

He didn't cut his lip, but his gum tissue is torn a little bit where the teeth broke out the front part of the bone.