Happy Halloween 2008

Halloween came to our house this year in the form of neigborhood children dressed in their scariest costumes. Okay, some of them weren't all that scary.

Here are a few of the Burningham children, accompanied by their guardian angel Rachel Wilkey. Brett and Jill Burningham are in the background.

Here are Christian, Taylor (rear) and Tyler.

John Clark came by, with his children, while his wife took care of "door duty" at their house.

These are the boys from next door and across the street. As you can see, I have great neighbors.

Here's a scary monster, accompanied by not so scary Mom & Dad.

Here are some more neighbor children.

We got a few older children, too.

Here are some more, wearing their disguises.

Here is a trio of Halloween "street performers".

Kayla Larson came by with some of her friends.

Sami Meinhart came by, accompanied by her "Rehab Reject" friend.

Obviously this boy had visited a lot of houses before he got to us, judging by the level of candy in his bucket.

Here's a trio of kids I didn't recognize, but they were cute. Check out the girl on the left, taking a bubble bath.

An imperfect document that reflects deep flaws...

"But I think it is an imperfect document, and I think it is a document that reflects some deep flaws in American culture…it also reflected the fundamental flaw of this country that continues to this day."– Barack Obama on the U.S. Constitution

This man wants to be your president. In order to take the oath of office he must swear to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.

Happy Birthday, Izac

It was Izac's 8th birthday, and so he invited guests to his party.

Here he get's his picture taken by his mother Jodi in preparation for the pinata whacking.

Everybody got to take 3 good whacks.

Some of the younger ones like Jourgen Danzie didn't have to wear a blindfold.

It wasn't long before candy was scattered all over the ground and kids were scrambling for it.

Later, all the younger guests gathered on the trampoline while Izac opened their presents.

The guests included cousins and friends from school.

Little Dutch loved being right in the middle of everything.

We sang Happy Birthday to Izac.

Then he blew out the eight candles on the birthday brownies.

Here mother Mindy managed to coax out a smile from our grandson Dutch, age 10 months.

And then another.

Anson watched all the goings on with wide eyes. I'm sure he'd never noticed this many people, especially noisy children in one place before. He seemed quite content to sit in Bev's arms and watch it all.

Here is Dutch, who has mastered the art of crawling forward instead of backward, now.

Red Sky at Morning...

Fall Color on the Nebo Loop

Here are some pictures I took up on the Nebo Loop, south of Payson, Utah. Elevation, according to signs posted on the roadside, was about 9,000 ft.

This view is looking west down Santaquin Canyon, with the southern tip of Utah Lake visible.

This is a panorama shot made from several shots and stitched together to form a panorama. It's looking west down Santaquin Canyon from the Nebo Loop Road, south of Payson.

The aspens are at the peak of their color right now. The maples, in the lower canyons, are probably a little past peak color.

Happy Birthday, Christian

It's the Big Three Oh for Chris. Here he poses with his sweet little daughter.

Here's a link to last year's post, if you're interested. http://blog648.blogspot.com/2007/09/happy-birthday-chris.html

Happy Birthday, Laura

Sept. 11, 1947.

Happy Birthday to the love of my life.

We're flying the flag today

Today is the seventh anniversary of the terrorist attacks on our country on Sept. 11, 2001. In honor of the innocent who perished in those attacks, we're flying the flag today. May God bless them and grant them rest, and comfort their families and loved ones they left behind. Let us never forget that there are people in the world who hate us because we are Americans, and because we are free, and they'll do anything they can to kill as many of us as possible.

Man Rules

These are our rules! Please note...these are all numbered "1" ON PURPOSE!

1. Men are NOT mind readers.

1. Learn to work the toilet seat. You're a big girl. If it's up, put it down. We need it up, you need it down. You don't hear us complaining about you leaving it down.

1. Shopping is NOT a sport. And no, we are never going to think of it that way.

1. Crying is blackmail.

1. Ask for what you want. Let us be clear on this one: Subtle hints do not work! Strong hints do not work! Obvious hints do not work! Just say it!

1. Yes and No are perfectly acceptable answers to almost every question.

1. Come to us with a problem only if you want help solving it. That's what we do. Sympathy is what your girlfriends are for.

1. Anything we said 6 months ago is inadmissible in an argument. In fact, all comments become null and void after 7 Days.

1. If you think you're fat, you probably are. Don't ask us.

1. If something we said can be interpreted two ways and one of the ways makes you sad or angry, we meant the other one.

1. You can either ask us to do something or tell us how you want it done. Not both. If you already know best how to do it, just do it yourself.

1. Whenever possible, please say WHATEVER you have to say during commercials.

1. Christopher Columbus did NOT need directions and neither do we.

1. ALL men see in only 16 colors, like Windows default settings. Peach, for example, is a fruit, not a color. Pumpkin is also a fruit. We have no idea what mauve is.

1. If it itches, it will be scratched. We do that.

1. If we ask what is wrong and you say "nothing," we will act like nothing's wrong. We know you are lying, but it is just not worth the hassle.

1. If you ask a question you don't want an answer to, expect an answer you don't want to hear.

1. When we have to go somewhere, absolutely anything you wear is fine...really .

1. Don't ask us what we're thinking about unless you are prepared to discuss such topics as motorcycle racing or physics.

1. You have enough clothes.

1. You have too many shoes.

1. I am in shape. Round IS a shape!

1. Thank you for reading this. Yes, I know, I have to sleep on the couch tonight. But did you know men really don't mind that? It's like camping.

Yes, I got this list off the internet. And partly it's a response to this post on Jodi's blog: http://jodipetsblog.blogspot.com/2008/08/you-know-your-married-when.html

GMC Canyon Rental

Laura and I had to do some driving around in the West Jordan area a couple of days ago, so we rented a pickup truck, a GMC Canyon, with a crew cab.

It has a 5 cylinder engine, something new.

It was very comfortable, with A/C.

We decided it made sense to put the miles on a rental and be comfortable rather than put the miles on our own cars. The A/C isn't working in the Cherokee, or rather, it works when it wants to, for about 15 minutes.

The rental place, Enterprise, only had two vehicles available: this pickup and a Toyota Tundra. This was a good choice.

Lunch at Red Robin

Yesterday Laura and I drove up to Red Robin and met Laura's sister Wendy and her girls for lunch.

Laura and Wendy

Jack and Laura

Wendy's daughter Amy and her two boys, Owen and Luke.

Here's Wendy's daughter Carly with Andy and Audrey.

Here's Carly's baby daughter Julia, age 2 months.

Audrey decides what to color while Owen chows down.

Andy, Audrey and Owen.

After lunch, the kids played in the fountain nearby.

Andy and Owen

Andy, Owen and Audrey.

After a few minutes ( long enough for everyone to get good and wet) the kids were gathered up and we all trooped back to the cars.

Bye bye!