Fun with Frosting

We purchased a Gingerbread House kit from Albertson's a while back and finally got around to completing it last night. We had a lot of fun and took pics to share. Here are a few of them.

Less than a week....

We are less than 1 week away from Christmas and the excitment is building. There are still a lot of things to do but it is a fun time of year. I'm excited to see the kids Christmas morning as they open their presents. I'm excited to see family and just hang around and enjoy the company. I can't wait to see everyone.

The last couple of months have been really hectic between working 2 jobs and trying to maintain a family, house, etc. Christmas is one of those times where you can focus on something different. It's a time where you can sit back and just enjoy each other, play games, have some food, and just be together.

So, as we get closer, take a moment to breath in the season. Listen to a carol or two, sing along if you are so inclined, and just enjoy as we celebrate the birth of our Savior.

In the immortal words of Tiny Tim, "God Bless Us, Everyone."

Enjoying the FM 100 Mini-Concerts

Tis the season!! I'm pretty sure that most of you are aware that FM 100, here in Salt Lake City do these Mini-Concerts at the ZCMI Mall, downtown. Anyway, I have pretty much listened to them since I usually forget the 8:30am start time. There are some pretty good concerts, the include artists like Peter Breinholt, Jon Schmidt, Ryan Shupe and the Rubber Band, and Donny Osmond to name a few. mostly local bands. Today's concert is going to be good, Voice Male is scheduled to perform. Well it's good and all the concerts I've heard are pretty good and they are all about a half hour long. If you want to listen in go to FM 100 and the listing is there. Enjoy.

Catching up With Old Friends

So this last couple of days has been pretty cool. I got a call from a friend from the college days in Logan. We talked for like 20 minutes and then I decided to email an old friend of mine. It's been nice to talk to the old friends. One of these days I'm going to have a party and invite all of these friends, sort of a reunion. It's good to hear all the good, and unfortunately there is always some bad too. But seems like everyone is doing well and life is good for most people. So I would encourage you that if you haven't talked to an old friend that you've been trying to get a hold of, just do it, find out if your friends are still around and what they are up to these days. It's a good thing to do around the holidays. Merry Christmas.

What's wrong with the truth?

I have to complain for a minute. I got an e-mail the other day from "family" (I use the term loosely because it's on the wife's side, I've never met this particular person, nor do we converse with the exception of recently and mostly to argue.) Anyway, the picture is and the e-mail stated that it was a "once in a 3000 year event" and it leads you to believe that "miracles" have happened just by viewing this picture.


Now, I've seen this many times in my e-mail over the years with the same "crap" comments and description. Here are the facts. (1) This image WAS taken by the Hubble Telescope as stated in the e-mail EXCEPT it is a mosaic of 9 images; (2) The image is of a white dwarf that is going dead. It ejects a bunch of "debris" or material that creates an hourglass type look. If you were to look at it from the side, it would look like an hour glass. Look at the next image and see if you can see what I mean.
(3) The e-mail makes little to no reference to specifics on miracles but Google can't find any that are actually attributed to viewing this image. The event photographed could be considered a universal miracle just like a rose is a miracle or puppies (if you like puppies. If you don't like puppies, well, get over yourself... They are a miracle.)

Okay. Now that I've said that, DON'T ARGUE WITH THE TRUTH!!!!! That description is TRUTH. Like it or not, it is. Me telling you the truth is not being arguementative, it is TELLING THE TRUTH!!!!! It is dispelling a rumor that is CRAP! How stupid are you going to feel if you never get corrected and continue to believe something stupid, then at a dinner party when someone brings up the Helix Nebulae, you say something stupid like, "Ya, its too bad something like that won't happen again in our grandchildren's lifetime" and get laughed out of the party. How bad would that be?

I know this particular incident is not a really big deal but stupid things like "I know a girl who's friend's cousin's roommate had an aquaintance that heard that you could lick an envelope and get cockroach eggs imbedded in your tongue where they will grow and cause your tongue to explode." (You may laugh but this really did circulate the internet for a while. Check This Out.)

So, if you send me something and I send you something back stating it is wrong or needs clarification, LIVE WITH IT. I'm a Skeptic. Get over yourself and your ego. If you find information to the contrary of what I send, forward it to me. If I'm wrong, I'LL ADMIT IT but you have to prove it first. (With real information that can be supported with valid documentation.)

Anyway, I feel better. How about you?

Always check Walmart, first......

So I feel really stupid. Over the course of the last month or so, I have spent some time on eBay shopping and bidding. On several occasions, I have found really good deals. One deal, as I found out, was not so good. Don't get me wrong, the product was good but was it worth what was paid. Here's the scenario.

We are in the process of buying stuff for my 2 youngest daughters. We are going to decorate their room in "Disney Princesses." I found a really neat poster for their room that was only 99 cents. Well, not thinking about it, I purchased. I went through the motions for shipping and handling and all that other fun stuff that goes along with purchasing online.

By the time I got done, my total was $9.97. I felt a little discouraged but still feel that I got a pretty good deal. The poster arrived today and is exactly what I expected. Now, to frame it. On my lunch, I went to Walmart to get a 24"x36" frame. As I wandered the store, I found their posters of which the one I just purchased for $9.97 was with it. They were only ........ $3.96.

Guess you can't win them all.

A Little Disappointed

Last night myself, Chels, and a couple of our friends attended the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert. It included special guests Renee Fleming and Claire Bloom. Let me just say that it wasn't the normal Christmas Concert by the Mo Tab that we are used to. It seemed like it was more of the Renee Fleming concert with the Mo Tab backing her up. We are used to seeing the choir do some of their normal Christmas music, like Joy to the World, and we didn't get to see that. I guess my biggest complaint is that the Special Guest, a.k.a. Headliner, took up most of the show and we didn't get to enjoy the awesome sounds of the Choir and Orchestra. Don't get me wrong the concert was good, just not as good as I expected it to be. Claire Bloom was good, she read a couple stories, on included the clicking sound of her earrings on the microphone that was attached to her ear. She would shake her head and you could hear the clicking sound and it made for a small enough distraction that you could loose your place in the story she was telling. I'm hoping that next year they move back to having a Special Guest join them on a couple of numbers and not inviting a Headliner to take over the concert.

Let Their be Peace on Earth

I want to echo B's comments from his blog Go tell it on the mountain...... Christmas is the best time of the year, most stressful, and sometimes really annoying, but it is a cool time of the year. The one month a year that people spend extra time on the weekends putting up lights and decorations to celebrate this joyous season. I myself get excited because of the fact that we are getting the kids a lot of cool things, learning toys mind you, but they will be loved. So I decided that Santa gets all the glory on Christmas morning in the kids eyes. We are going to get our kids some clothes, but those are from Mom and Dad and not from Santa, he gets to be "awesome" and give the cool toys. Aside from Santa and toys and decorations, I love Christmas because of the Savior. There is a reason for the season and it is nice to remember that at this time of year. He lives and cares for us and gave us the best gift we could possibly ever receive in this life. Let's not forget Him in all the stress and fun that comes with this glorious time of year. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

Go tell it on the mountain.....

I just have to say that Christmas music is awesome. I just like how a genre can unite so many different types of groups, plus its a lot of fun to listen to as well. Some songs make you think, others make you laugh, some make you shed a tear but they all have one thing in common, we only listen to them 1 month a year but we can still sing with them each year having not heard them in 11 months.

So, as I sit here listening to Christmas music, I want to say "Merry Christmas and Happy New Year." I hope that you are enjoying the Christmas holidays and the music playing everywhere to celebrate this time of year.