Trip to St. George

So last Friday, me, Chels, and the kids, were headed down to St. George for a weekend of slightly warmer weather and some fun with Mom and Bob.

The trip started out pretty good, after spending like 40 bucks on junk food we hit the road. Let me preface this next part with the fact that Bree has had this cold that is causing her to have a lot of snot and what not going on. So we are in about Springville, we hadn't really gotten into the junk food, too much when Bree decided that she was going to get sick. Now sick means throwing up, all over her, her chair and my hoodie as I took it off to try and catch a lot of the throw up since I couldn't get the little garbage can under her face. Luckily enough, because Tiaree used the garbage can shortly there after because of the smell in the car. After a new outfit and about an hour stop in Springville trying to clean it up, we were on the road again. Bree was doing much better.

The next stop came in Fillmore where we had lunch at one of the most expensive restaurants we could find...Arby's. Talk about taking advantage of location. After eating the food, we jumped in the car and headed down to St. George, making a short pit stop for Tiaree to potty in Cedar City.

We got there and got all unpacked and put the throw up'd on clothing and other things in the washer, we got some pizza for dinner and went to bed.

Saturday I got up and saw a cool sunrise so I wanted to play with my camera and took a few pictures with different settings.

 

It was a nice sunrise. Since I'm not the best with my camera yet, the pictures aren't the best.

After breakfast on Saturday we went to Zions National Park and had a picnic in the car since the wind was blowing and it was cold. We then went and walked the narrows, well until you get to the part where the hike continues in the river itself. It was fun. The kids threw rocks in the river and I played with my camera. A couple of my favorite picts...

  

While we were on the Narrows hike, it snowed on us. We went and did the short weeping rock hike and then headed home. We had this great dinner, pork roast and then just hung out.

Sunday we went and saw Curious George and went to Golden Corral for dinner. It was a pretty lazy day.

Monday we just hung out and let the kids play at the park. Chels caught a little tornado on video, it was cool. We decided to stay Monday and leave on Tuesday. Drove home in a little over 4 hours and life continued in the cold north.

Decisions...

Ok, so I've decided that I'm going to stop saying things that I'm doing or going to do, because they always backfire and they don't really work. Blogging was once a mornig ritual, then it moved to a lunch time thing, shortly after that it started to be a hit and miss activity. The more I would think about it, the more I realized I didn't have much to blog about. When I do, I sit down to write till my hearts content, and nothing comes, a sort of bloggers block I guess. So while I can tell you that I'm going to blog more, I'm afraid it's an empty promise. I will do what I can to make it better, but no promises. I'm not going to make excuses, which would be really easy, but I've decided that I'm just going to stand up and take the heat. Anyway, I'm going to post another blog a little later about a recent trip to St. George and post some pictures. Laters...

Justice is Served!

Alythea and I went out Friday night and, as we were driving around about 9:30, went to the Valley Fair Mall. We pulled into the main drive behind a truck full of teenage boys. Since it had snowed previously, the snow plow had pushed the snow off to the side of the road. The drive of this truck decided that he would have a little fun and drive through the snow.

Because of this, a good portion of the snow falls back onto the road making it more slick for the rest of this. We followed the truck around the north side of the mall on our way over to the movie/food court side of the mall. As they continued to drive around, they decided that a large pile of snow built up around one of the light posts. As they drove into it, they hit a little higher than they should getting stuck.

Aly and I continued to drive around to the food court to find that it had closed so we decided it was time to go home. The smart-alek kids were still stuck. Aly and I were actually happy that their justice was immediate. People like that make a mess for the rest of us. They think they are so cool and do things without thinking about the consequences.

We all know people like that and it upsets us to know that quite a few get away with their stupidity. I was happy to see that their was justice served and they got "punished" for their destructive behavior. Too many people do things and don't think of the consequences for others or themselves. They just do stuff that ends up being destructive.

We laughed most of the way home and I though I would share this with you.

Story Synopsis

I've created a story synopsis for a series of short stories. Eventually, with a lot of hard work and a lot of help from friends, maybe it can be made into a film. Read the synopsis at:

Storyboard

I Want Spring to Come

Today I went out to lunch. When I drive to work, I have the luxury of going out to get something. I went to Wendy's and was glad to see the Jr. Bacon Cheesburgers are back down to .99 cents. They went up to $1.29 for a while. Anyway, as I was driving to get lunch, I realized that spring is coming. I love spring and summer, not so much a winter fan. Fall isn't bad, it's just this stupid winter thing. Anyway, I got excited for spring so I can continue getting some stuff done in my yard. I have a lot to do and I'll be happy when I can say I'm done with it. But I'm excited for the spring to get out of the house and do some stuff. We'll see how it goes. Anyway, just wanted to share that with everyone... Have a good day...

Stories...

I posted on another blog how much I liked a good story. I've always loved to read stories and have, on occasion, found that I have an imagination.

As one of the "personal improvement" projects that I am trying to do, I have started to read about what it takes to write a good fiction story. I am interested in writing and feel that I have a fairly good grasp of the language. I have a few ideas for some stories. While I won't be releasing all the ideas, I do have an idea that has formed and have decided to make a series of short stories using a common plot but with different scenarios (much the same as a drama series on television.) This would be similar to a mini-series type thing in that where one episode ends, another begins.

So, here is the reason I'm sharing this with you. Of the people that I know read this, I trust their opinions enough to share the "draft" idea and allow others to add their thoughts, ideas, etc. Once you hear the storyline, you may formulate ideas about direction, scenarios, or conflicts for the primary character. I am going to start developing the character and story line but wanted to give everyone a heads up so that you can prepare to put on your thinking caps and explore the possibilities with me.

I hope one day to be a successful writer, more as a hobby than a career. Being included in something like this doesn't take a lot of effort for ideas and could be a lot of fun (not to mention that if it ever gets published, your name will probably find its way to the credits and acknowledgements. Not sure about monatary but if I become a millionaire off the idea, you will DEFINATELY get a free lunch.)

So, when I've got something a little more "formal", I will present and give directions to find, add, comment, and, if so inclined, to point and laugh.

Ref Timeout

It's nice to have a forced break once in a while. I've been working on something and we lost some access to our systems and so now I'm waiting patiently for them to come back up. I'm trying to stay in the loop for when things come back up so that I can get back to what I was doing. We'll see what happens in the next few minutes....

Someone Call 9-1-1!!!!

Very interesting night in the McGee household last night. I'm probably spoiling the ending by saying this but Jayna is alright and everything is ok. This will make sense in a minute.

After dinner last night, we were starting to get cleaned up and get things put away when we heard a series of thumps and then Jayna started crying. She had fallen down the flight of stairs in our split-entry. Aurora got to her first and picked her up to console her and then handed her to Alythea who arrived next.

The concern is that she started going to sleep and her skin went really pale. I took her from Alythea and laid her on the ground on the top of the stairs and got her attention and kept her awake. Alythea went to the phone and called 9-1-1 and began giving information. Everyone was in a bit of a concern because of the situation and I had Aly take the other kids into the other room and I stayed with Jayna until the ambulance arrived.

They were prompt, came in and began to assess Jayna. Everything checked out and they did not see a need to take her to the hospital. They felt that if we wanted them to, they would transport her to the hospital where the hospital staff would watch her for 24-hours and make sure everything was ok. We figured we could watch her and, if need be, take her to the hospital if it was determined that she needed to go.

The color came back into her skin and she went to sleep where she slept peacefully through the night with the exception of the times that we woke her to make sure she was still "wakable".

She is doing wonderfully today. We can't figure out how she fell as she was the only one near the area. She was playing with her play stroller and there was enough of a walk way. Anyway, everything is ok and everyone learned a little bit of a lesson.

1st Geocache

After reading from Neal's posts regarding geocaching, I've grown interested and have decided it was definately something to look into for personal and family activity. Having spent more time with Harold, I've learned more about it and have actually gone on my first geocaching experience. It was one of those "hey, there's one around here somewhere" as we traveled to lunch yesterday. We found it and logged our presence.

It was a lot of fun to try to track down and follow the clues to find the location. I'm excited to do more and have been looking around for some in areas where we currently have trips planned. One of which is East Canyon. There are a lot around that area. I was suprised at the number but am looking forward to finding some of them and logging my presence as well.

Monday, Monday...

So have I ever said how I love Monday's. They are one of the better days of the week for me. They are usually the busiest so they go by a little faster. Once they are over the rest of the week seems to fly by. Which has it's ups and downs. Tuesdays are usually pretty slow, but I'm working on that to stay busier on Tuesdays so they go by pretty fast. Well Monday is about done. I'm waiting for my ride to go play in the band. That's about it for today.

Happy Late Birthday Whadda Blog

So yesterday was the 1 year mark of the Whadda Blog being around. Things have been up and down on the old blog, but for the most part we have been blogging away and now we start on year 2 of blogging. This year should be a good one.

Today marks a anniversary of sorts. It was 11 years ago today that I met my beautiful wife. It's cool to think that we are working on our 9th year of marriage, our 4th kid is on the way, and we have a beautiful house with loads of junk inside it to keep us happy. Our 3 kids are there to keep us insane and teach us love, patience, and how to be happy when they are spilling stuff on the kitchen floor after it's been mopped. Overall life at the McGee house is getting better. And I can say that 11 years ago tonight, I didn't expect to be where I'm at today with Chels, but I am sure glad that she chose me and let's me pretend that I'm in charge once in a while. So Chels...Happy Anniversary!!!

Yes, It's Me

Ok, here's the deal...I'm a huge slacker. So I have come to the conclusion that I'm not the best procrastinator in the world, but I do have some talent at it. Mind you, I can make excuses for just about anything and even though they stink, I use them. So I've decided to stop being a slacker and start to blog for all my blog fans, me...Brandon... that about sums them up. I don't think my wife reads my blog anymore, isn't that sad. Goes to show that I'm pathetic in writing in my blog. Anyway, look forward to more blog entries from me and be ready to be bored to tears as I write about things that are important to me and all that jazz....

Monthly Reflection - January 2006

As today is the last day of January, I felt it important to review the last month and evaluate what was good and what was bad. Thus far, it has really been a terrific month.

This month has seen its share of up's and down's but I think a lot of the near future will be determined by the events that have happened this month. Our kids have a better understanding of our lives and what we are trying to accomplish. We are planning more time together as a family and have figured out some traditional activities as well as some new activities to do together as a family.

I think that families should evaluate their direction every once in a while to evaluate whether they are heading in a proper direction or whether adjustments need to be made.

Some of the changes include:
- Implimentation of a Chore Chart for everyone in the household with allowances to be paid. (Even mom and dad have chore charts.)

- New activities with those suggestions from kids and some not previously done. Gear and supplies to be purchased accordingly.

- More time being alloted to family activities and, with the chores being completed in a timely fashion, more time can be used for things other than cleaning.

- Talking with our kids and each other. Showing more patience as individuals and as families.


I've realized that there is not one definitive thing that can be done to fix problems but that each thing is a process. As it is a process, the "fixes" are also a process that needs to evolve and mature as needed. As things changes, so do the processes. Even though we "know", I hope implimentation will be as smooth as possible and that we will learn when we slide away from the things that make our lives work.

Mobile Storage Unit

I am so excited today. (It's funny what excites you when you get old.) We were looking at storage units to get a bunch of our storable items out of the house when I came across a company called Mobile Mini, Inc. They have storage containers that they will bring to your property and leave. It is the same idea as using a storage facility but its on your own property. 24 hour access PLUS you don't have to travel far to get to it.

We are looking forward to getting a bunch of things cleaned up and this will definately help. AND it doesn't cost much more than a regular storage unit. It is a little more expensive on the payments but when you figure it can double as a shed, no travel, 24 hour access, and that you can use it as short term storage as well, it makes it a lot more valuable than going to a facility.

Christmas Photos

Here is the link to the photo album. I have posted 44 pictures for the Christmas video. Most of these are from 1977 to the early 80's with a couple of others thrown in. PHOTOS

"Book of Daniel"

I had an opportunity the other night to watch a portion of the new series "Book of Daniel". I had not heard of the plot nor the scenarios for this series. Let me brief you on these first.

The father, an Episcopal priest who is addicted to pain killers.
The mother is an alcoholic.
The 23-year old biological son, is openly gay.
The 16-year old daughter is a drug dealer.
The 16-year old adopted son is having sex with the drug-dealing daughter AND is addicted to drugs.

Not to mention, the father talks to Jesus Christ who visits frequently.

I think that covers the synopsis of the series. Now, the portion I watched dealt with the need for the church to get a new school building built. A Catholic priest advised the father that he had found the necessary money to build such a building but is was from the mob and the Catholic priest was actually advising him to TAKE the money. (???) Not to mention that the Jesus character was a discrace.

Apparently, the series was created by a person by the name of Jack Kenny who is a homosexual buddist that believes that Jesus Christ is a myth.

I have since received an e-mail giving me the above information and Snopes.com has confirmed this. Also, a Google seach shows that there are numerous articles written about the trouble this has caused within the Christian community.

Our local affiliate KSL is still airing the show while other affiliates in the mid-west have pulled it from programming.

It is my hope that we can have this program removed from our television programming. Please notify all those Christians that would see good, quality programming on television. I invite everyone to contact their local NBC affiliates to have the series pulled from the airwaves.

I believe, that a story line like this COULD have a place in programming if done correctly. I don't think having as many possible problems in one family, especially a religious leader's family, is the way to do it. I understand that even the best families have their problems, but this combination seems VERY over the top.

Fun with Animals

My family has over the past few years obtained a year-round membership pass to Utah's Hogle Zoo. We all enjoy going and looking at the animals. This year, we have the opportunity to volunteer to help at the zoo and are excited to do so. Actually, those that would actually be volunteering would be Alythea, Aurora and myself. They have different jobs available:

1. Jr. Zoo Keeper - This allows kids to learn about the animals and to help maintain their habitats. Aurora wants to join this program.

2. Zoo Aides - Zoo Aides help to maintain the animal habitats but also help with the animal's diet and handling of some animals. Alythea is interested in this program.

3. Docent Council works with all of that but also goes to varies schools and organizations and helps to teach about the animals themselves. I'm interested in this program.

Each program offers us a more in-depth look at the animals, their habitats, their eating habits and offers us a chance to work with animals we would not normally be able to work with on a regular basis. It also gives us an opportunity to become more active within our communities and to have a common hobby. By doing this, we can utilize our knowledge to teach those within our family.

We are excited to do this and I think it will be a good experience for our family to go through. Plus, it may give us some insight in how to keep the kids rooms clean.

Clear As Day

We had the ultrasound to find out what the baby was today. It was pretty cool. We mentioned that we had already had one suprise where we were told it was a girl and then Jarik came out. Not a girl. So when we had our ultrasound for Bree we wanted to find out and they just didn't tell us what they thought and the Dr. would change his mind based on the heartbeat every month. It was kind of funny. So we went in today, as I said before and the sonographer had to poke and prod and with a little pleading the baby finally showed what we all wanted to see...what sex it is. Now, before I tell you, I have to tell you that we have a 3 year old boy who wants a brother and a 5 year old girl who wants another little sister and a 2 year old girl that didn't seem to care either way. So before Chels came today, Tiaree and Jarik were arguing as to what the sex of the baby would be. I'm sure it went something like this...
Jarik: Boy
Tiaree: Girl
Jarik: Boy
Tiaree: Girl
Meanwhile Bree was saying yah, yah, yah. Well Chels picked Jarik up from pre-school and his frist question was "Is it a boy or a girl?". Chels told him that it was a gril and he took it suprisingly well. Then he asked where the baby was at and Chels told her in her stomach and then he asked if they had to break her stomach to get the baby out and she told him no. Then he asked a question that made Chels go silent and feel a little awkward, "how does the baby come then?". I think she told him that she'd tell him later and quickly changed the subject. We'll have that conversation. So we are having a littl girl and when I get home I'll scan the pictures and get them posted. Have a good day.

Family Sharing

One thing about families that is both good and bad is sharing. The reason it is good is that you can share time, treats, or space. The part that is bad is that you share diseases.

That was the case this weekend. Jayna picked up something from who knows where. She was up Saturday night throwing up every 15-60 minutes. This was difficult as she was in our bed and was too tired to get up even to throw up in the can that we had provided. Eventually, her stomach was completely empty.

I woke up yesterday morning with a little queasy stomach and made it to work for about an hour and a half before I went home. Luckily, mine wasn't as bad but Nicole was also sick and she was throwing up as well. Today, everyone is fine. A little tired but a lot better than we were yesterday.

A Day in the Life.....

Even though this is a shorter week, it seems as thought this is one of the most difficult. This week I quit my 2nd job at Albertson's. This comes after a re-evaluation of a lot of things and personally, I think its the right choice.

There are a lot of things not happening that should be happening and either I have to do them or I have to direct others to do them. Sometimes those "others" need you standing over their shoulder with the threat of a spanking. So, the extra 30-40 hours a week I spend at work, I will now spend at home getting things whipped into shape.

Anyway, that's my big news for the day. I'm much too tired to write much more or even think much more. Last night was a late one followed by an early morning and another late night tonight because of illness. I have another early morning tomorrow and a 10ish night. Friday is a 5pm night and Saturday is off so there is a break in there somewhere.