I am a true Oregonian

Yesterday was a nice Sunny day with temperature in the low 70s. The weather automatically put me in a good mood in fact my mood was bordering on euphoria. We have had a colder spring than normal and the past week has been pretty grey. I was thinking how great it was that just the fact it was sunny could put me in a good mood. Then I realized when we lived in Utah it was pretty much sunny all spring and summer and the sunny days didn't affect my mood. I am more than happy to live through the grey days in order to experience the euphoria I feel on the sunny days which really makes me a true Oregonian. I realize how sad this my sound to those who live in sunny places. But you just can't take the Oregon out of this girl. P.S. Devin don't faint because I actually posted on out blog, this may not be repeated for a long time

Updates

Briefly here are some things that are going on with us. Sorry for the lack of posts lately, but I have been distracted.

Ryan is signed up for Kindergarten next year. He is really excited. He recently graduated from Preschool. He can't wait. It is sort of weird to have a son this old. Here are some pics from graduation last week:



Sometimes I find it hard to believe that Jack is only 2. He acts much older. Most people find it hard to believe that he is not 3 yet. Tonight he and I had an excellent conversation about his various adventures today. It was very fun to have a long talk about an ant in the house, legos, naps, dinner, and a couple of other things. He was very animated.

Bridget is doing well. At least well, considering that she is just a few days from entering her 3rd trimester of the pregnancy. We swam on Monday and she still kicks butt. But there are definitely days where she is tired. Today was one of those. The boys are usually pretty good for her, but there are times...but this is going to be a positive post.

I have a lead on a job. I refuse to go into much detail about it. I have no idea how good of a shot I have, but I am excited about it. I have talked to the hiring person and he has my materials. No interview yet, but he was supposed to call my references this week. The fact that I want the job badly and that it seems to be a very good place to work probably means that the odds are against me. But maybe, just maybe...even longshots occasionally win.

A week from Friday I am leaving to compete in a Triathlon in Idaho. This has been part of the reason I have not posted much here recently--I have been obsessing about it. The triathlon is a half ironman. 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run, yep, it is sure to be long and painful at times. I estimate that it will take me anywhere from 6 hours to 6.5 hours to finish it. Ugh. I will be glad when I get back home. I am driving in Bridget's sister's Ford Explorer. I will be taking a sleeping bag so that I can sleep in the back with the rear seat folded down the night before the race. They are very nice to let me use it. Anyway, you can read more about it on the other blog, I won't bore you anymore here.

Bridget taught Relief Society last Sunday. She thought it went OK, but she had hoped it would have gone a little better. However, I believe that she is just hyper-critical of herself. I am sure that she did great. Others have confirmed this to her, but she still doubts it. I think that she is torn. She would like to do really well, but she also said that she would be ok if it went horribly so that she would not be asked to teach again.

And just for fun here are a couple of pics of the boys from a couple of years ago. First is Ryan from May of 2005 and then the second is Jack from April 2006.

Memorial Day at the Country Club

We were able to hob-nob with the cool people at Grandpa Leroy's country club. The food was good and there were lots of choices. Salmon, ribs, chicken, hamburgers, hot dogs, various salads--basically all the stuff you could ask for on a Memorial Day Bar B Q but with none of the mess.

Here are some pics:

Ryan: The Lady's Man

I just heard this story about 30 minutes ago, and even my brother Patrick who is in a way the butt of the joke said it should go on the blog. So here it is.

Last night I was talking to my Dad. During the conversation he brought up Patrick and his lack of luck with women. I said something to the fact that he is too picky or something. Basically, the tone from both ends of the phone was that Patrick is going to be single for a bit unfortunately, but that we wished he would find someone soon.

Today, my lovely wife informed me that during the conversation on the phone with my Dad, Ryan piped up and said the following:

"Patrick just needs to be good looking like me."

Bridget smiles and nods yes.

A pause for thought from Ryan.

"You just have to go up to them as ask how they are doing and then ask their name. Thats is how you do it."

So there you go Patrick, that is all you have to do.

And yes, Ryan does follow his own advice. Today we were at the McDonald's playground and he picked up a hottie 6 year old and they were playing together for about 20 minutes. He got her name and everything (Kenzie or something) and even introduced her to me.

I have not prompted him ever to talk to girls so this is just a part of who he is right now. And yeah, I am proud of all this. Watch out ladies.

Flynn B-BQ

I ripped this off from the Fat Cyclist blog, but in my defense it sounded too good and interesting not to try.

Step 1

Buy some high quality German style brats. I had about 14 of them total. Johnsonville is pretty good, but I found some really smoothly ground up brats that looked like sort of an off-white color that came from some German-sounding brand. They were sort of spendy and I was figuring they wouldn't disappoint. They didn't.

Buy some beer. I bought a six pack of 16oz cans of Bud. Not the light stuff, just the regular ol' Bud. It is cheap and I figured it would be a good place to start before I branch off into other beers and lagers.

Buy some onion. I went with a Walla Walla onion.

Buy Worcestershire Sauce if you don't have it on hand already. Lee & Perrins is the only stuff I ever use.

Make sure you have some sort of grill and a big pot and assorted fixin's for the brats.

Invite friends.

Step 2

Don't drink the beer.

Step 3

Pour beer into a large pot. All of it. Cut onion into slices or dice it whatever. It doesn't really matter. Pour in a liberal amount of Worcestershire sauce. Not sure how much. Just make sure it is enough, but not too much. Put the brats in the boiling beer. Turn down to a simmer. Leave 'em for a good while.

Step 4

After the brats are pretty much cooked take them out and put them on the hot grill. Oh yeah, I let them ride for awhile again, with the BBQ temp hovering around 350-375 degrees. When a couple of the brats had their casing burst I figured it was time to eat them.

Step 5

Put your fixin's on them. We had the beer boiled Walla Walla onions to put on them as well as some raw diced ones. There were homemade rolls from Melinda Krantz that were way good too. We had a couple different types of mustard and several other side dishes. Oh, and sourkraut, must have it.

Step 6

Seconds are suggested.


We had a little gathering with the Krantz family and the Odils. The company was great. All of our kids (7 kids in total, 6 boys and 1 girl, running around) played really well together, with only minor injuries occurring to some of the kids, including Jack. But really,that is to be expected. We had some 1/4 pound Hebrew Nat'l frankfurters for those kids that wanted a normal looking hot dog. We had a good time. Next time I am going to experiment with a real German beer or lager. Many thanks to Fatty who is going to be have a big shin-dig in Utah with his brats and beer. I am not sure if I did it the best way, but it really turned out well just the same. If anyone has any tips for next time I would be interested in hearing them.

Adventures

Bridget and I went off to Black Butte Ranch (BBR) this weekend. The boys stayed with Grandma Joan and Grandpa Leroy. I think we all had a good time. It was probably a good deal of work for Grandma, but she hasn't admitted it.

We left around 5PM Friday and ate at one of the Pastini Pastaria on our way out of town. It was very tasty. We had a great antipasto platter and then Bridget had some cheesy-good pasta dish with sausage in it. I had a meatball sandwich and a vegetable soup (which was superb) for my main course. I was able to only eat about half of it--this was a good thing because this is all I was able to round up for breakfast the next morning. We also picked up a dozen cookies at a bakery near the restaurant. The cookies were huge and I ate enough that night that I felt ill. But, those in my family can attest to my weakness for coconut, and these were coconut chocolate chip cookies. Freaking awesome.

Once we arrived at the home in BBR, we settled in to relax. I put in a movie, Cloverfield, which further added to the feelings of nausea that I had earned from my earlier gluttony. That camera work made me ill. I had to use the fast forward button liberally to make it. Unlike Patrick I liked the story line. [SPOILER ALERT] I didn't mind that everyone died. I wasn't heavily attached to any of the characters so there deaths weren't a deal killer for me. The beasties were pretty cool, but I would have rather that they had left out the smaller monsters. If theuy make a sequel, I will not see it unless the use normal camera work instead of this Blair Witch movie style.

Saturday we got up and we each had a Premier Nutrition chocolate protein shake. They taste OK and they actually stick with us pretty well. I didn't get to go out for my long training ride until almost 11AM and I was lucky to have had the meatball sandwich from the prior night. While I was out Bridget swam at the indoor pool in BBR and worked on the family scrapbooks.

Here are a couple of pics after my bike ride while we were on the way to go eat in the car.



For a late dinner we had at a steller asian noodle place in Sisters. I can't remember the name but they had great spring rolls among other things. Then we were off to see Ironman. Great movie. Then back home after picking up things at the store to make sandwiches back at the BBR home. Finally to top it off we got to get in the new hot tub. Wow, hot tubs rock. At least this one rocked my socks off. What a great cap to a great day.

Today, we relaxed for a bit and then cleaned up and made out way home after stopping to get gas and eat at the Depot Deli in Sisters.

Once home the boys were happy to see us and it was fun. Jack woke up pretty early this morning and fell asleep in Nursery--on the floor no less. He slept there on the floor for an hour.

This evening Ilene and her girls, and Grandpa went and picked up GiGi Lois came over to help celebrate Mother's Day. A good weekend.

Here is a video from this evening. Grandpa put on the one of the boys hats at Jack's request and had the boys' tool box. Jack likes to pretend that he is Handy Manny. He wanted Grandpa to pretend with him. The video has just the tail end of this. Then there is some of the boys teeth brushing. It was pretty cute.


Here are some more pictures of the weekend:

Ryan and Dad Time

Usually I ride the 13 or 14 miles to work on one of my bikes and then Bridget comes and gets me when I am off, which is around 8:30, sometimes later. I could ride home, but I am not a big fan of riding in the dark, even if it I ride with lights (which I own). So Bridget comes and gets me because I am a wuss.

Often the boys accompany her. Tonight it was just Ryan with her, and Jack was asleep with Grandma. Ryan was a pistol tonight, just really excited about lots of things.

I was hungry so I ate some of tonights leftovers and Ryan had to have some too. I told Ryan he could have some but that we were going to watch basketball while we were eating. That was great according to him. The New Orleans was playing San Antonio and it was in the 4th quarter. Ryan asked which team I was rooting for, I picked the white team--the Spurs, and then he picked the yellow team--the Hornets. When it became apparent that the white team was going to win, he asked if he could be on my team too. I said sure and we rooted for the Spurs for the rest of the game. I have no particular love for either team, I just like watching the playoffs. Ryan liked watching some of the shots being made, but he also like trying to read the score. He knows all of his numbers below 100, but from 101 on up he gets a little confused. Sometimes he is right and sometimes not. For instance, when the Spurs hit 110 points He asked what the number was. I told him "one hundred ten," but he said that it should have been written "1-0-0-1-0" (he might of added an extra zero when he was telling me, but that was the jist of it) instead of 110. It makes some sense actually. Anyway, it was fun talking to him about it.

As I stated before he was for some reason just really excited. Maybe it was because he was getting some solo time with me for the first time today, or maybe it was because he was getting to stay up late. Regardless, he was very animated about just about everything. Bridget had to to keep warning him to be quiet. She could hear him from across the house. I remember Mom telling me to be quite often too. Maybe it is just the boys are louder, or maybe he gets it from me. We wouldn't know, since all we are having are boys in our family.

I really like Ryan. He is such a good little dude. He is 95% of the time a great example for Jack. And as far as that other 5%--It adds character. I wouldn't want him perfect (even though I may say differently during those times) and he such a caring little man. I couldn't ask for a better #1 son. And Jack is great too, but this post is about Ryan (in case they read this in future years).

When the basketball game was over I turned off the TV and Ryan went off to bed. No arguments he just went right on in to his room and climbed on in. It is so nice that there are no longer any battles with him regarding bedtime (for the most part). It makes us less fearful with Jack or Mr. No Name since we kinda know what to expect.

One of Bridget's sisters has a newborn. The little guy seems to be cranky from the reports I hear. I remember the frustration we had with Ryan when he was the same age. With Jack we knew what to expect and we were better able to deal with the crying and we tended to let him cry more before we jumped to get him. This is her first time through the infant stage and so it has been a little rough I guess. I remember and I am glad it is not me doing it for the first time. The 3rd time through I am sure will be rough enough.

Mr. No Name Pics

Recommended Blog

If anyone would like to gain perspective on life and family please feel free to venture over to Fatty's Blog.

To warn, you should be prepared for some hard reality when reading this blog. One should start reading back at least starting with the May 1, 2008 dated post. There is nothing foul or crude in the blog, it is just this fellow's family is going through a very difficult time.

I have been thinking hard about things ever since reading these recent posts. Some like Sunny I am sure have already thought a bunch about it. Nevertheless, this blog is very honest about what is going on, at least in the writers head right now.

Mr. No Name

Well, child #3 is going to be a boy if you haven't heard by now. I am fine with it. Bridget was a little disappointed. I mean she is happy we are having a child and that it appears to be healthy, but she had sort of thought that if it was a girl that this could be the last one. Now, that door to number 4 will remain open, since she would still like to have a little girl to do Mommy/Daughter things with.

I don't mind a boy because I don't mind boys and it is just another boy to have in our gang o' Flynns. My little crew of boys I suppose.

With regard to the whole naming thing--we have absolutely no idea at all. We had a girl name picked out of course, but we have always had an easier time coming up with girl names. I imagine that we will spend the next few months anguishing over it. Suggestions are always welcome.


In other news:

I have a toothache. I have had one off and on for the past few weeks. I am the only one in the family without dental insurance of course. Thank goodness for the tax rebate, I am sure a good chunk of it will be going to fix my tooth. What a lame way to use it.

Also, we are going away for the weekend next week! Yea! Boys are staying with Grandma and Grandpa here. We are just going to Black Butte, but it will be great. I am bringing a bike so hopefully the weather will be good. Oh and we get to try out the new hot tub. We are only going for two nights, but it will be a nice get away.

Ryan has been learning French in his preschool. So he goes around using it quite often to say his colors and hello and goodbye. It is fun to hear him practice. He really has enjoyed his preschool. I hope that kindergarten is just as fun for him in the fall.

We know the sex of the newest Flynn...

And you don't.