Jack is 3!

So let's have CAKE for breakfast!



On the way home from my swimming class this morning I stopped at the semi-snooty grocery store and picked up a small cake and then wrote the message on it. It was fun. Jack only ate the frosting--the actual cake part was much too healthy to be bothered with.


And then just a bit ago, Zoe came by while her mom ran an errand. So she had some cake too. Here is just some video of them hanging out, eating cake, being goofy.

Ryan's Swim Class

Nothing much new here has gone on. Ryan has swimming lessons and so I thought I would take a little video of him so here it is.


The boy at the top with the female instructor is Ryan


And also here is a picture of Jack in Cassie's cowboy hat she picked up on her trip to Australia.

Today is Jack's very last day as a 2 year old. It is kind of sad in a way.

News and Notes 7/20/08

I was supposed to have found more out about the job either Thursday or Friday. And nope no news. Not sure what the problem is, but it bugs.

I was called to two new callings at church. Valiant 12 teacher and 11 year old boy scout leader. I don't have much of a problem with the primary teacher calling, but a bit with the scout leader one. We are supposed to meet on Tuesday nights. I work every Tuesday night. We also could meet Saturdays but I work all day Saturday. So the only way I could do this calling is if I get a new job. I will stay on the bubble with this calling until I find out about this job. If I don't get it, I am going to have to bail on it. But I am assuming I am going to get this job otherwise it was a stupid calling. I did tell them about my time issue, but the bishopric member just sort of blew me off as it being no big deal. So, whatever. I am bugged about it, but much of it is frustration at the situation here generally.

Bridget is doing pretty well. She gets swollen and that sucks for her. She still has to wear the support belt that goes underneath her belly so that she can stave off lower back pain. She also has a new calling--Primary Secretary. It is not her favorite calling. Plus she has been forgetful and so she has given the wrong assignment to a couple of kids and not realized it until a week later. That frustrates her too. Despite her being in Primary my calling today was complete surprise. Actually, I think it was to the Primary presidency too. The bishopric kind of do their own thing sometimes--this was one such time apparently.

As far as the boys go, they are still our little wild boys. They are wild in a good way. They generally play pretty well together. Ryan has T-Ball camp next week. This is the same sort of set up as the soccer camp a couple of weeks ago. It is for an hour and half Monday through Thursday. I am sure he will have a blast. His hand to eye coordination is pretty good so he ought to have a good time and not be too frustrated.

Jack is still going to his kindergym class. He really enjoys it. He runs around and jumps and does summersaults and on and on. Bridget is trying to get both him and Ryan excited about swimming lessons. Ryan is back to swimming lessons after a long layoff. Next month we will start Jack in swimming lessons. He stresses about going in the pool. Bridget has been taking him to the kiddie pool occassionally and things have gotten better.

Ryan got to take part in Grandpa Leroy's Country Club's Lil' Tykes day. Ryan and Grandpa were out on the club's practice course with a bunch of other kids and their parents/grandparents and a couple of the clubs golf pros. Ryan practiced various golf shots and swings and so forth. One of the pros at one point dressed up in a velcro suit and the kids got to try and peg him with some tennis balls that would stick to him if the kids aimed right. I guess Ryan hit him a couple of times which was better than most of the kids did. Bridget said that his swing does not have great form, like he is trying to hit a baseball, but he has great aim once he does hit it.

Well, that is it for now. Perhaps later in the week I will have some better stories.

Ask and you shall receive...

Bridget and I are sitting down in the living room right now and I am on the computer. We just finished eating our post-church lunch which happens between 2:30 and 3:00 after get changed. Then we eat dinner at 6, which makes no sense either, but whatever. The joys of having church start at 11...but I digress. I asked her if there was anything that I should put in the blog. She didn't come up with anything, but then the following occured.

Ryan didn't like what I prepared for lunch. I told them on the way home that they didn't have a choice in what was for lunch. I just promised that it wouldn't be gross. I made grilled cheese and ham/turkey on wheat bread. It was good and buttery and although the bread was wheat, it tasted pretty good. Plus, they have had it before so I didn't think it would be a big deal.

When I set the sandwiches in front of Bridget, Ryan and Jack, Ryan decided that he didn't want it. All of the sandwiches were on paper towels instead of plates. He shoved it away to the middle of the table. He had not even tried it, but said he wanted something else. I told him he didn't have to eat, but that he wasn't getting anything else to eat. I started to eat the sandwich--which was cut into four triangles. Ryan was just sitting there while I ate his sandwich. I repeatedly asked him if he wanted it, but he kept saying no. I left the last triangle after he said that he wanted it. I think he realized that I wasn't bluffing. He ate a bite and then started eating the chips. He still wanted to eat something different. I said no. He had to eat the remaining triangle. This went on for a bit. Bridget finally told him that if he ate a big bite of what was remaining that he could have something else.

Then about 10-15 minutes passed by with Ryan still sitting at the table, watching TV I think. I was sitting here talking to Bridget. He asked if he could have a cookie. I looked over and didn't see anything on the table, so I assumed he ate the sandwich. I said yes to him. Bridget who was much more observant than I asked if I had noticed that he had a paper towel in his hand all balled up. Oh no he dinit! Oh yes he did! He wrapped up almost the entire quarter of the sandwich in the paper towel and threw it in the trash.

Bridget and we both chuckling and I asked him to bring over the paper towel. I told him he couldn't have a cookie if he didn't bring the paper towel over. I had to tell him this about three times before he finally brought over the paper towel...which was empty except for some crumbs. He couldn't even look me in the eyes, instead he hid around the corner probably unable to keep a straight face, the little devil. The sandwich was now in the trash we were guessing. I told him I wanted him to bring me what was in the paper towel. He walked over the where the kitchen trash can was, which was out of our line of sight, and we waited. About 20 seconds later he came over and brought me the sandwich. The sandwich now had two bites taken out of it. The newest one was a big one and it was recent. He walked away without saying a word. He couldn't because his mouth was full of sandwich de la poubelle--which is doubtful to be on any menu soon. Yuck. But he manned up and ate the thing and he got the cookie. Man, I figure he earned it after that. Bridget asked him if he had just taken the bite and he answered yes. She thanked him for telling the truth and let him go on his way.

Cold grilled cheese out of the garbage can, just so he could get a Chips Ahoy cookie. I am not sure whether to be proud or ashamed. Both would be acceptable probably.

At the Movies: Kung Fu Panda

This is a great movie. I highly recommend it. Jack Black is the voice of Po the Panda and he nails it. The animation is top notch, as is the other voice work. I went with the boys and they both loved it--especially Ryan.

There were times when Ryan shouted Hooray and started bouncing in his chair. Jack liked it as well, he just didn't get as wound up about it as Ryan. We bought a bag of popcorn and some soda pop. It was quite the experience. We don't do this often, but it was great. Bridget was invited to go to the American Idol Tour by some people in the ward. I don't know if she had a good time or not--I assume she did. However, there is no way it could have been nearly as enjoyable--nor even pain free for that matter for me--as Kung Fu Panda was. We will be buying it when it come out on video for sure.

As we exited the theater the boys were doing Po-style belly bounces and other kung fu type moves. It was cool.

Ryan at Soccer Camp & Jack being, well, Jack

Ryan has soccer camp this week. Soccer Camp is Monday through Thursday this week. He has been having a blast. He is quite good. Ryan goes hard all the time. Many of the other kids get sidetracked or lose interest after a bit. Ryan is 110% into it. Where there are water breaks he runs off the field to get his water bottle. Then he is always the first one to be running back onto the field to go at it again. He loves it. They have drills for the first hour and then for the last 20 to 30 minutes they scrimage. He likes the scrimages the best. He is good at getting others on his team involved too. He passes often, shoots when he has a chance and plays pretty good defense. He isn't afraid to go at it hard.

Here are some pictures:





Here are some pics of Jack from the past couple of days too.

Jack was being silly with his pajama pants, running around with these on his head for a bit. He thought it was so funny.
























These were from Monday when Jack and I were messing around at the playground near where Ryan had soccer.

Dropping...Still Dropping

Not that I have lost as much weight as mom this time around, but I have broken below a barrier that I just couldn't dip below a year and a half ago when I was really serious about losing weight. I broke below 195 lbs. I weighed in at 194.6 this morning. For whatever reason I just could never get below 195 lbs. I think I only touch that weight for a few days in all. I usually was around the 196-198 range back then, which was around Christmas 2006. After that I have been occasionally serious about dropping back down usually not going much below 200, but I haven't been over 208--maybe 209. So there hasn't been any huge swings, which I feel good about. The biggest gain was around the bar exam, appendectomy, bronchitis span when I couldn't exercise much, if at all.

Anyway, Another 10-12 pounds and I will be at what I consider to be a good weight. It would still be on the high end of what is considered normal for BMI, but I will be happy with that. Bridget doesn't want me to lose any more weight than that anyway.

I still have love handles, but they aren't evident unless my shirt is off. The skin is a little flabby around my stomach especially when I bend over, but again I am fine with that. I only care about losing more weight so that I can hit some fitness and performance related goals dealing with triathlons and cyclocross this year. I feel fit, but I realized at the Vikingman that extra weight really costs you. Running really punishes the heavier person. I figure that by losing 20+ lbs from my Vikingman Half Ironman weight I should be able to run a good minute to a minute and a half faster per mile without much more effort. The same goes for cycling. On any sort of long hill a lighter fit guy will be able to stomp up much faster than I even though I put in as many miles training (or more) than he. It is just gravity man. It takes more effort to move my gut up the hill than theirs. And I am sick of it. I am stuck in the back third of Master C's (there are Master A's , B's, C,s and Beginner) and I am sick of it. I want to be able to compete in Master B's at some point this Fall. I don't care about winning, I just want to feel like I belong and can be competitive in that class. It might be a pipe dream, but I would like to try.

However, if for some reason I get to this 185 and below weight and I am not any faster either this year racing cyclocross or in next year's 70.3 Ironman California--watch out burgers and fries here I come!

July 4th, 2008

First we left the house at 7:20 AM to go out to Hood river to see Thomas the Tank Engine. Jack was the perfect age for this. He loved it and didn't want to leave.

One of the first things we did was go to the tents where there were lots of tables with some different Thomas the Train sets up for kids to play with.

Then Thomas came rolling in.

And the video, sorry it is so jittery:

Before we boarded the boys got a picture with Sir Topham Hat.
























Of course we had to take pictures on the train. The boys had a fun ride. Jack was pretty mesmerized at first.

This is a picture taken after we had ridden on the train. Pretty cool for the boys, and not too bad a time for us either.

As soon as he could get us there, Jack had us back at the tent with the Thomas the Train tables so he could play. Needless to say, he did not want to leave.

We got to ride a school bus both when we arrived at the off site parking lot and when we left. The boys loved the bus too. Simple pleasures I guess. We went to a McDonalds nearby and the boys and Bridget and I ate. We don't often to McDonalds all together so even that was fun. On the drive back the boys and I fell asleep while Bridget drove us the 70 miles back to home. At 3PM we were off to Grandpa Leroy's country club for an Independence Day Bar B Q there. I ate sort of healthy, two helpings of salad, but with really good Bleu Cheese dressing, salmon, more salmon, half an ear of corn, some pasta salad, and half a bratwurst with sauteed onions and sauerkraut. Oh, and the pound cake with loads of fresh made whip cream. That is always a diet buster. The kids all ate well, and after that we headed back home to hang out until the next event around 7PM this evening.

Three families in our ward came over and we all had a blast letting off fireworks. The Webbs brought over the illegal kind--which was surprising since they come across as so straight laced. The Krantz' brought over some really good homemade chocolate chip cookies. Any dessert Melinda makes is sure to be really good. The Odils came as well and it was great. We provided some more munchies and Popsicles and fireworks that we picked up at Costco for cheap. Other than one of the Krantz kids taking a pretty good fall off of a retaining wall and drawing blood from all four limbs, we all had a great time.

Here are some pics from tonight:

All the kids, almost. The Odil's boys are missing below

Fireworks!


We had a great time and since the whole event was outside in the driveway there was hardly any clean up. Bridget said I could do this sort of a party every Independence Day. I agreed, 20 minutes of clean up for a 3 hour party is great.

File Under "What the..."

Bridget comes in just now and tells me to come into the bathroom. The boys were bathing together, as usual, and they were making a ruckus, as usual. Except this time they were having a battle. They were pretending laser or bullets or something were coming out their peepees and they were shooting each other.
...

...

...

...

yeah, what to do...

I admit that it was funny. They were still doing it when I walked in and they were oblivious to the fact that I was standing over them as they did it. They just kept at their little peepee battle, shooting each other with their imaginary lasers as they were both laying in the water with heads at opposite ends of the tub.

"I got you Jack!" [shooting sound effects] "Nah ah, missed me!" [more shooting sound effects as Jack returns fire]

They are innocent still, but they know better, especially Ryan. Bridget commented before I stopped them that perhaps we should video tape them to blackmail them in their latter years. That would have been a good one, but I stopped them and we had a talk. Still...lasers out of peepees...geesh.

Called the Firm

The guy was obviously a little busy and as a result didn't have much time to talk to me. He just said he would get back to me soon. Which to me means, I will get back to you as soon as I can get my secretary to send off a "Thanks, but no thanks" letter.

I got nothin'

Pressure is building. Baby on the way and I got nothin'.

I am feeling a little under the weather and the prospect of going to the shop today is more than I can handle right now. If I have someone ask me to change a flat I might lose it frankly.

Maybe I am being overly negative. But I don't really care, I am sick of the shop, sick of not having a decent job and I am generally fed up.

I went to check the job board and there isn't anything there. I am out of ideas on people to bug. Basically, I feel like I am at a deadend here.

Anyway, this is how I feel right now. I may remove this post later when I come to my senses.