Clint's Blog

Evidence of Dad Snoring

2012-01-11T13:49:00.002-07:00

While we were flipping through the video camera videos to make some room for Coby's Jive concert stuff, Deanna came across this video and had to show it to me.

Mexico Trip

2012-01-08T21:45:00.002-07:00

Humm, I just discovered that I didn't write anything on this blog about my trip to Mexico. So, here we go. I hope it isn't to much of a repetition of what I wrote on the CAF website or the LDSFamily.net website.

Normally at this time of year I don't have much vacation time and I'm very busy at work. This year, the busiest time was November to December opened up for me. I looked at my vacation days and I had 5 days saved up. The trip to Mexico was from Christmas which was Sunday this year and ended on the day after New Years which was Monday. At work, we were given both Monday after Christmas and Monday after New Years off. So, I only needed 4 days. Coby struggled to get the time off at work but when push came to shove his boss decided to let him off of work the whole week since he was giving service to the needy in Mexico. Tiffany was generous enough to let us use her "stand by" tickets to fly from SLC down to San Diego. So, after a little tweaking and some miracles, I was headed to Mexico with Coby, Andy and Savanna.

You have probably seen my video that I made of the work and the play we did while in Mexico so I think I'll just talk about some of the things I thought about while down there. Here are a couple of things that struck me while down there. Keep in mind, I've been in 3rd world countries before and the poverty really doesn't shock me anymore. I searched for things that I could use in my life. Here are some of my thoughts.

As we crossed the boarder into Mexico it was interesting that I didn't need any identification, paperwork, visa, passport or any other paperwork. I also noticed that there wasn't a line at all getting into Mexico. We just walked across the boarder, through the gates and we were in. I think I really only saw one official looking guy sitting at a table asking us to push a button to see if we were the lucky ones to be "checked". Otherwise, it was pretty much void of security. HOWEVER, when entering into the USA, there was a line of people, a line of cars, there were security all around. There were several lines of people waiting to enter. When we arrived at the start of the line we were asked for identification, passports, birth certificates and we were asked what we purchased and what we did while in Mexico. The officer asked each of my kids a question or two and then he waved us in. We then scanned our bags and were permitted into the United States of America. Ok, so that seems pretty standard, how can this translate into a learning experience. Well, for me, it was a "type" or an "example" of what it will be like at judgement after we die. I believe that there are 3 kingdoms of glory that we can inherit. Three degrees of glory. After we die, it will be like the boarders of Mexico and the US. It will be fairly easy to get into the lower degrees of glory. There won't be a line, there won't be much security, there won't be much paperwork. We will be able to just walk across, HOWEVER, to get in the highest glory, I'm sure we will have to have all of our paperwork in order. There will be a line, there will be security, there will be documentation and questions that will be asked of us to determine whether we are allowed in this sacred location. Ok, so it is a little stretch of the imagination but it seems to fit, at least in my mind.

Second, I have a new appreciate of rules, laws and police officers. When traveling in Mexico there arn't man traffic regulations. Some places there aren't any stop signs or stop lights. In several locations we traveled the traffic was chaotic First come first serve was the rule and if you were in a bigger car, you had the right of way. There were pot holes, bumps, broken roads, speed bumps, and holes everywhere. The roads were unkept and the drivers didn't obey the traffic rules. Although it was sometimes pretty cool just to roll though a stop and keep moving if no one was there, it made me appreciate the rule of law in the USA. Drivers are constantly aware of the laws and rules of the road because the police do a great job of making sure we are safe. Without the enforcement of these driving laws, the US would not be as organized and safe as they are today. They would fall in the chaos of what is happening just across the boarder in Mexico.

I had to be such a downer on Mexico but these were a couple of things that I tried to notice and be thankful for once I was back in the good old U S of A.

If you missed my video, you can watch it here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BywKiQNmhqc

Here is something cool. Below is the hospital we stayed at in Tijuana.

View Larger Map

Below is the little "tienda" where we went for snacks when we were hungry and where they let us use the bathroom.

View Larger Map

And below was one of the little lunch spots where we had "Tortas" for Lunch.

View Larger Map

BYU football game

2012-01-02T08:44:00.001-07:00

I just found the best way to watch a football game. I found this on YouTube under BYU TV. These videos show an entire BYU football game with all of the plays and none of the commercials or slow time in between the action nor the time outs. SWEET!

Utah State

2011-12-25T08:27:00.000-07:00

I came home one night from work and found this posted on our front door.

If you can't read it, it is an acceptance letter from Utah State University!!!! Way to go Coby!!!

Christmas Letter

2011-12-23T07:41:00.000-07:00

We have been so busy this year with everything going on in our lives that it was hard to crank out a Christmas letter and send it out to all of our friends and family. However, we did it. So, if you didn't happen to get a Christmas card from us this year because of mail delivery issues or something, here is what we sent out.

If you can't read this letter because it is too small, you might want to ask for reading glasses for Christmas.

Here is the photo we sent along with this letter.

43

2011-12-18T20:21:00.000-07:00

43 isn't even a number that anyone remembers. I don't know why but those numbers between the 0 and 5 and 5 and 10's just don't seem to have much significance once you hit 40, or even 30 for that matter. Who even remembers when they were 33 or 37 or 43? Nobody! It is a year in your life that just kinda passes by without noticing. In fact, when people ask me how old I am, I have a hard time remembering my age. Humm, now, was I 42 or 43? Hummm I don't even remember. I think I'm 43? Then I try to use my math skills to try and figure out how old I am. Lets see. I was born in 68. So, 2011 minus 1968 is ummm, carry the one, minus the 6 plus 10. Then, you have to factor in that you haven't reached your date of birth for the year so do I add an extra year or subtract a year for my age. This time I think I subtract. So, I end up looking like I did before in saying, I think I'm 43 years old. The 20 something year old cashier looks at me like I'm a little bit crazy not knowing my own age. Well young lady, (said in the oldest grandpa sounding voice I can muster in my head), when you are 43, you will have the same problem trying to remember the insignificant year of your life. Now, I'm not saying that insignificant things happen. There are very significant and important things that happen in some of these inconspicuous years. It just happens to be years that don't help you remember how old you are.

So, even though I am 43, please don't ask me my age because I may fall into a stupor of thought that may result in my misrepresenting my true age.

Happy 43rd Birthday?
Clint

Letter to Santa

2011-12-16T15:01:00.001-07:00

Katie wrote this wonderful letter to Santa Claus in fourth grade. Notice how she asks for stuff for Mom and Dad first. What a cutie! *grin*

Katie Bball

2011-12-11T19:36:00.001-07:00

This year Katie decided to put her name in the ring to play basketball. She was picked up by a little team of 4th grade girls and they started practicing. Her coach was serious about the game and very dedicated. They practiced every week and sometime twice a week in preparation for their games. Katie is one of the tallest girls on the team and she also has a pretty good shot. Although she is good, there are a couple other girls on the team that are much more aggressive. After the first couple of games I could tell that this little group of girls had a pretty good team. As the season rolled on Katie's team only lost one game. This last weekend was the "tournament". The first game they had was the semi finals. They played a pretty well against a group of pretty rough girls but won. They were set for the finals. They were pitted against a team that they had dominated in both of their other match-ups. Katie was feeling pretty confident but was also a little nervous about that "Championship Game".

Unfortunately, this tournament final proved to be the one game that none of their star players could make a basket. Both teams stayed in the single digits all game long. We came down to the final two minutes and each team had 8 points. Both teams were scrambling to try and make that game wining shot. One of Katie's team mates fouled and a point was made on the free throw line. This brought the total score to 8/9. Katie's team needed a field goal or a foul shot to tie or win the game. Several attempts were made at the basket but nothing would drop. On three of these attempted shots Katie's team was fouled and put on the free throw line. Each excruciating attempt bounced off the rim unsuccessfully. Time finally ran out and the game was over. "Fever" (the name of Katie's team) 8 and the other team 9. Katie was definitely disappointed and didn't want to say much about losing this game. You could tell that she was holding back tears and felt bad that they had lost. After winning each game all season, they lost in the finals to a team they had beat twice. I guess that it life sometimes.

Here are some pictures of Katie in action.

Shadows of Summer

2011-12-11T12:21:00.000-07:00

I found this little video on my Flip Video Camera so I thought I would upload it to YouTube. This happened a few years ago in the summer. Katie and Savanna would get on the trampoline and create a routine. I stuck up into Savanna's room and recorded this one. It is nice to remember these nice summer days now that it is stinking dang cold outside.

Christmas Tree 2011

2011-12-05T12:14:00.001-07:00

Ok, I thought of naming this one, "its starting to look a lot like Christmas" but it seemed just a little too cheesy even though I am the king of cheesy. So, I'm going with a bland name of "Christmas Tree 2011". Sorry all of your cheesy subscribers.

I don't know if any of you knew but Facebook is no longer importing blog posts into facebook. So, you will have to subscribe to my blog to get the updates now.

2011-12-01T15:49:00.001-07:00

Thanksgiving is over and unfortunately for me, I caught a cold on Wednesday. So, I was sniffling and sneezing all the way through the 4 day Thanksgiving weekend. Of course, as soon as Monday comes around, I am feeling a lot better.

While surfing around the internet, I came across this cartoonists blog. So, I subscribed. This is a great little cartoon about Thanksgiving.

If you want to subscribe to his blog, go to his site. http://www.mormoncartoonist.com/

Wardle Reunion 2011

2011-11-26T16:58:00.001-07:00

This year the Wardle Family had their family reunion at Downatta Hot Springs. Of course, I bring my flip video along to record the events. It looks like we just ate food most of the time but in reality, we did do other things. I don't remember any of the other things but I'm sure we did something. Just Kidding!

Black Friday?

2011-11-25T21:22:00.001-07:00

Yesterday we looked through the humongous Thursday paper (just a reminder that we still have a paper route) to see what kind of deals we could find for Black Friday. Deanna put together a plan and toward the evening, she invited me to come along and check out the lines. I grabbed my coat and said "Sure" and jumped in the car. It was about 8:30pm. We drove out to BestBuy and was amazed at how many crazy people were standing out in the cold to wait for the doors to open at midnight to go in and get some great buys on electronics. As we passed by we decided that we probably wouldn't get any good deals in there since there was already a huge line around the side of the building. We then drove by Target and looked at that line. Again, a few loons standing out in the cold. Deanna then suggested we drive by Walmart to check it out. Happily, I drove the car around the corner and headed to Walmart. We arrived and didn't see a line at all, however, the parking lot was almost completely full. If you know Walmart parking lots at all, you will know that there is a huge gigantic selection of parking stalls to choose from on a regular shopping day. So, seeing this outrageous amount of cars parked should have given me a clue that the relatively calm exterior was no indicator of what might be happening inside. We parked out in the "back 40" and walked around a mile and a half to get to the front doors (or so it seemed). We entered and that is when the mayhem began. We were given a map with dots and locations. The dots had numbers which indicated which sales items would be sold at which locations and at what times. I happily looked around and was glad that I wasn't too involved at that point. I thought we were just going to walk around and look at the crazy people and head home. Well, Deanna had other plans. There were a couple of great deals that would be occurring in that store that night and she wanted to take advantage of them while we were still there. So, we walked around and found the enterances to the maze of isles that would be selling these particular items. We entered one particular set of isles that had been roped off and the Walmart attendant notified us that we were about the 30th in line and that we were guaranteed one of these items. We entered the maze and navigated ourselves to the back of the line. "What time does this item actually go on sale?" I wondered to my self. So, I leaned over to Deanna and asked, "What time does this item go on sale?" hoping and praying that she said 10:00pm. She fumbled through the papers and maps and said, "12:00 midnight". Without being too frantic, I looked at my watch. 8:45pm. My heart sank, my countenance shuttered and my back began to hurt. I then realize that I was there for the long haul and not just a visit and that I had become one of those "crazy" shoppers I was gawking at just seconds earlier. I was going to be sitting on this hard tiled floor until midnight and probably much later. Thank heavens for Angry Birds!

Below is one of my "breaks" from sitting in line on the Walmart floor. If you can spot Deanna in these shots, you win a free trip to Walmart where you can sit on the floor for over 3 hours.

Return Missionary

2011-11-19T16:06:00.001-07:00

Most of our family traveled to Portland Oregon to see Blake Wight after he returned from his mission to Moscow Russia. Blake is looking good and seemed to adapt well to the change in culture after returning to the US of A. The kids loved hanging out with cousins and the adults enjoyed sitting and talking with each other. The night before Blake's talk in church, we sat down as a family and had a chance to ask him questions about his mission and had him share his testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It was great to hear some of his stories and experiences. I think his example will help other prospective missionaries solidify their desire to serve. The video below is the little unofficial reception after church.

two events

2011-11-09T08:25:00.001-07:00

This photos shows 2 important events at this point in our family's life. First, it shows that our furnace has died. A few days ago, our furnace stopped blowing air through the ducts in our house. I went down to the old furnace to see if I could figure it out. The fan belt had broken so we needed it replaced. We called the "heating and air" guys to check it out. He replaced the belt and left. A day later we heard this really loud squealing noise from our furnace and the furnace wouldn't shut itself off. It just kept running and running. We called the heating and air guys again to check it out. Well, the ball bearings were going out on the fan shaft (it's all ball bearing these days). Plus, our thermostat wasn't working to shut off the furnace properly. Fixing these couple of issues would put us at around $800 to repair. So, we decided to buy a new furnace. While we were waiting for the new furnace we borrowed a couple of space heaters from Kim Critchfield. So, Savanna is sitting in front of one of these space heaters. So, this photo is to help us remember our week of living like the people on "Little House on the Prairie". Wearing sweats around the house instead of shorts and wearing stocking caps to bed at night.

Secondly, this photo was taken at 4:30 in the morning. This is when we get up to do the paper route. All of the papers have been folded and are laying on the ground ready to be delivered. We have now been doing this paper route for over a year. I can't believe that we have done it that long. I am definitely ready to quit the paper route but my two kids don't want to give it up. They like the money more than they like the early mornings. Good for them.

Pumpkin Smashing

2011-11-05T22:25:00.004-06:00

When I was young, we would leave our pumpkins out all night on halloween and some teenage pranksters would grab our pumpkins and smash them in the streets. None of these hoodlums came down our street this year so I had to smash them myself.

Here is the link for my facebook friends.http://youtu.be/EhNovWCCASg

Pumpkin Run

2011-11-01T20:20:00.002-06:00

This fall Deanna and Katie signed up for an event over at CSI called "The Great Pumpking Race". All of the participants received a cool orange shirt made of that under armor material. So, Katie ran the .5 mile race and Deanna walked the 5k walk. Katie decided to do the 5k walk with Deanna but got a little anxious and started running. So, she would run ahead, then turn around and run back to Deanna, then run ahead and back. In any case, they both got a lot of exercise. I was there with my flip video to document the whole thing.

Below is a link for my facebook friends.
http://youtu.be/lXolvzRVu50

Jive 2011

2011-10-23T18:43:00.002-06:00

With a little coaxing and a little persuading we were able to convince Coby to try out for Jive again. He has been very worried about his schedule lately because he has a new job working for Smith's. Coby has a pretty full schedule of classes and he knew just how hard it would be to do a job, school, graduate and do Jive but we knew that Jive would be a great experience again, something he wouldn't regret. So, this last week, the Twin Falls High School had its first choir concert. Jive began the night with a medley of songs from the musical Grease. Below are some shots from their first performance. Coby did a great job and it looked like they all had a great time.

Here are the links for my facebook friends.

http://youtu.be/iQqgOZbqoMo

http://youtu.be/uO2jdRbEZZk

Sadie Hawkins

2011-10-04T08:17:00.000-06:00

Last week Coby was given a can of tennis balls while attending seminary class. It had a bow on the top so he opened it and on the first tennis ball was a picture of himself swinging a tennis racket. On the second tennis ball it said, "Let's make it a match at sadies". On the third ball was a picture of the girl that was asking. So, Coby is going to the Sadie Hawkins dance this year.

Train in Downey

2011-09-23T08:56:00.004-06:00

While at the Wardle family reunion at Downata Hot Springs I went into town to buy some charcoal and found this old rustic looking industrial area. While taking some shots of these interesting looking buildings I heard a train coming so I ran over and filmed it. I put all of my shots together to make this nice little video.

Here is a link for my Facebook readers. http://youtu.be/opz8ESo3e4Y

B-day gift

2011-09-16T14:42:00.000-06:00

It was Coby's b-day last month and we asked him what he wanted. He came up with the wish to have a huge tennis bag that would fit like 50 tennis racquets in it. We, the parents, thought it was a good idea so Deanna hunted one down and ordered it. I decided, however, to try and find something cool for Coby that he didn't know about. So, I started looking for some ideas. I know Coby likes video games but I wasn't about to get him another one to take up more idle time. So, I decided to get him a tee shirt with the video game logos on it. I search around and searched around but I didn't have much time before his b-day. So, I finally decided that I would make the tee shirt myself. I went and bought a couple of black tee shirts and then those iron-on sticker pages you can print from your ink jet printer. Then, I scoured the internet to find the right images for the shirt.

I was a little nervous about giving it to him because I wasn't sure if he would like it or not. So, the day finally came. I packaged up my little gift of an iron on tee shirt and plopped it in front of him, anxious to see what he would think. At the very least, he could wear it as a pajama shirt around the house, or use it when he changing the oil in the car (as if anyone actually does that anymore).

Coby opened up the package with much trepidation because of my anxious eyes wondering what would be the result of the surprise. He looked at the shirt and said "LEGIT!". Mummm, not quite the response I was looking for but I guess "legit" was something good.

The reason that I write this post today, is because I saw Coby walking out the door to school with one of the tee shirts I gave him. Hopefully he gets rave reviews from his friends.

Below are the shirts I gave him.

10 extra points if you can tell me what video game these symbols come from. 20 extra bonus points to anyone that can tell me the names of the "races" that these symbols represent.

Wicked

2011-09-11T18:40:00.000-06:00

This summer our family saved up our money and purchased tickets to see the play "Wicked". I really wasn't sure that to expect but from all of our family and friends we had heard that it was a great play. I knew that it was some kind of spoof on the play The Wizard of Oz but I really didn't know much more about it. The only way you can really tell that we are there for Wicked is by looking at Savanna. She is holding the program.Below is a quick cell phone video recording of us at the show. I would have taken a little time to show everyone how far away we were from the stage. We were probably about 3 or 4 rows from the very back of the auditorium.

Fashion Show

2011-08-29T07:59:00.000-06:00

Every year about this time our family heads to the stores to buy new clothes for the new school year. I remember when I was a kid, my sisters would head to Salt Lake City and buy a bunch of new clothes. Sometimes it was to the "OP" outlet or "Fritzies" down near Provo. When we get home there was a tradition to have all of the girls go and put on all of their outfits and put on a "Fashion Show" for Dad. So, this year after Deanna brought the girls back from Boise, I had them model all of their clothes for me. The video isn't that great because I was using my camera phone but it is fun to watch them strut their stuff with their brand new clothes.

Hie

2011-08-25T11:56:00.002-06:00

My daughter took some video of me playing the piano the other day. I really like this song so I play it all of the time. I think my family is sick of hearing me "Play" it. The song is "Hie to Kolob".

Here is the link for my facebook friends. http://youtu.be/Eci-gaYROqk

providential

2011-08-13T20:58:00.005-06:00

As I have been driving around in my car lately I have turned on my android phone and listened to audio books on an app called Ambling books. I sit here typing up this post with a little hesitation to tell you all that I have been listening to "Anne of Green Gables". I decided to listen to this audio book for a couple of reasons. #1. It was free. #2. It was on the top 10 free books in the list. Ok, so, free was in both of the reasons, I am a little cheap.

In any case, I was listening to this book and enjoying the artistic and creative language that is used by Anne (with an e) Shirley. I decided that in my life, I don't do a lot of imagining anymore. I don't even do a lot of creative writing. I used to get on this blog and write up something clever about something that happened in my life. I'd think of a creative way of phrasing it and I would post it for the world to see. I have noticed that my posts reciently have been short pieces of information with video clips or photos. No pithy comments nor creative writing.

I decided today that my lack of interesting writing is do to my lack of listening to Dennis Miller. Every day I would listen to Dennis on the radio and my brain would be taxed as I tried to follow his logic and tried to decider his verbose vocabulary. With this stimulation, my mind would begin to find clever anecdotes and short stories to post on this blog. Unfortunately, I can no longer get Dennis Miller on any radio station in Twin Falls. I might have to wrench some money out of my frugel fingers and purchase a membership to the DMZ (Dennis Miller Zone) so I can get my fix of Dennis's hyperbole. (I'm not even sure I used the word hyperbole correctly but it sounds good)

So, I went to his site to see how much dough it would take to join his club. I found a couple of vids and then came across this "bathrobe session" and found that he mentioned Twin Falls Idaho. Wow, he actually knows something about Twin Falls and he has been here. How providential (as Anne would say).

Here is the clip:

Here is the link for my facebook friends. http://youtu.be/lq3gUNW1Nj8

Second Half

2011-08-03T08:12:00.002-06:00

Here is the second half of our vacation cruise video to Ensenada Mexico.

Here is a link for my facebook friends. http://youtu.be/02GPFx_hwJs

First Half of the Cruise

2011-07-30T11:02:00.003-06:00

Here is the first half of the video I took while on the Cruise to Catalina Island and Ensenada Mexico. This video is of our trip out to Catalina Island and a little bit of our meals and around the ship.

Here is a link for my facebook friends. http://youtu.be/zYTvQ9FiDsU

Temple Trip

2011-07-24T21:50:00.004-06:00

Last week we went on vacation. We jumped in the car and headed down to Southern California. We decided to break up the long drive by stopping in Primm Nevada and stay overnight. We like staying in Primm because of the really inexpensive hotel rooms but nice accommodations. However, if we did this, we would have to stay all day Sunday in Las Vegas, Sin City. So, we tried to make the best of it. We got up early, got our Sunday clothes and tracked down the nearest Mormon Church that we could find. We attended Sacrament Meeting and then loaded back up in the car and tried to find the Las Vegas Temple. The weather was scorching hot, a blistering 111 degrees, so we didn't want to spend too much time out side. Nevertheless, I did take along my flip video and captured our visit.

Savanna's New Ear Rings

2011-07-23T16:26:00.003-06:00

Savanna turned 12 and with that special birthday she was able to get her ears pierced. Enjoy this little video showing the pain and suffering she had to endure.

Hidden Message

2011-07-11T08:23:00.002-06:00

The kids are counting down the days until our vacation on our little white board on the fridge.

Lagoon

2011-05-14T18:47:00.003-06:00

We r at lagoon for savanna's clogging competition. Her group scored a second place in both of their dances.

Picture from Peru

2011-05-11T10:36:00.000-06:00

My Mom and Dad went to Peru last week on a service project for Charity Anywhere Foundation. Mom took a bunch of photos of the project and was showing them to me over the weekend. As we were browsing through pictures of Machu Picchu, one photo caught my eye and I had to get a copy of it. This is a shot of a Peruvian mother's baby carrier.

Car Carrier Kangaroo Sales Blooper

2011-05-06T21:25:00.006-06:00

I've been working on a website for my sister Analee. This website will be a place where people can buy a product that she invented and makes. I decided to make a few videos to go along with her website. One of the video's was really cute so I thought I would post it here. In this clip, Analee is trying to make a sales pitch for her new Car Carrier Kangaroo but is interrupted.

Here is the link for my Facebook Friends. http://youtu.be/k6hOBobnxnM

Easter 2011

2011-04-24T22:05:00.002-06:00

Katie is the last one of the kids that is eligible to participate in the Twin Falls City Park Easter Egg Hunt. I took my phone this time and recorded some video footage of the event.

Below is a link for my Facebook Friends.

http://youtu.be/tjN9J6MTjGs

KT gets a hit

2011-04-19T17:11:00.000-06:00

Katie’s bat FOUND the ball, but she LOST her race to first base.

Link

Wordle

2011-04-10T10:03:00.007-06:00

I love playing around with wordle.net.

Which one of these to you like best?

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2>

3>
4>
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Piano Duet

2011-03-31T14:14:00.002-06:00

Katie worked on a piano piece this year for Festival that included a small duet. Somehow I was chosen, volunteered, or forced to play the other half of the duet. Luckly I didn't have to play my part for Festival but I did have to perform in front of a live studio audience at her recital. Below is a video clip of our performance. Notice that Katie didn't mess up once and Dumb Old Dad messed up several times. Aaarrgghh!

Below is a link for my facebook friends.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yz61FCIIjqs

Tennis during Spring Break

2011-03-26T09:23:00.004-06:00

Coby and his friend Dallas were out playing tennis this week during spring break. While they were out there a photographer from the New York Times, oops, I mean the Times News, jumped out of the car and went over and started taking pictures of them. Well, yesterday this picture showed up in the "local" section of our newspaper. Because we have a paper route, we clipped all of the pictures out of everyone's papers so that Coby could make wallpaper out of it for his room. JK

Alma and Korihor

2011-03-23T21:34:00.002-06:00

For some reason, this video really shocked me. I know that it shouldn't because the world around us continues to fall into disbelief. As I watched this segment on TV, it reminded me of the story of Alma and Korihor in the Book of Mormon.

Watch the video below starting at time segment 130. Then, read the segment of the Book of Mormon to see what Korihor said in opposition to Alma's belief in God and that Christ would come again to the earth.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Alma 30: 13 - 60

Korihor says:
13 O ye that are bound down under a foolish and a vain hope, why do ye yoke yourselves with such foolish things? Why do ye look for a Christ? For no man can bknow of anything which is to come.

14 Behold, these things which ye call prophecies, which ye say are handed down by holy prophets, behold, they are foolish traditions of your fathers.

15 How do ye know of their surety? Behold, ye cannot know of things which ye do not see; therefore ye cannot know that there shall be a Christ.

16 Ye look forward and say that ye see a remission of your sins. But behold, it is the effect of a frenzied mind; and this derangement of your minds comes because of the traditions of your fathers, which lead you away into a belief of things which are not so.

24 Ye say that this people is a free people. Behold, I say they are in bondage. Ye say that those ancient prophecies are true. Behold, I say that ye do not know that they are true.

Jimmer

2011-03-20T10:39:00.002-06:00

BYU has reached the sweet 16 in the 2011 NCAA Basketball Tournament. Jimmer Fredette has become a national star and continues to shoot outside shots that are several feet behind the 3 point line.

The BYU Harold B. Lee Library has taken advantage of this success and has used him in several videos.

Enjoy these great videos about the BYU Library.

Here are the links for my facebook friends.

http://www.youtube.com/user/hbllproduction#p/u/3/hSxpYGcUU7U

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JTysCSBFCo

Birds

2011-03-19T15:58:00.001-06:00

Spring is here and the sounds and sights of Summer are here. We saw some birds drinking from a bucket of water in the back yard so I setup my tripod and recorded some video.

Here is a link for my facebook peeps.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRqasJbV_hY

Tsunami Video

2011-03-14T09:38:00.004-06:00

We pray for the people of Japan and there loss of life and property at this time. Below are some of the most amazing video footage of this terrifying event.

Here are the links for Facebook:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_6iDBoOvb0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-zfCBCq-8I

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APEsVeE7FGk

geocaching

2011-03-12T11:03:00.000-07:00

It has been a long long time since I pulled my GPS out of my Swag Box to track down a cache. I've just been so busy with other stuff that I just haven't had a chance to go geocaching. Last week the Scout Master in our ward called me up to ask if I would teach a class about geocaching to the scouts in our ward. I said yes and started to rummage through all of my goecaching stuff.

I found a bunch of stuff that I had almost forgotten about including the fact that I still have a Travel Bug out there in the geocaching world. So, I logged into my Geocaching.com account and checked it out. To my amazement, this little travel bug named "Tree chain" had made quite a few trips around this small world of ours. Below is how many miles this little travel bug has logged and below that is a picture of where it has been.

Tracking History (23,462.8 miles)

Click on the image for a better view.

Andy and Bball

2011-03-10T16:46:00.003-07:00

Andy was fortunate enough to play on the 8th Grade Basketball team for O'Leary Middle School. I should have a bunch of pictures of him playing ball but for some reason, the season passed me by and I didn't get a good shot of him. I did, however, take a picture of a picture of him and his team. It is a horrible shot but I guess it is good enough for historical evidence.

Exciting Stuff ! ?

2011-03-05T13:30:00.004-07:00

Ok, the title of this blog is a little deceptive. Nothing really exciting has happened since my last post which is why nothing has been posted. I guess there have been a few moderately exciting things so I guess I should make you aware of them.

Coby made the Twin Falls High School Tennis team. Not just the tennis team but he made the VARSITY TENNIS TEAM! He has been very jazzed about that all week.

Savanna went to a clogging competition in Boise and received a 1st Place award in three of her four clogging performances. This qualifies her to go to Nationals this summer to compete for a national award.

Andy has been playing basketball and was excited that he made Coach Jones' team. He has played #6 all season and even got to start in one of the games. He has enjoyed his time playing 8th grade bball even through they didn't have the winning'est season.

Katie has been practicing hard on the piano and will participate in her very first "Festival". Then, after the festival, she will be playing in a recital where her Dad will be playing a duet with her. I don't know who is more nervous about the recital, Katie or her Dad.

Well, there you have the "exciting" stuff that is going on. Ok, maybe moderately exciting occurrences in our family.

President's Day

2011-02-21T10:36:00.002-07:00

While listening to the Kid Kraddick Radio program this morning I was reminded that today was President's Day. We are supposed to be honoring our Presidents, as in the Presidents of the United States. Sure, there are POTUS's out there but there are also other Presidents, like Class President, School President, President of a business, etc. So, I started to think of instances of when I was a president. It hasn't happened very often but I was the President of the Deacon's Quorum, and a Young Men's President in my church, the Mormon Church. While I was working for my Dad at the Truck Driving School he said I could be President and CEO of the business so I might count that one. I'm also President of my online webstore business called eCarters.com. But, I think that is about it.

When have you been a "President" so that we can honor you today? Maybe you ran for President of something at some point or had a calling of being President in your church. If you have, and obtained the title of President, we can salute you today, President's Day!

Mailbox

2011-02-11T16:06:00.002-07:00

Another little video I posted on my "Neighborhood" project.

This is entitled, Our Mailbox.

Here is a link for my Facebook Friends.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUAS5WzsOQM

Photo Project Gone Rogue

2011-02-06T22:29:00.003-07:00

My friend Clark posted on his blog last week about a project that was started for photographers. The project was stated as follows:
"Taking photographs is fun. Sharing them is even better. Sticking with one theme a month, upload one photograph a week that somehow represents that theme.
One theme a month.
One photograph a week.
12 x4 = 48 photographs.
You in?"

I am definitely not a photographer, however it did sound like fun so I clickity clicked on over to the website and asked to join. After seeing a couple of the photos posted, I decided to go rogue and upload videos instead of photos. I hope they don't mind. It will give me a chance to try out some video production and video editing skills. Below was my first post.

Here is the URL for my Facebook Friends.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNoD0M2yTEY

Jive 2011

2011-01-30T20:58:00.003-07:00

Coby has been working very hard in Jive over the last few months for the production of the "Jive Winter Showcase". This is a show that Jive puts on to show off all of the songs and dance steps that they have learned since school began in 2010. Normally Jive practices their songs during 8th period at the High School and then they practice their dance steps every Tuesday and Thursday evenings from 7 to 10 pm. However, on the final week before the showcase, they practice every day from 5:00pm to 10:00pm. It is a long and grueling week of practice but it all pays off on the finally day (Saturday) as they present their musical performance to a crowd.

As a "Jive Parent" I had volunteered to help out with something. I thought I was going to help with a picture montage or something. As we talked with the choir director he mentioned something about putting together some video of the members of Jive between songs, just like BYU's Young Ambassadors do in their production. So, my video brain turned on and I started putting by ideas together.

Since I had kinda built a studio in my garage, I had the lighting all setup. And, I had my new flip video camera from Christmas, so, I was ready for my first official "GIG"!

I interviewed each of the members of Jive and then every night that week I edited the video into 6 short clips that they could use between songs.

Below are all of the clips I made. They aren't perfect but it was the best that I could do in just one week. Now that I know what I'm doing, I'll be able to make a much better set of videos. So, my mind is already thinking about the "Spring Showcase".

Here are the video links for my facebook friends.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xHtJtyhnLE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mgu3av1AWmQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gp-lLFImk2A

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POeMm9B6im4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpqVlRbsap0

Epic Fail

2011-01-24T14:26:00.006-07:00

Recently I have begun to notice that the younger generation (my kids) have begun to use a word in a different way. My kids now use the word "Fail" as a noun. Maybe it is due to the website called failblog.org or maybe because of this YouTube Channel, I don't know. This is how the word is now used around our house, "That is a fail!". Yes, it is very strange to me too. Usually fail is used as a verb in a sentence instead of a noun so it just doesn't sound right. However, over the last few months I have become accustomed to this misuse of the verb and have even come up with a few "fail" nouns myself.

The most recent occasion to use this new found noun was when I was headed to the grocery store with my 3 kids. Andy and I had just been to Great Clips where we had our hair cut. Our journey took us over to the west side of town to an establishment known as Walmart. As we were rambling around the parking lot looking for the most epic parking spot ever, Andy remarked with much enthusiasm, "Thats a fail!". I didn't notice what he was talking about because I was completely focused on parking positions. So, when we got out of the car I asked him what he was talking about. He said that as we entered the parking lot, he noticed on the ground that it said "YIEED". Humm, what in the world is a Yieed? Well, you can look for yourself. This is what the youngsters of today would call an "EPIC FAIL!"

This is an actual photograph from my camera phone at Walmart in Twin Falls Idaho.

2010

2010-12-30T20:26:00.002-07:00

I thought about doing the same thing I did last year and give you some statistics about what happened on my blog. Well, it looks like I had a lot more time last year than I do this year. I was able to check out all of my posts and tell you how many comments each one received and what posts were my favorites and which one's failed miserably. This year, I barely have time to type anything into this year end post. I guess I can say that I am glad that this year is over and I hope next year is much much better. I guess I should really focus on the happy exciting things that happened to me instead of the downers. I was able to witness the wedding of my Brother Blake to Estee Blatter in the Denver Colorado Temple. I was able to baptize my youngest daughter this year and confirm her a member of the Church of Jesus Christ. I was able to walk in the footsteps of the Willie and Martin Handcart companies and ponder the hardships they suffered while returning to my nice air conditioned hotel room. I should focus on the advancement in the Priesthood of my two son's. One becoming a Priest in the Aaronic Priesthood and the other being ordained a Teacher. I still have a job that I enjoy and that help pay for the necessities of life. I have great people to work with at my job. I am able to teach a strong work ethic to my kids by taking on a paper route. And finally, I should be thankful that our dog healed from his broken leg and continues to be excited to meet me at the front door when I come home from work.

I have begun to ponder why I continue to write a bunch of stuff on this blog. A part of me likes the opportunity to make fun of myself. Part of me wants to make people laugh. Part of me wants to share experiences that might match things in their own life. Part of me just wants to unload thoughts that come to me during the day. Hopefully there isn't a "Clint Overload" out there in the bloggosphere. If there is, please, just unsubscribe or ignore me in your reader, or delete me on facebook, or stop following me on twitter or watching my videos on YouTube or reading my posts on LDSFamily.net. Hummmm, I guess there is a lot of ways I can invade people's lives with my blathering.

Age 42 hit me this year and I don't know what to think about it. I remember when my Dad was 40 and I'm not sure I'm as far along in life nor as successful as he was. Maybe I'll catch up later. A friend of mine taught me about how trees are different and mature at different times. One tree might stand dormant even though all of the other trees around it had blossomed and bloomed. I guess I'm just one of those trees that will mature later? There is also a little story about a vinyard that was pruned back by it's Gardner. The plant that was pruned down to the ground looked up at the Gardner and said, "why was I cut back so far to the ground?". The Gardner looked back and said, "I'm the gardner and I will mold you and prune you as I see fit to make you a strong plant". Ok, that may not make sense.

Am I still writing? I should have stopped long ago.

100th Video

2010-12-29T09:13:00.008-07:00

It is official, I have now uploaded 100 videos to YouTube!!!!

The very first video I posted on YouTube happened December 02, 2008 it was entitled Christmas Morning 2007. I don't know why it took so long for me to upload my first video. I didn't know much about videos, uploading, youtube or editing at that point. The video was actually shot by my brother Blake.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oc_HGl-vdoQ

The most recent video I shot and uploaded to YouTube was from Christmas 2010. It is a small video of my parents playing our new game on the Wii called Band Hero.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjJM2OTbJQE

The video with the MOST hits came from a brief visit to a robotics competition. It was called First Lego League. It has now had over 5,300 hits!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNRUh7U5Vyg

And finally, in honor of my 100th video on YouTube, I'll put a few of my favorite videos to date.

Andy at Camp Bradley (Old Spice Commercial)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsMli_p6Jes

Savanna, Katie, Andy and I doing the Wass Up commercial with our own twist.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCgqL0hgo7g

And finally, me and Coby doing the Banadana Skit at a Carter Family Reunion.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXg6PNHaI7w

If you like some of these videos, click on the subscribe button when you get to YouTube and you will see all of my latest videos each time I upload a new one. (You have to be a member of YouTube of course)

Christmas 2010

2010-12-26T08:30:00.005-07:00

I was in Costco with Deanna walking through the isles when I saw a huge bin of these bears. I thought it would be a cool gift to give the girls this year so I checked out the price. Well, the price was right so I told Deanna I would come back later and pick them up.

Below is a picture of my shopping cart.

I couldn't post these pictures until after Christmas but I just had to let people see how ridiculous I looked when trying to buy my girls a Christmas present this year.

I believe

2010-12-22T16:46:00.003-07:00

There was a constant buzz around our house about Santa Clause last year. Fortunately it hasn't been such a big discussion nor argument this year amongst the kids. Whenever we got into the dialog about Santa, I'd always side with the youngest members of the family and state that "I believe".

I still remember the excitement of waking up early in the morning with the hope that Santa Clause had brought me something cool for Christmas. I remember that there was MAGIC in the air because it was always such a mystery. Now that I am older, Christmas has lost some of its magic and glitter, however, I don't ever want to loose that feeling that I had when I was a young child. So, whenever one of my kids, old or young, asks me if I believe in Santa and the magic of Christmas, I always say, "I believe". Deep down in my little kid heart, I believe. I hope that my kids never grow too old to believe in the excitement and magic of Christmas.

Ginger Bread Houses

2010-12-15T10:16:00.010-07:00

The other day I was browsing through the Bloggernacle again and found a cool web page that has craft ideas for little kids. I thought some of them looked easy so I forwarded the link to Deanna at school. Later, I found out that when she scrolled through the ideas, she came across ginger bread houses made from gram crackers and frosting. Immediately she remembered her childhood and that her family had made little gram cracker houses when she was little. I thought it sounded fun and cheep, so a rushed down to the store and bought a bunch of Gram Crackers to use for Family Home Evening.

We took the Gram Crackers over to my parents house, and we decorated these houses with the Hirschi Family on Monday night. I didn't have a camera ready so I had to take some pictures with my phone. They aren't great but they do that job.

Is it worth it?

2010-12-12T10:21:00.007-07:00

Many of you know that recently our family started doing a paper route. Since I would much rather have bamboo jammed under my fingernails than to get up at 4:00am every morning, I have been continually asking myself if it is worth it. Well, I now have my answer.

I had the opportunity to take the girls out for dinner at Wendy's the other night. We stepped up to the counter to order our meals and surveyed the choices. After ordering each individual meal, Savanna looked up at me and said. "How much was my meal?". I replied, " Oh, about $6.00". She looked back at me and commented, "That's about two days worth of doing the paper route". A grin came to my face because I realized that she had just learned how much a dollar was worth. So, now, when we are about to spend some money, I ask Savanna how many days of paper route would it take to pay for it.

Yep, just for that one lesson, it has been worth it.

This is Life.

2010-12-07T16:06:00.000-07:00

I don't know about some of you parents out there but sometimes it feels like a burden to get ready and go down to watch your kid play a game of soccer, or clog, or bball game, or choir. You pay your $5.00 to watch your own kid perform and end up spending 90% of your time watching other kids perform and then seeing your kid up there doing their thing for 20 seconds. It can be a little tedious and boring and sometimes, I must admit, I would rather stay home and stare at the wall.

HOWEVER, that that is at BIG HOWEVER, I have grown to learn to appreciate these little snippets in time when I can watch my kids stretch and grow. This weekend happened to be one of these events. Savanna was scheduled to go and "clog" at the Festival of Trees. If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook you would have already known that. Anyway, Savanna was already complaining about having to go down and perform. She wasn't excited and really didn't want to go. Of course, that really didn't help my desire to go either. I bribed her into going by offering her a sandwich at Subway. That did the trick and the complaining stopped.

We arrived at the Festival of Trees and of course, there were gaggle of other parents there to watch their kids perform as well. After the clogging began I started to think in my mind that THIS was life. This is why we came here, this is why I wanted to be a Dad. I decided to enjoy the moment and soak in this special time to watch my daughter perform in front of an audience. I was proud to say that my attitude changed and I fully embraced the moment in time where I was participating in "real life".

Fortunately for you, or unfortunately however you want to look at it, I brought my flip video and recorded the event for all time. You are all probably tired of watching Savanna's clogging videos but for me, I just can't get enough.

Here is a link for my Facebook Friends. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNiEouIogOg

Pictures in a box

2010-12-04T13:21:00.006-07:00

I was wondering around the mall the other day waiting for Andy to find some basketball shoes that were "cool" enough and also had his school colors. Those colors being from my Alma mater O'Leary Middle School. While we were waiting and wondering, we, the girls and I, saw a photo box.

We saw some people stuffed inside so we walked past and looked in a few stores. As we shuffled back down the main corridor of the mall, we saw the kiosk again. It was empty. I decided that if the price was less then $5.00, we would get in. We peeked through the curtain and found that photos were $3.00. The girls started to bounce up and down and since it was below my price point, we squeezed into the box and sat down. I swiped my card and prepared to be photographed. The girls seemed to want to do all crazy face pictures but I convinced them at least once to a normal smile. We had a great time and we have some pictures to remember the event. I kinda like those photo kiosk booths.

Deanna and I took one while we were dating. I still love the picture.

Thanksgiving

2010-11-28T21:23:00.004-07:00

Our family got together this year at my Sister's house in Boise Idaho. Not all of the family was able to come but we had a good sized group. I decided to take along my flip video to document the festivities. Actually, I almost forgot the flip, but my wonderful wife remembered and stuck it in my coat pocket.

We had a great time eating, playing volleyball, watching Harry Potter, playing games, watching the BSU game and enjoying each other's company.

A huge THANK YOU goes out to my sister and her husband for hosting the celebration! We had a great time.

Here is a link for my facebook friends. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GgG1cpLK1w

Grandma's Stories

2010-11-23T11:29:00.007-07:00

My previous post talked about some stories and poems that my Grandma Erma Blake used to tell us when we were younger. When typing up the post, I began searching for a recording that I knew I had so I could link to it along with my post. As I searched more and more, I began to panic because I could not find the recordings anywhere. I looked on my new computer, my old computer, my work computer with no luck. Yikes, I hope I didn't lose it.

In a frantic attempt to find the missing files, I grabbed my Ancient computer from the pile of computer rubble and booted it up and started a search. Thankfully, I found all of the recordings. So, if you would like to hear my Grandma tell these little stories, here are the links.

The Little Orphan Annie
Epamandas
Johnathan Bing

Memories of Grandma Blake

2010-11-21T21:08:00.015-07:00

I was sitting in church this Sunday listening to the teacher in Sunday School when a lady spoke up from near the back of the chapel. The teacher could barely hear her comment so he walked the microphone back to her so we could all hear. She was an elderly lady but it looked like she had a good comment. When she got the microphone up to her mouth she recited this poem.

"Once there was a little boy who wouldn’t say his prayers,
and when he went to bed at night away up stairs,
his mammy heard him holler and his daddy heard him bawl,
and when they turned the covers down,
he wasn’t there at all!
They searched for him in the attic room
and cubby hole and press
and even up the chimney flu and every wheres, I guess,
but all they ever found of him was just his pants and round-abouts
and the goblins will get ya if ya don’t watch out!!"

The teacher handled the situation masterfully and moved on with the lesson but several people grinned not understanding what had just happened. I smiled too but immediately I thought of my Grandma Blake. Ema Blake used to recite this poem to me when I was little. Memories of my Grandma flooded into my mind and I smiled as I thought of her in her home with the thick shag carpet and the heater vents in the halls. I remember her playing card games, telling us stories and fixing us meals. I felt a closeness again with Grandma Blake while sitting there at church. I was determined to walk over to this elderly lady and thank her for reciting that familiar poem.

When the lesson was over and people were leaving for their next class, I found her sitting in the pews and asked her about the poem. She was very pleased to start reciting the poem again but started reciting a different poem about Joseph Smith. She stopped half was through and asked if that was the one that she I recited earlier. I could tell she was a little confused about which poem she had given during the lesson. I then told her it was about "Little Orphan Annie". She immediately began to repeat the correct poem again for me. When she finished, she told me that she learned the poem when she was 8 and that she was now 80. I thanked her again for reminding me of my Grandma and went to my next class. I found out later that this lady had Alzheimer's disease just like my Grandma Blake.

I am grateful this week for my Grandma Blake. She worked hard all of her life so that her children, and grand children, could have a good life, good education and a strong testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I felt close to her today as I remembered her through this poem. I hope I am living up to her hopes for me. I will read these three poems this week to remind me of her.

The Little Orphan Annie
Epaminondas
Johnathan Bing

Backyard Baseball

2010-11-17T19:31:00.007-07:00

Now that summer has passed and winter is upon us, I thought I would post a video of a warm sunny day earlier this year. Katie and Savanna join forces in this little video to take on the world champion of Backyard Baseball, Andy. They make up the bases just like I did when I was young. The tree is first base, second is a stool by the fence, the slide is third base and home plate is an old frisbee that has fallen apart. These creative kids have added a new rule invented exclusively for Carter Backyard Baseball. The new invention is "Ghost Runners". I don't remember using ghost runners when I was young but it works out perfectly when you only have a couple of baseball players on your team or even if you only have one player. I happen to capture the end of this particular game where Savanna and Katie actually defeat the undefeated.

Here is the link for my Facebook Friends: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfQ55y3Ob64

First Lego League Video

2010-11-14T21:07:00.006-07:00

I am really shocked today at the success I have had with one of my little videos that I have posted on YouTube. I have worked very hard to make videos that people would want to see with the hopes that one of them would go viral. With no immediate success, I decided just to take my video camera and view a few local events just to documents stuff that our family has been doing. I took a video of our service project on 9/11/10. I did a short video of Katie and Andy running in the local "Child Run" event. Each video getting a few hits but nothing really noteworthy of viral proportions. So, I was shocked to find one of my videos start to take off at a rapid pace up the "Most Views" chart on my YouTube Channel. This video is not well crafted, it is not funny, it is not even about my family except for the very beginning. Even though I didn't think this video would do anything on the internet, I was amazed that it started receiving several hits every day. In fact today, this video has now surpassed my top hit getter. It has now passed my video entitled, "Carters get a Wii". I'm guessing that it will hit 1,000 views by the end of next week if the trend continues. WOW!

Below is the video.

Here is the Link for my Facebook Friends. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNRUh7U5Vyg

It is really more of a video of our visit to a competition in Twin Falls. This competition was called "First Lego League" or FLL Body Forward challenge. Elementary age youth put teams together to compete with small robotic machines to do small tasks which equated to points. The team with the most points wins.

Coby volunteered to help with the event so I grabbed Katie and went over to see what was going on. I took my flip video camera with me to document the trip. The video shots I took were from a practice table that they had set aside for each team. After practicing each task, the teams would then be ready to compete.

Professional Photos

2010-11-11T15:11:00.000-07:00

Every year our family tries to schedule a time to take some professional photos of our kids. Unfortunately, we get so busy that some years we just don't get it done. We have our photographs done by Kim Critchfield. He does a great job and always gives us wonderful pictures of our kids as the grow up. We get these professional portraits done because the school pictures just don't turn out very well. You know all of the problems, the kids don't have their hair done right, they just come in from PE, they make a funny face, their shirt isn't tucked in, their zipper is down etc, etc, etc. This way, we can control all of the variables and get a nice clean picture of our kids that we can look back on with fondness instead of horror.

Here are the pictures we took this year. It is always surprising how old they look when we get the photographs back. They are growing up FAST!

Adventure in a Semi-Truck

2010-11-06T15:03:00.002-06:00

Periodically I get little assignments from my Dad to do little projects here and there. Sometimes they are a little challenging. This time I was asked to pickup a Semi-Truck from the mechanic's shop and drive it out to the Truck Stop. In my truck driving days, this would have been a breeze, but as you might see in the video, I am a little rusty. Ok, in reality I never was really good at driving the semi truck. I decided to take Katie along with me to document our adventure.

Here is a link for my Facebook Friends:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tj7nOSfc6RE

Panda Bear Pumpkin

2010-10-29T09:20:00.004-06:00

In an attempt to live up to my reputation of being a "grand champion" pumpkin decorator, I asked my daughter for an idea for a pumpkin this year. All Katie could come up with was a Panda Bear. So, I wandered around the internet looking for some creative examples of panda bear pumpkins. To my dismay, there was only one example of a bear that I liked, so, I went the store to buy a series of pumpkins. Big, medium and small pumpkins were on the menu and I had to find just the right sizes to make it look presentable. (you know my standards are high) After eye-balling the layout of the pumpkins in the store and having several people look at me like I was a little weird, we bought the needed items and headed home to put them contraption together.

We glued, stabbed and fastened all of the pieces together and then pulled out the brushes to get it painted. This is where we ended after our first painting and assembly stage.

Below is our finished product that is on display at the school. Let's just hope we did well enough to win some kind of ribbon so that my pumpkin decorating mystique is not lost.

Happy Halloween to all!

Halloween 2010

2010-10-24T19:09:00.002-06:00

I tried to make a video of our family painting our front windows in preparation for Halloween but the video was dead boring. It was excruciatingly slow, like watching paint dry, humm, that is exactly what it was, letting paint dry.

So, to make it a bit more entertaining, I sped it up.

Here is a link for my facebook friends.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2und7F83Ud8

Kids Run 2010

2010-10-22T17:16:00.000-06:00

Two of our kids participated in the First Annual Kids Run event in Twin Falls. Andy and Katie both ran and both won 4th place in their respective age groups. I took a little bit of video to display as evidence. As you might see in the video, I ran along with Kate for the last 50 yards. We had a great time.

Paper Route

2010-10-17T16:19:00.013-06:00

When I was younger I swore that when I was older and was able to make the decisions about my life, that I would not under any circumstances, under threat of life and limb, make my kids do a paper route. I'm hear today to tell you that somehow, some way, I have failed to live up to that promise to myself. Yes, that is right, we are now a "Paper Route" family. Yes, one of THOSE strange families that get up at crazy hours in the morning to blacken their fingers with news print and find a way to stumble around the neighborhood and deliver the news of the day. Rain or Shine, sleepy or really sleepy, the newspapers must be delivered.

Andy (and Savanna for that matter) have been talking about a way to make money all summer. We have had them mow lawns but now that we have hit the time of year when grass begins to slow it's growth, we are faced with a challenge of how to allow them to earn money. There just aren't many chores around the house that merit pay. We don't have pigs to feed, cows to milk, hay to bail, (even though we do live smack dab in the middle of a large agricultural area). So, we toyed with the idea of taking on a paper route. For many months we checked the news paper only to find that the only routes available were to far away (Ahh, that really was a sad fact even though I was secretly happy). Then it happened. We woke up one morning and our own street was listed in the paper needing a paper deliverer (if that's a word). Hummm, how could I get out of that one? I hoped that it would go away but day after day our street showed up in the paper as needing a paper boy, (paper person for those of you keeping track of politically correct lingo).

Finally I gave in, went down to the Times News, and signed my life away as a parent of a paper boy.

We've only been delivering papers one week and I can already tell you, it still isn't any fun. I'm just hoping that when it is time to get paid, Andy and Savanna will think it was all worth it. The more likely scenario is that I will offer them the same pay for NOT doing the route anymore. :-)

Twitter Feed

2010-10-14T09:12:00.001-06:00

When the average american reads the title "Twitter Feed", they probably picture a bird feeder advertisement. In my case, it is a little different. Many of you already know that Twitter is a website that allows people to post very short little pieces of their life on the internet. These pithy comments on the web are called "tweets". I really haven't done much with Twitter in the past until I found out that you can send a text message to your twitter account. That way, you don't have to be at your computer to post a brief comment. So, over the last month, I have started to send little tweets to my twitter account. Then, after learning how to make that all work, I decided to add my "Twitter Feed" to my blog. So, now, you can see my tweets every time you visit my blog.

My Twitter Feed has been placed on the right side of my blog under "Twitter Feed".

Bruin Football

2010-10-07T09:14:00.006-06:00

We try and support out local sports teams by attending their sporting events. Sometimes we miss them but we hardly ever forget to go to a football game. We live less than 100 yards (football lingo) from the football field so when they crank up the lights and test the loud speakers, we are the first to know. Below is a picture of us at the Twin Falls Bruins football game. This year there are 4 football players on the team from our ward. We cheer extra loud for them when they get a chance to play. I think the Bruins have only lost one game this year so far. Let's hope that they continue winning and make it to State. Go Bruins!

really?

2010-10-01T16:23:00.002-06:00

Really, I've got nothing better to write than to post a video of a baby monkey riding a pig? Either I'm really busy with a bunch of stuff in life, or nothing significant has happened in my life that I'm willing to share with the entire world. Hummm, I don't know which of these two answers fits my situation. I apologize to all of those subscribers that come to my blog looking for some good literary pros. Apparently the best I have is a monkey riding a pig.

Obviously, I still don't have much to say or I would have said it by now. Hopefully all of my readers will give me ONE MORE CHANCE at coming up with something witty and pithy.

Signing off for today.

Clint

Internet Fun

2010-09-25T20:53:00.003-06:00

I am sure that all 7 of my subscribers know that this is the place to find out what is new and fun on the internet. Not every post is new and fun but once in a while, I'll hit something great. Well, here is the latest fun video that is spreading like wildfire around the internet. Remember, you saw it here first.

Don't watch it too many times or you will start singing the song and it will get stuck in your head.

Winna Winna Winna

2010-09-15T15:40:00.008-06:00

Those of you that have been to the Twin Falls County Fair and Rodeo will understand the title of this blog. As you walk down the trampled grass cooridors your ears fill with the sounds of "Carnies" yelling at the top of their smoke filled lungs to try and get you to play their carnival games. If you happen to pass by at just the right time when someone has actually one something, you will hear, "Winna, Winna, Winna". This year was no exception.

One of the visits we try to make while at the fair is a wandering wramble through the art buildings. This year Kate had her art project posted on the wall. She beamed as she pointed to her masterpiece displayed as part of a kaleidoscope of art from her elementary school.

Afterwards, the girls got their hands stamped and rode some of the rides. I tried to take some pictures with my camera phone but they don't turn out too well. This was their first ride, which also made Kate sick.

After some more long lines and a few rides, it was time for the girls to go home and it was time for Andy and I to start working at the Fair Booth. Each year our LDS ward has one fundraiser. This fundraiser is a fair booth that sells hot dogs, hamburgers and other stuff.

Coby came out to help as well since it was busy and we were down a person or two. Again, the picture isn't great from my phone. The picture is just good enough that you can see Andy's back (wearing a red hoodie) and Coby.

Meeting with Choir Director

2010-09-15T09:42:00.005-06:00

Coby came home from school the other day with a story to tell. He said that he was in class and one of his friends came up to him and told him that Mr. Casperson was looking for him. He didn't think much of it until a second friend came up and told him that Mr. Casperson was looking for him. At this point, he started getting nervous (gulp). He thought for sure he was in trouble somehow but wasn't sure why. He thought that maybe it was for being late or something so he was a little reluctant to run down to his office to find out what it was. Then, while at lunch, four more people came up to him and told him that Mr. Casperson was looking for him. (Mr. Casperson is the Choir Director by the way). So, Coby finally decided to take his punishment and head down to the Music Teacher's office right after he finished his lunch and take it like a man.

Upon arrival, Mr. Casperson invited Coby into his office. The Director politely asked Coby what he had for 8th period. Coby replied that 8th period was when he took his IDLA class online, however, since the class he wanted wasn't available this semester, he was just doing some online html this semester to fill the time during the class. Mr. Casperson was happy to hear this news and replied, "Well, I just found out that I will be needing another boy for my 'JIVE' singing group." Coby paused. Coby had tried out for Jive at the end of the last school year but was not chosen from the group of boys that tried out. He was a little shocked that he had now been asked to join them. He told Mr. Casperson that he would check with his parents to see if this would work into his schedule. Coby brought this news home to Deanna and after a small discussion decided to accept the invitation to join the singing group "JIVE".

We are very excited about this opportunity for Coby. We know he will need to stretch himself but we know he will grow and be successful. It will, however, take quite a bit of hard work. But, I really think Coby will enjoy his time with this group. Way to go Coby!

YouTube

2010-09-05T23:25:00.000-06:00

I don't know why but lately I have been obsessed with how many views my video's have been receiving. When you look at the old spice commercial spoof that BYU produced, they received over 2,000,000 views. That is incredible. I mentioned to my kids that I was hoping that the Old Spice Spoof that Andy and I did at Scout Camp would go "viral". They looked at me like I was a little crazy. "What does Viral mean?" they asked. It is when a video becomes so popular that it spreads around the internet like a virus. It isn't an actual virus but it spreads so quickly that it just gets seen by thousands and possibly millions of people in a very short period of time. Businesses pay lots of money these days just trying to get a video out there in the bloggosphere that will go "viral". Anyway, none of my videos have gone viral, in fact, they haven't even been sneezed at. Below are some stats from my Channel on YouTube.

I currently have a measly 6 subscribers.
My most viewed video is "Carters get a Wii" with 665 views.
2nd is "The Super Nerf War" with 479 views.
3rd is "Lower Falls at Yellow Stone Park" with 255 views.
4th is "Banadana skit" with 191 views.
and the one I hoped would go viral at 5th on the list is "Camp Bradley Old Spice Spoof" with 162 views.

Even though the Camp Bradley Video didn't go viral, it definitely moved up the rankings in my YouTube Channel very quickly. It only took a few weeks to hit number 5 on my "most views" list. In comparison, the "Carters get a Wii" video has been out there since December 2008.

Anyway, there you have it. My top five video's on YouTube. Click here if you want and become a subscriber to my YouTube Channel.

Names

2010-08-29T09:06:00.000-06:00

I received a comment on one of my videos from a website that had bible names. I decided to track down my name to see what it meant and how awesome or dorky I really was (which I am almost certain is completely dependent on the name given to me at birth).

By traveling around the internet and making several loops around the globe using nothing but fiber optic cables, I was able to confirm my name's meaning.

http://www.thinkbabynames.com/meaning/1/Clinton

http://www.behindthename.com/name/clinton

Drum roll please!!!! Ratatatattatararararatatatarraratatatat!

My name means: settlement on the summit
My name means: fenced settlement
My name means: Settlement on the river Glyme

So, with this in-depth research and not one step outside my door, it has been determined that my name is pretty close to meaning "A fenced settlement on the summit on a river". I'm not sure how you can be on a summit and be on a river at the same time but who's to argue with the name-meaning people.

Found New Fun/Cool Blog

2010-08-26T11:26:00.003-06:00

I always risk sounding too feminine on my blog posts and today is no exception. I have found a new fun blog. (yes, you could hold your arms up on the sides and let your hands droop down and wave them back and forth to get the full feminine effect), however, in my case (to make me look more masculine) I am holding two huge Sloppy Joe's in my hands while flexing my biceps and reporting that I have found a new cool blog.

Ok, enough with the dramatics, give me the stupid (bad word in our house) website address to this "supposed" fun/cool website.

The website is called Going Postal, Stories from the Mailroom.

This little blog is about a student that works at the MTC. What makes it interesting is that she works in the Mail Room which delivers all of the mail to all of the Missionaries. Every once in a while she posts an interesting little event that happens while at work.

Dual Monitors

2010-08-20T00:28:00.000-06:00

Maybe it is the computer geek in me but today's post will be about having dual monitors.

I first setup my computer with dual monitors when I was working for Glanbia. I really didn't feel like I was gaining much by having two monitors at the time, I just like the look and the feel of being able to have so much space on my desktop. I also kinda liked the look people gave me when they walked into my office and saw my monitors wrapped around my desk. "Wow, that's cool", was usually the comment made. I felt cool too. When I left Glanbia I also went back in time to the old days of a single monitor. It wasn't long before I started feeling the pangs of how restrictive one monitor can be. However, I lived with it for a time.

Now, I'm back into technology working for Trilogy Network Systems where I have a little latitude on what I can use on my computer and I'm back to 2 monitors baby! I found this article put out by Microsoft that talks about dual monitors and guess what, it really isn't that hard to get it setup. You will need a video card that matches up with your computer that can handle two monitors ports. Plug the video card into the motherboard on your computer, plug in the 2 monitors and Windows will handle the rest. Here is the article.
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/organization/twomonitors.aspx.

The only down side is this (and I tell people this all of the time) once you go to two monitors, you'll never want to go back. Maybe because of the desktop space it gives you. Maybe because of the number of blogs you can pull up at once, or maybe you'll get it just so that someone will walk into your office or your home and say, "Wow, that's cool!"

Rifle Merit Badge

2010-08-16T08:47:00.004-06:00

Andy went up to Scout Camp this year with the hopes of completing his Rifle Shooting Merit Badge. As many of you know, this isn't as easy as you would think. Sure, the bookwork is a piece of cake and sitting though the hours of safety instruction is a necessity but the hardest part is getting the bullets to land correctly on the target paper. To qualify, you need to be able to group your shots in groups of three, small enough so that a quarter will cover your bullet holes. You can not use a scope for this requirement and it must be at 50 feet away. At that distance, the bead at the end of the barrel is about as big as the circle on the target, so you have to be very steady and very consistent. Unfortunately, Andy was not able to complete this requirement up at camp so I called one of my good friends that is a gun expert and asked if he could take us to a shooting range and give Andy some more practice. He accepted the challenge and we went out to the range on Saturday. We had a wonderful time thanks to Andy's (my friend) generosity. Even the Dad's got in on the action to try and out-shoot the youngsters. Of course, we had to pull out all of our rusty cowboy talk and swagger the best we could to try and be authentic (just kidding). At the end, Andy was able to fulfill his requirements and walked home with some targets demonstrating his ability to shoot like Wyatt Earp. Here is a short video of all of us at the rifle range. Thanks again to Andy Hamblen for taking some time out of his busy schedule to take us to the rifle range to do some target shooting. We enjoyed every minute of our time out there in the dry Idaho wind at the shooting range.

Here is a link for my Facebook Friends. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjuHaVni4NY

hair style

2010-08-09T19:39:00.004-06:00

I have had the same hair style since I was about 1 year old. My Dad taught me to part it on the right side and comb it over to the left. There was only one time when I drastically changed my style and that was on my mission. I actually had a flat top hair cut for a couple of weeks. As my hair grew out, it reverted back to the part and comb.

Well, I guess it is time for a change so I picked a picture that looked "modern" and told the hair cut lady to do her best to make me look cool. This is what it is supposed to look like.

Below is the result and my new hair style for the next 40 years. Ok, maybe for the next few months. I know, it isn't anything drastic or exciting, but, it is a change.

Here is a link to the video for my facebook friends. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjs1E8HrQHo

Bloopers

2010-08-05T08:38:00.004-06:00

We have had a pretty good response to the Camp Bradley Video Andy and I made at Scout Camp. It is interesting to note that only a few people have noticed that at the end of the video, Andy rode off without a bike helmet. At Camp Bradley, that's a "no no". After creating this little video, I thought it might be fun to do a "bloopers" video as well so you could see how many times we had to go over everything before we got it right. So, here are the bloopers.

Here is the link for my Facebook Friends. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLDctUj4g5w. I don't know why but when my blog post makes it to Facebook, the embedded video is stripped out.

Scout Camp 2010

2010-07-30T14:18:00.003-06:00

Yes, it is time again for Scout Camp. It seems like we were up there just a few weeks ago but if you look at the calendar very carefully, you will be able to see that 365 days have passed.

To help Andy get excited about Scout Camp, I promised him that we would make a movie while I was up there. Once I was up there, I kind of lost some of my enthusiasm because I was so tired after serving dinner to 120 scouts. I asked Andy if he still wanted to do it and he still was willing to try it. So, Andy grabbed one of his friends and came with me as I put together this little "commercial".

If you are not familiar with the "Old Spice" commercials on TV and on the Internet, you may not "get" the funniness of the video we made. BYU also made a hilarious commercial as a Spoof off of the Old Spice video that can be viewed at this link.

Enjoy

Here is the link for my Facebook Friends. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsMli_p6Jes

Special Olympics

2010-07-21T19:46:00.016-06:00

The Special Olympics just became more special for our family this year. Zach Mayer, my nephew and our kids' cousin, qualified to travel to Lincoln Nebraska to compete in the 2010 Special Olympics USA National games. Grandma Wardle and a bunch of family members volunteered to help support Zach in this endeavor and invited Savanna and Katie to travel with her to this wonderful event.

Zach's events included several entries in the Power Lifting competition. While competing for one of his events, the dead lift, he noticed that he had reached the limit of which he was capable of lifting, however, this weight would put him in second place. He knew that 260 lbs was the most he had ever lifted in this particular event but, he found that if he could muster up some extra courage, and extra strength, he would win the gold metal. With his determination fixed, he made a small comment to himself that he was going to try his hardest for his Grandpa. He steadied his feet and fixed his grip. Giving all that he had, Zach somehow managed to lift all 265 pounds, a personal best, to win the gold metal. Many in the audience did not realize that almost a year earlier, his Grandpa Wardle had left this earth unexpectedly. It brings tears to my eyes that Zack still remembered his Grandpa Wardle and wanted him to continue to be a part of his life even though he was on the other side of the veil. I know Grandpa was proud of you Zack and I know he was giving everything he had to help you succeed. I know the veil is thin and I believe that on special occasions, loved ones are allowed to come and witness special events in our lives.

Below is a video clip of Zach taking second place in another event, however we will always remember his triumphal power lift (with the help of Grandpa Wardle) that placed him on the top podium at the Special Olympic Games.

For those of you that don't know Zach, he is on the 2nd place podium on the left of the stage.

Here is a link to the video for my Facebook Friends. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Drm5WLUj6Wc

Video Production Studio

2010-07-20T20:39:00.006-06:00

I thought I was going to be all cool and start producing some amazingly funny video clips (Like this guy) and post them on YouTube and have a thousand people start to follow my YouTube Channel and start earning a ton of money from advertisements and quit my job and move to Hawaii and live on the beach. So (big breath) I decided I needed a studio. I fiddled around the internet looking for "inexpensive" ways to create my own video studio. I gathered the pieces together and made my first video clip.

I must say, it is horrible, terrible, dumb, pathetic, too hot, the sound is too soft, video is too dorky and my face is too fat.

Enjoy!?!

Here is a link for my facebook friends. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cc1Y9RLkBtc

GreenScreen

2010-07-18T09:42:00.000-06:00

Just thought that I would let everyone know that I'm taking my video producing and editing skills to the next level. I decided to try out some GreenScreen effects and see what I could do. You probably already know what "Green Screen" is but all of you non-video-editing-producers-and-editors, it is a technique where you put a green color behind your subject, take a few video shots, then take a seperate video shot of something else and then blend the two shots. Everything in green is filled in with the second video shot.

Below is my first try at green screen techniques. I know that it isn't very creative but I didn't have a whole bunch of time to play with it. I just wanted to see if it would work.

Here it is, I've named it, Katie walking around the back yard. Ok, not a very creative name either.

Here is the link for all of my facebook friends. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uy8QQFC6NZA

Honor Roll

2010-07-11T17:51:00.003-06:00

Congratulations to Coby for making the Twin Falls High School Honor Roll again this last year. Here is his name in print.

http://www.magicvalley.com/news/local/community/article_3ccd7a61-c466-5b51-8dac-0baf6a02d91b.html

Kate playing softball

2010-07-05T09:42:00.000-06:00

I swear that I just did a video of Katie playing softball last month so I went out to my blog to find it. To my amazement, the "Kate playing softball" post was a year ago. I couldn't really believe it so I looked at the posting date to double check. I'm sure that I just did that video last week. Sure enough, the posting date reflected the same date on the video, June 2009. I guess it is time for some more pictures of Katie playing softball.

Katie has really done well this year. This last game, yesterday, she hit the ball well and was able to advance to 3rd base off of two of her power hits. In one particular inning while playing 2nd base, she was able to get all three outs all by herself. She would get in her ready stance, put her glove down in the dirt and prepare for the worst. She would then inch forward in anticipation of a well hit grounder. When the ball was hit to her, she kept her knees bent and scooped up the ball looking for the nearest base to tag. In these three cases, she simply stood up and ran down the nearest player that was running from first to second rendering them "OUT!".

Here are a couple of photos from my cellphone.

Katie's Power Hit!

Katie running after she crushed the ball.

Katie's smiling face after her triple.

Coby Grylls

2010-06-30T12:33:00.006-06:00

Coby has always been good at imitating Bear Grylls from the show "Man Vs. Wild" on the Discovery Channel. We've never really figured out a way to get him on video with his impersionation until now. Deanna forced Coby to do his Bear Grylls voice while climbing down off of Independence Rock. Turn up the volume so you can get the full accent and speech patterns.

Here is a link for my facebook friends. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90CdxJO0GWc

Martin's Cove Trip

2010-06-28T09:00:00.004-06:00

Last week our family took a trip to Denver Colorado to attend the wedding of Blake Carter and Estee Blatter in the Denver Colorado Temple. Because we were traveling so far, we decided to make this our "family vacation" for the summer so we looked at our options and found that Martin's Cove was "kinda" on the way to Denver. We scheduled our time and made the trip. Below is my little Flip Video log of our trip. We were happy to have Grandma and Grandpa Carter, and the David and Analee Hirschi family as part of our handcart company. We had a great time. I know it is a really boring description but I'm just really tired from the return trip last night.

Link for Facebook Friends. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTIPnK0wWpY

Root Beer

2010-06-08T21:58:00.005-06:00

Andy had a baseball game last week in Buhl. With all of the schedules we had to mesh together, it ended up that Deanna took Andy out to the game, and I brought him back. Andy's team did well and won 7 to 14. On the way back from Buhl, I had a hunkering for something but I wasn't sure what. On the way out of Buhl I didn't see anything that would satisfy my craving. We slowed down to travel through Filer so we wouldn't get pulled over by the local police in their speed trap but still, nothing caught my eye.

As we reached Twin, we passed several gas stations and several pawn shops. I resigned myself to just go home and scavenge something from the cupboards. Just then, I saw the A&W sign. Immediately I had a flash back to the days when I was a kid and we were driving back from one of the Stake softball games. If we won, my Dad would usually stop at the A&W and buy a gallon of Root Beer. So, I pulled over to the center lane and signaled to turn into the A&W/Gas Station. Andy looked at me with an inquisitorial look and wondered what was going on. We walked in and I order 1 gallon of Root Beer.

After arriving home, I pulled a cup out of the cupboard and poured myself a tall frosty mug of Root Beer. Now, I don't know how many root beer officionados there are out there reading my blog, but draft A&W Root Beer is in a class by itself. Not even the A&W Root Beer in the can or liter can measure up to the taste.

I am not quite sure what it is that makes it unique but it has a little bit of a bitter taste but a little bit of sweet. However, bitter sweet really doesn't describe it right. If you want the taste of a true old fashioned Root Beer, go to your local A&W store and order the draft. If you like it, order a gallon and take it home and enjoy it all week.

First Harvest

2010-06-06T22:39:00.003-06:00

I thought I would post something today about my garden. It is still fairly early in the growing season but I have already been able to reap a harvest from my fledgling flora. At dinner, I went out to my patch of radishes and found 3 of the round red rooted plants big enough to pull and clean. Then, I took my sickle and lopped off a few delicate lettuce leaves. I combined them in a bowl, and a nice fresh tossed salad was my bounteous harvest. It will be a while before my tomatoes and cute cumbers will be ready to join my salad concoction. For now, I am satisfied.

Tradition

2010-06-03T16:19:00.008-06:00

I would like to officially announce today that I have raised a son that is carrying on the Carter Family Tradition of running out of gas. Yes, I am sure there will be many skeptics out there that do not believe that the Carters could ever be risky enough to try and drive one more mile after the gas gage has dropped below the "E" on the display panel. But, it has happened. In fact, not only did Coby run out of gas, but he somehow managed to run out of gas on both tanks. Yes, the truck that we allow him to drive has 2 tanks.

So, for all of you non-running-out-of-gas people. What are the official steps to getting your car back on the road and to the nearest gas station? In the Carter Family, we use the following steps.
1. Try starting the car again.
2. Try using the other tank (if the one you are using is empty) Maybe there is enough gas in the other tank to get you going. "All we need in 1 gallon, and there has got to be at least one gallon in there."
3. Try starting the car again.
4. Siphon gas out of the nearest car with a garden hose.
5. Buy a $20.00 plastic gas can and fill it with 1 gallon of gas.
6. Poor gas directly into carburetor to prime the engine.
7. Hitch Hike to the nearest gas station and then follow number 5, then 1, then 6, then 3, then 2 (maybe you poured it into the wrong tank).

Auger Falls on bikes

2010-05-29T08:22:00.005-06:00

Many of my blogger readers have requested a video of our second attempt at going to Auger Falls. As you may know, our first attempt was a complete and utter failure. You can read about our failed attempt here.

After the failed hike, we decided to try going to auger falls on bikes. Andy and Savanna braved the elements and the soar legs to ride our bikes. As the video starts out, we were amazed at how far we rode and how much ground we covered. We discovered that Auger Falls was still quite a ways from where we turned around. If fact, Savanna started to complain how far it was, even on a bike.

Here is my short video on our trip on bikes. Please watch all the way to the end. There is a "kicker".

Here is the link for my facebook friends. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNCsSe_fHQc

Varsity Letter

2010-05-24T22:32:00.005-06:00

Coby has worked very hard this year to play on the tennis team. He practiced weekends, he practiced after school, he practiced after practice and after he practiced after practice, he practiced some more. He has really improved and become a valuable player on the Twin Falls High School Tennis Team. Tonight he was awarded a Varsity Letter for his efforts and for playing on the Varsity Tennis Team.

Go Coby!

Take me out the the Ball Game

2010-05-22T07:44:00.003-06:00

My brother Blake will be getting married next month and I have been thinking about doing video's of weddings for some reason. I've watched a few on YouTube that were very well done. Not only did the videographer capture video of the newlyweds and the attendees at the wedding, but the video also captured some of the unseen ambiance and detail of the wedding. For expample, one of the videos shows the flower arrangements, or the shoes of the groom all shiny, or just a couple holding hands. It inspired me to try and capture some of that "other" feeling in my videos. So, with that in mind, I drew my flip video out of my holster and began to shoot. I didn't add any transitions but I tried to add some "color" to my video'ing. I really don't think it added much to a baseball video but I am sure it would have been better if I was filming a wedding.

Anyway, if you would like to watch the vid, here it is.

Here is the link for all of my FaceBook Friends.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7--eUmDwPOU

water softener

2010-05-17T10:08:00.003-06:00

I didn't have much planned for this Saturday. I was excited about having a nice leisurely weekend. As I stumbled around I decided to go down to the laundry room to move some wet cloths from the washer to the dryer. I turned around to look at our water softener and noticed a small leak coming from a small tube on the filter. The leak was a small steady stream of water that sprayed over onto the water heater. As I moved closer to see how bad it was, it was at that moment that I knew my Saturday had taken on a whole new theme. It was "Replace the Water Softener" weekend.

I was so excited (you all know how excited I get when there is plumbing to do) that I ran quickly upstairs and grabbed my BUCKET OF PIPE FITTINGS! Unfortunately none of the fittings would work for the delicate plumbing job I was about to undertake. So I turned off the water to the house and ran to Lowes to find a new water softener. I don't know if any of you know, this is not a cheap proposition. I picked the softener that best fit our families size and wept as I opened my pocketbook to pay out the $500.00.

After 3 more trips home and back to Lowes, I finally had the plethora of pipes and connectors to put my new softener into action.

After replacing our softener, we have noticed a huge difference in water pressure. We used to wait 10 minutes for the toilets to fill up and only one person could shower at a time. With our new softener, we enjoy a full complement of pressure which makes nice showers, but also uses up our hot water much quicker.

Google Alerts

2010-05-14T08:45:00.002-06:00

While I was reading Clark's Blog about how he didn't blog even once in April, Which is a cardinal sin in the rule of blog-a-lot-tonia, he mentioned a blog that he followed. So, like a good lemming, I followed his advise and jumped off the cliff and clicked on a link to an unknown blogger. As I was falling to my death and scanning down the page of this new blogger, I came across a post that mentioned Google Alerts. I've never tried google alerts so I wasn't sure what to expect. I quickly leaped from the blog, opened up a new google chrome tab and typed http://alerts.google.com to find out what it was all about. From what I can tell, it will run a search for you on a daily, weekly or monthly basis and send you an email of the search results. This "unknown" blogger stated that one of her friends searched for his name every day. When his name showed up on a blog, or webpage or whatever, he would know. I've decided to give it a test drive. I have setup an alert looking for my name. Now, I'll just put my name in this blog post several times to see if the alert finds this post.

Here we go:
clint carter
clint carter
clint carter
clint carter

Lets go fly a kite

2010-05-09T20:37:00.004-06:00

On the Saturday before Mothers day I found myself with my two daughters picking out flowers. I had already purchased some gifts for Deanna for Mothers Day but I usually bought some flowers too, to offer her on this special day. I would normally buy a bunch of small flowers that needed to be planted, and then plant them in the front yard in various places to help beautify our little patch of the cul-de-sac. For those of you that love trivia, "cul-de-sac" is a word of French origin with the literal meaning of "bottom of the bag".

There was a light breeze in the air as we walked around the chilled plan nursery searching for the perfect flowers with a well rounded array of colors. As the wind picked up my mind thought about flying a kite. This would be perfect kite flying weather. It wasn't too windy as to completely rip the kite off of it's string but just blustery enough to keep a simple kite aloft for several minutes. I leaned over to my two girls and asked, "Have you flown a kite before?". Both of them shook their heads no. I was shocked, I definitely have failed as a Father in the kite flying department. I decided right then and there that I would rectify this error and buy a couple of kites and fly them TODAY! (pointing my finger in the air with defiance)

Below is a small portion of our kite flying activity.

After 30 minutes to an hour of kite flying, both of the girls came up to me and exclaimed, "We have decided that flying kites is better than going swimming." Well, that was an interesting comment and nice to hear that flying kites moved up the fun-o-meter scale, just above swimming.

Here is a link to the video for my Facebook Friends. I don't know why but embedded video links never really make it to my Facebook Notes section.

Up's and Down's

2010-05-08T08:45:00.003-06:00

Coby has had a lot of up's and down's this year on the Twin Falls Bruin Varsity Tennis Team. He has felt the thrill of success and the agony of defeat. He has worked hard, practiced many hours and has had to eat a little humble pie. It is nice to announce that Coby is ending the season on a positive note. He is now playing number 3 singles on the Varsity Team and his last two matches have resulted in WINS!

Another positive note is that the Times News has now learned how to spell his name correctly. Here is his score as printed in the local newspaper.