The Summer of Andy

In 2008 I wrote a blog post entitled, "The Summer of Coby".  This year, however I can already say that this summer will be "The Summer of Andy".  Many of you might be wondering where I got this silly idea of naming a summer after someone.  Well, I got it from an episode of Seinfeld. If you follow this link, you will see the short clip of George Castanza announcing that this summer will be "The Summer of George". http://youtu.be/ZPS3qLtaFtw

Anyway, back to the summer of Andy.  Well, Andy has been working on trying to put together an Eagle Project.  He have searched high and low for a project that would be worthy of his efforts.  He has found several ideas but never really got them going.  Finally a project came available through the Twin Falls City Parks and Rec.  He was to organize and execute a plan to clear out an area of Derkie's lake for people that would like to kayak and canoe.  A 20 foot section of the lake front would need to be cleared and sand would need to be moved to create a nice beach to launch and extract small boats.  Below is a picture of the backhoe taking out the weeds.

Andy has also been working towards getting his drivers license.  We signed him up for Drivers Ed right at the end of the school year, which was a big mistake.  Trying to get through DE during Tennis, Concerts, Year end church and school activities is like herding cats.  Needless to say, he missed over half of his classroom times and only got a couple hours of driving done.  So, he had to go to the next class that started in June and continue to get his driving times in.

I tell you both of those stories to let you know that Andy finished Both of these huge tasks yesterday.  Andy completed his Eagle Scout Project on Saturday and finished his last driving hour the exact same day.  On a side note, I didn't die during the parent drive portion of his driving classes.

Way to go Coby!

Mom and Dad (Gordon and Susan Carter) drove up to Twin for Coby's graduation about a week ago.  They sliced out some time from their busy schedule to come and attend this momentous event.  While they were here that weekend, Grandma Carter (Susan) decided to make a poster that we could hold up for Coby when he stepped across the stage to receive his diploma.  I thought she had made a small poster that one person could hold up and try and draw attention to Coby.  But no, the poster was like 15 feet long. The poster said, "Way to go Coby!".  It was huge.  Below is a picture of the banner that they held up for him.

Of course, we were a little embarrassed to hold up this sign for Coby but it turned out to be pretty fun for all of us.  In fact, the local newspaper picked up on the story and mentioned it in the Times News.  So, to read all about it, you will need to click on this link.  Twin Falls High School Graduation 2012.  Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Carter for coming up and supporting Coby Carter at Graduation.

Senior All Night Party

The Twin Falls High School PTO puts together a party for the graduating seniors over at CSI every year to try and get the students to spend the night in a controlled environment so they don't go out partying and possibly getting into trouble or even worse.  So, Deanna and I volunteered to chaperon this all-night-party.  Deanna had access to a cotton candy machine so both of us stayed up all night serving cotton candy to the students.  While there, I had to take a few breaks to make sure that I stayed awake. At about 1:30am, I saw  Shane Schvaneveldt standing on the joust mat boasting his strength and challenging all parents and students to a battle.  Like a gallant warrior I decided to take him up on the challenge so I marched right over there, took off my shoes, removed my wallet, took off my watch, took out my phone and keys and stepped onto the bouncy house joust battling ground.  The standards that you are required to balance on were very shaky because they were supported by air, so right off the bat, you are uneasy and a little wobbly.

The challenge had been announce and I was there to meet his skills with my cunning.  I rose my battle gear in the air and prepared for a confrontation.  Round 1. After just one swing and a miss, I leaned too much forward and fell off my post.  AARRRGGHH!  "I'm better than that." I murmured under my breath.  Round 2.  I took a few stabbing pokes at my opponent but could not get enough forward momentum to be effective.  I took a couple of hits to the side and regained my balance.  Another couple of hits to the side and I felt myself falling backwards without any way to recover, so in a dramatic display of defeat, I through my battle bar into the air and took a leap back into the abyss of the air filled mat.  I was determined to do better this next time.  Round 3.  I was focused, I stratigized and made my play.  My opponent found himself leaning when he should have been swaying and he started forward towards me without a return hit to bring him straight and decided to just dive into my legs to try and get me to fall.  The chopping action of this dive took me down but not until after my adversary had already left his post.  Round 3 goes to me. Round 4.  I decided that I didn't have much strength left and this was probably my last round so I took my jousting stick and swung it around with one hand and tried to take out my opponent's legs.  The swing was hard, my aim was true and the blow landed just at his knees.  I knew that this pounding would disable my opponent at the knees and render him unbalanced to the point he would fall off his pedestal and dive for the mat below, HOWEVER, the impact was not as dramatic as I had expected.  I looked at him, he looked at me.  A grin came over his face and he laughed with a hearty gladiator like grunt, "Is that all you've got?"  I was shocked and found myself vulnerable without both hands on my weapon and took a couple of good shots to the side and head and in the end, took a devastating blow that rendered me unbalanced and defeated.  Again, in a show of dramatic theatrical display, I threw my arms in the air, spread my arms and legs out and took a final dive backwards to the mat.

Coby's Senior Year

Coby's Senior Year is almost over.  He has worked, he has played, he has won, he has lost, he has performed and he has succeeded.  Coby has been to Boys State, he has performed for the Jive show choir, he has kept up a part time job at Smiths, he has completed his Duty to God, he has graduated from Seminary, he has been accepted to 3 universities, he has traveled to Mexico on a service project, he has played on the Varsity Tennis team and next week he will graduate from Twin Falls High School with a 4.0 except for a couple of B's.  :-)

As parents, it is our duty to take some pictures of him along the way and record his experiences for posterity.   So, below, I'll put a few of the pictures we took of Coby during his Senior Year of High School.

Way to go COBY!!!!

We are hoping that Coby is able to find a full time job working this summer to help cover the costs of his housing and tuition at school this fall.  Coby has decided to attend BYU and is preparing to go down to Provo in August.  His apartment has been arranged and he has selected some classes he will be taking.  He is excited to get out into the real world and experience life on his own.  His parents are a little reluctant to let him go but know he will be successful in what ever he chooses to do in college.  At this point, Coby plans to attend a full year at BYU Provo and submit his papers to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints at the end of next summer.  He then plans to serve a 2 year mission for the LDS church wherever the Lord would like him to preach the gospel.

Garden Again?

Last year my garden was pathetic. It started out strong, rows and rows of different veggies.  Of course, my radishes are always successful, they grow like weeds.  Maybe it is because they are from the "weeds" family.  They kinda taste like weeds according to my kids.  My loose leaf lettuce usually grows quick and full.  My beans and peas grow at an OK rate of speed and we usually harvest them early because we are excited to eat fresh peas.  But, after the first month of garden heaven, our interest in the garden starts to wain.  The tomatoes haven't produced yet.  The potatoes look like just another weed in the garden.  The radishes that I didn't eat, go to seed and the beans and peas have produced their two pea pods and we ate them as soon as they were ready.  From then on, all of the vegetables that take a while to produce are forgotten and the weeds begin to take over.  We leave for a weekend for one activity or another and I look out the back window and can hardly identify my garden anymore.  By late summer my garden is overgrown with weeds and I can't even find any of the plants I had waited so long to harvest.  My tomato plant can't breath anymore, my potatoes have been over-run by weeds and have given in to not having any sunlight.

Now, why in the world would I start another garden?  I talked to my sister living in Boise and told her about my gardening plight.  She recommended a new path.  "Have a special family home evening", she advised, "and tell all of the family that you aren't doing the garden alone this year.  If you want a garden, everyone will need to help."  It was great advise.  I had grand visions of each child in the family taking a section of the garden and weeding it, cultivating it, and harvesting a bounteous cornucopia of vegetables for our family's enjoyment.  I marched right home from this brief meeting and announced to my family that we will not have a garden this year unless everyone helps out.  Everyone looked at me like I was a little crazy and retorted right back with the same enthusiasm.  "Ok, we are fine without having a garden".  I looked around the room and everyone but Katie was nodding with approval.  Katie raised her hand and said, "I'll help you with the garden Dad."  So, there you have it.  What was I to do?

Well, today was the deciding day.  It is Memorial Day weekend.  I have some free time on Saturday but it was raining very hard.  Everything was wet and the garden plot was muddy.  I guess it just wasn't going to happen this year.  But, for some reason, I still had this small yearning to plant something and watch it grow.  Was it the deeply rooted genes from my ancestors that compel me to be a farmer?  Was it the call of a prophet that each family should have a small garden in case of hard times?  Was it the thrill of spring when all the world starts turning green?  Is it the excitement of seeing something magical happen in a small patch of brown dirt?  I don't know, but whatever it was, I succumbed to the pressure and started a garden today.

Savanna's Clogging Recital

Here are some videos of Savanna's Clogging Recital for 2012.  She went to the National Competition in Utah a couple of weeks ago and performed these exact dances before the judges.  She received a 1st place in her solo freestyle dance, a 1st in her duet dance, a 1st in her team A Capella dance, 1st in one of her group dances and a 2nd in her final group number.

The dance studio she performs with is called Rocky Top Cloggers.  Her dance team name is "Pride".  They did really well this year and savanna brought home a ton of metals.  Plus, we were able to go to Lagoon for one day and have some fun.  Congratulations Savanna on your awards.

Below are all of these dances that we taped from her 2012 dance recital.

Katie Soccer Video

This weekend I had the pleasure of going to Katie's soccer game.  This was the last one of the season so I took my video camera.  Last week Katie made 5 goals so I was prepared to get lots of footage of her kicking goals.  It was not to be.  The last team they played this season was very good, very fast and had some good defensive players.  So, only one goal was kicked by each team.  HOWEVER, KATIE WAS THAT ONE GOAL KICKER FOR HER TEAM!

So, here is a small video showing some of Katie's best moves including her goal at the very end of the clip.

Great Job Katie!!!

200 videos?

I was on Youtube this past week and I noticed that I had over 200 videos uploaded!!!  Wow, 200 videos?  That is very cool, well, maybe it's really dorky but I thought it was cool.  So, I started working on a video announcing this event.  Then, after many attempts and a dweeby video, I noticed that my uploads were at 200 but I only had 195 actual videos live on YouTube.  So, I haven't hit 200 yet.  :-(  Very sad.

So, here is my lame attempt at announcing that I have now 200 videos on YouTube, even though I really don't.

It has taken me a little while but I have finally purchased iMovie for my iPad and tried to figure out how it works.  So, I took some video that was already on my iPad and tried to arrange it into a few clips so I could figurine out how everything works.  So, this is my first video that I have made and uploaded to YouTube.  I was amazed at how easy it was to use, but I was disapointed that it wasn't quite as powerful as I had expected.  The worst part was that I could not figure out how to send a video from my PC to my iPad.  I don't know how to do it.  I tried everything from using itunes, to uploading vids to drop box with no success.

Anyway, here is the short little video I edited with my iPad.

TFHS Tennis

Coby and Andy's year in Tennis is starting to come to an end.  They have a few more matches before they start competing at a district tournament which would qualify them for State.  Each has their own strengths and weaknesses. We hope they do well at district so they have a chance to compete at state but at this point, we are not sure what will happen.

The other day, they were playing a match against a local tennis team and a Times News reporter was there taking pictures.  Below are a couple of pictures that they took of Coby and Andy while she was there reporting on the match.

Last Day of Paper Route!

It has finally come to an end.  Our term as paper delivery people is over.  Saturday April 21, 2012 will go down in history.

Below are a couple of pictures of our last day doing the paper route.  I'm going to sleep in as long as I possibly can tomorrow and enjoy my extra few hours of sleep.

Coby at Jive Night

Coby's final Jive performance was last weekend.  We are very proud of how hard he worked and how well he performed.  Coby was the star of two numbers so I took a video of each one to share with everyone.  The first one is called Kryptonite which he performed as a solo with a cameo by one of his friends to help fill the stage.  He did a great job each time he performed.





The second number that Jive performed was Hawaii Five O.  If you listen very carefully, you can hear someone beatboxing in the background.  That was Coby.  There is no background music, no background drums, it is all Coby keeping everyone together and doing the percussion for this performance.

Great Job Coby!!!!

Funeral

It was a difficult week for the Carter and Blake Families because we lost our dear family member Van Holt Blake.  Last summer our family visited him and his wife at their house in Orange County.  He was gracious enough to take us down to the pier where we were able to go on a cruise.  When we returned, Van and Shanna also picked us up and took us back to their house and fed us some lunch before we headed back to Idaho.

Three short weeks ago Van started to have trouble breathing and was feeling ill.  He finally decided to go to the doctor to see what was going on.  After extensive testing they found out that he had cancer and just a few weeks later the illness took his life.

This last weekend, I and other members of our family, traveled down to Orange County California to support Van's family during this difficult time.  Several other cousins, Aunts and Uncles were there as well.

The funeral was really well put together and all of the speakers spoke with love and affection for Van Blake.  Each of the children spoke or prayed and expressed their love for their Dad. It was very touching.  Each funeral I go to, I go away with a firmer determination to be a better husband and father.  I have awesome examples in my family of how to be a great husband and father.

Below is Uncle Van's funeral program for those that could not attend.

We love you Van and we will miss you.  We hope to see you again when it is our turn to pass through this life and into the spirit world awaiting the resurrection.

Temple Baptisms

Our family went to the bountiful temple during spring break to do baptisms for the dead. We met at 9:30 am and organized ourselves and had a wonderful time. Afterwards, I asked if this temple had a cafeteria. I was told that it did so I convinced everyone to stay for lunch and eat in the temple. We had a great time and then afterwards, we went out front and took some pictures. My sister took some really good pictures whereas the pictures I took arnt so great, however, I have my pictures now from my phone. So here we are.

TF Tennis

Coby and Andy are playing #1 Men's Doubles this year on the Twin Falls Tennis Team.  Their first few matches were against some really tough teams and some of those matches went to a tie breaker to decide the match.  Yesterday, they played Canyon Ridge High School, which is the new high school here in Twin Falls, and did very well against their #1 Men's Doubles team.

Below is the report in the newspaper on how well they did.

Our Life

I don't know how they are doing it.  They must have some hidden camera's in our house, in our cars and everywhere we go.  Somehow ABC Television has filmed our life and then made a sit-com out of it.  I swear it is true.

Example number one comes directly from this weeks episode of "The Middle".  This episode is called "The Paper Route".  I know it sounds funny but some of the conversations they have in this TV show match up almost exactly with conversations we have had in our house.  I think they filmed our situation, then got some writers together, and created this episode.

Example number two comes from an episode of "Last Man Standing".  The episode is called "Take your Daughter to Work".  Although the name doesn't really tell you about how it relates to our life, it is unbelievable how much like our life this episode depicts.  This is almost exactly what happened to our family when I almost hit a dog early in the morning while doing the paper route.  If you don't know about this "dog" incident, then you need to read my earlier blog post. http://littleenoch.blogspot.com/2012/02/simba.html

The third example is from another on of the episodes of "The Middle".  This one comes straight out of our life.  The episode is called "The Sit Down".  When I watch this one, it is almost too hard to watch because it happens in our life all of the time.  I don't want to watch my life again.  But, somehow, it is entertaining enough for me to stay hooked on this show.

So, if you want some samples from the Carter Family Life, just watch these three episodes and you will have a pretty good idea what is going on in our home.

Clint

Oliver

Over the last several weeks Savanna has been going to play practice over at CSI where the CSI theater department was putting together a production of "Oliver".  Almost every evening she would go over there and practice her songs and parts with a bunch of other little kids, all cast to be orphans in the play.  As they waited for their scenes, they would play in the dressing room.  As the weeks went by, they started to develop other words to some of the songs that they sang in "Oliver".  As the song developed, they decided to sing this montage in the foyer of the auditorium after their last performance.

Below is that song while they stood on the steps of the auditorium.

Simba

About two weeks ago, I was driving Andy back from his paper route.  It was about 5:00am in the morning.  It was snowing that morning and there was slush all over the roads.  As I turned the corner from Locust on to Falls I noticed a little animal in the road.  I looked closer because most animals in the road are squirrels.  This was a small animal but bigger than a squirrel.  On close inspection I noticed it was a dog.  There were other cars now driving down the roads and I could tell that if he (the dog) did not get out of the road, he would look like a dead squirrel.  So, I stopped the car, turned on my flashers, and tried to coax this little dog into the car.  He was hesitant and refused to get in, however, he was cold and he wanted to get out of the snowy weather so he slowly moved closer and closer to the car.  Finally, he got close enough so that I could scoop him up into the car and take him home.  Once he was home I would warm him up, call the animal shelter, and find the owner.  The poor little puppy didn't have any name tag nor collar.  We had no way of identifying who's dog it was.

The next morning I called the pound (animal shelter) and reported that we had found this little dog which was a mix of pomeranian and Chihuahua.  A couple of days went by and no phone calls for the dog.  I decided to make little fliers and hang them on some telephone poles near where we found him.  Katie and I posted several up all over the intersection.  Still no phone calls.

It has been 2 weeks now, so, as might be expected, all of the family has decided to keep the dog and name it Simba.  Below is a picture of Simba with his new collar.

University

Coby has been filling out applications for the last few months to see if he could get accepted into college. He has applied to Utah State, BYU Idaho and BYU Provo. In his application to BYU he ran into a glitch where they did not attach his High School transcript with his online application. So, with this error, it showed that he had not met the advanced application deadline. He had to call BYU and fix the problem but we were still a little worried that this problem might have caused him to miss this deadline and might make him ineligible to be accepted to BYU. After a few months of waiting, Coby received an acceptance letter from Utah State. He was very excited to receive this first letter of acceptance from any University. So, to show his excitement, he took his letter and taped it onto our front door with a little red bow. Below is a picture of this letter on the window.

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 Later, he found that several of his friends were receiving notice that they had been accepted to BYU Idaho. Again, we were a little worried that the issue with his transcript and his application were messed up but once he logged into his account online, he found that he had been accepted to BYU Idaho Fall Winter Track.

So, the final application to BYU Provo was still out under review. He had not heard any word, he had not seen any notification. However, this week Deanna and I noticed that one of his friends had posted on Facebook that she had been accepted to BYU Provo. We looked at each other and decided to wake Coby up and have him check his application account online at BYU. All of the family was around that kitchen table in our pajamas awaiting his review of his account online. He typed in his username and typed in what seemed 300 characters. He clicked and clicked and finally started to read, "Coby Carter, you have been accepted to attend BYU Provo in the Fall of 2012". A cheer rang out and the suspense was over. He had received an acceptance from all 3 Universities he had applied for. We are all very proud of Coby and his hard work to get him to this point and we are excited for him the choose which University he will want to attend in the fall. With this final response, we have now realized that Coby will indeed leave home in about 6 months. What in the world are we going to do? What in the world can we do to prepare him to leave home?

Malta Idaho

Every few months I travel to Malta Idaho to do some computer work for an electric company. Most of the time these trips are uneventful. Occasionally, however, I'll come across something unusual so I make sure I have my camera at the ready. This particular trip I was met by a herd of sheep so I quickly took out my camera phone and recorded the experience.

Cartoonist

I follow a blog called Mormon Cartoonist. This guy creates creative cartoons that he submits to the Friend, The Ensign and other LDS magazines. Many of his works make it to print. Anyway, as I as reading through some of his cartoons I started thinking about what would make a good cartoon. I can't draw worth a darn so being able to create one on my own would be a disaster, but, I could come up with an original idea for a cartoon. So, I started looking around in my life for something that might be good as a cartoon. One evening while talking to my sons, I came up with an idea for a cartoon. So, I went to Mormon Cartoonist and suggested a funny premise. A few days later I received a response that he would take my idea and make a comic that would come out in February. Well, February is finally here and below is his cartoon based from my idea.

Click on the link below to go to his website and see his comments about this cartoon.

http://www.mormoncartoonist.com/2012/02/eight-bit-love.html

Jive

Coby decided to try out for Jive last fall when the new school year was just starting. We were thrilled that he would want to join this dancing and singing group again. We were very proud of him during the last school year and enjoyed every concert and performance he was in. This year is no exception.

I must say that I was a little worried about this new group because almost all of the girls that were in Jive last year had graduated. So, there was only one returning Jive girl from last years gaggle of girls. However, this new group of girls are just as talented. There were only a few boys that returned as well so there were a lot of new kids joining Jive and performing with Jive for the first time.

Even with these big changes, Jive performed a wonderful "Winter Showcase" just a few weeks ago. We had many friends and family come to watch Coby perform and I think each one of them walked away very happy and impressed with the quality of singers and dancers in this year's Jive group.

As usual, I volunteered to make some videos for the transitions between songs when the Jive kids would have to change their clothes for their next number. Unfortunately I didn't come up with anything really creative but the videos still turned out really well.


Below is one of the numbers they did called Waka Waka. It is probably my favorite song and dance of this years program. I'll also put some links to some of the other videos that I made for the Winter Showcase.





http://youtu.be/hGmqJjjyxR0

http://youtu.be/WjH4fX88634

http://youtu.be/tP2TPxb8tXc

Evidence of Dad Snoring

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Lagoon

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

Picture from Peru

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

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