President's Day

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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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

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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

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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

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

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

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?

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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