Spencer: "I really want a Diego chair."
Dad: "We don't always get what we want. I really want a truck."
Spencer: "Maybe you can ask Santa for a truck."
Dad: "That's a long time to wait."
Spencer: "Yeah, and mommy won't let you get one."
Dad: "yup."
Spencer: "Maybe you'll just have to wait until mommy dies to get a truck."
At least I can get some consolation from my new truck when Melissa passes.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Desert Creature
I've lived in South Bend, Kentucky, Brazil and Massachusetts. Each of those places has vegetation that you just don't find out west (I don't count the coastal states), and they are very beautiful places. I have enjoyed (and continue to enjoy) living in those places, but I am a Desert Creature.
I'm in Tucson for a CME until Monday and I love it. I went out on a hike today called 7 falls. It was an 8 mile round trip up a canyon (I've gotten more exercise in the past 3 days than I have in the past 3 months). It was awesome! Not a lot of people like the smell of cactus and sagebrush, but I love it.
The first picture is just to prove that I was really there (I probably should have wiped some of th sweat out off of my face, but that just adds to my enjoyment of being somewhere that isn't 20 below). The rest show the falls and the canyon. The pictures actually loaded in reverse order so you get the end first.
The trail actually is above the cliff on the right side of the picture below, but as I missed it I had to climb those rocks on the right to get up to the falls.
This last picture (or first depending on how you look at it) was just after I missed the trail going up the side of the mountain.
It was a beautiful hike. I spent a little over 2 hours getting to the falls and about 1 hour getting back down. I also learned some Spanish this morning. All in all a good day.
There are only two good things about not having Melissa and the kids here with me. One of those is that I get to go on 8 mile hikes up canyons in an afternoon (no chance that happens with 3 kids). The other is that it won't be quite as excruciating to leave Tucson because when I get home I get see Melissa and the kids and I really miss them.
I'm in Tucson for a CME until Monday and I love it. I went out on a hike today called 7 falls. It was an 8 mile round trip up a canyon (I've gotten more exercise in the past 3 days than I have in the past 3 months). It was awesome! Not a lot of people like the smell of cactus and sagebrush, but I love it.
The first picture is just to prove that I was really there (I probably should have wiped some of th sweat out off of my face, but that just adds to my enjoyment of being somewhere that isn't 20 below). The rest show the falls and the canyon. The pictures actually loaded in reverse order so you get the end first.
The trail actually is above the cliff on the right side of the picture below, but as I missed it I had to climb those rocks on the right to get up to the falls.
This last picture (or first depending on how you look at it) was just after I missed the trail going up the side of the mountain.
It was a beautiful hike. I spent a little over 2 hours getting to the falls and about 1 hour getting back down. I also learned some Spanish this morning. All in all a good day.There are only two good things about not having Melissa and the kids here with me. One of those is that I get to go on 8 mile hikes up canyons in an afternoon (no chance that happens with 3 kids). The other is that it won't be quite as excruciating to leave Tucson because when I get home I get see Melissa and the kids and I really miss them.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
ABC tag - for all you anxious fans out there.
A - Attached or Single: Attached and thankful for it. I'm pretty sure I would die of starvation or aspergillosis without Melissa.
B - Best Friend(s): Melissa and her three children (for those of you who may have stumbled on this blog and are now wondering if I married a woman with children from a previous marriage, they are my kids too, but from time to time I refer to them as her children. Usually when they are being bad.)
C - Cake or Pie: No cake will ever rival a good pecan pie.
D - Day of Choice: Saturday unless I am on a medicine or OB call then Saturday is my least favorite day.
E - Essential Item: Chapstick. My phone used to be essential, but ever since starting residency it seems to resemble a ball and chain and I leave it behind whenever I can.
F - Favorite Color: Olive (Melissa tells me that is a type of green and that I may or may not have a suit in this color)
G - Gummy Bears or Worms: Melissa doesn't allow me to eat these anymore as we had an unfortunate experience once when I left a bag on the dash of the car during a hot day. All the worms melted together and I was left with a sour gummy mass that I proceeded to eat over the next week. Melissa was thoroughly grossed out hence the ban on gummy items for me.
H - Hometown: Cedar City, UT - also referred to as Zion or the promised land
I - Indulgence: Blog tags
J - January or July:- This one might have been closer had I not just lived through a week of subzero temperatures. July for sure. If I can convince Melissa to spend a couple of weeks in January down in the southern hemisphere for the next 30 years it might become close again.
K - Kids: I like 'em most of the time. (Don't go commenting on how the tag wants to know how many kids I have, you all know how many kids I have. Heck some of you get to see them more than I do. It's my blog tag and so I decide what it wants to know and on this occasion I think it is asking me if I like kids.)
L - Life is incomplete without: Love - How's that for sappy? Though it is how I feel, being a man, I had to qualify the answer lest my manhood be challenged.
M - Marriage Date: Generally I think it is a good idea to take a date to a marriage so I have to say yes to this one. I took Melissa to a marriage before we were married and look how that turned out. I don't recall any of our guests bringing dates to our marriage 10 year ago.
N - Number of Siblings: 20 - 3 brothers, 2 sisters, 5 brothers-in-law, 7 sisters-in-law, 3 friends who are like brothers.
O - Oranges or Apples: it depends on the orange and the apple. Oranges in Brazil are tasteless. Red delicious apples are no longer delicious. A good fuji beats a bad florida orange, but in the end it all comes down to laziness and since eating an apple requires much less work than eating an orange I have to go with apples.
P- Phobias or Fears: Social gatherings by myself or when Melissa is involved in a discussion without me. Seriously I don't know how to take care of myself anymore!
Q - Quote(s): "(") .................................................That was very Ryanesque if I do say so myself.
R- Ring size: Depends on the finger
S - Season: There are a lot of seasons that Melissa uses that I like, but since I don't often know which tastes go with which seasons I'm going to have to say salt. For those of you who were looking for a weather season on this one you need look no further than letter J.
T- Tag 3 Friends: The three people I would like to tag would be Bob, Doug, and Ryan because I think their responses would be even wittier (I think highly of myself) than my own and there fore very enjoyable for me to read, but since I know they will never participate in blog tags I will tag no one. Plus the fact that I don't think they will ever read this (see next letter).
U - Unknown fact about me: I think I've done enough of these blog tags that I've pretty much gotten out all the unkown facts about me. Oh wait I've got one. I watched North and South the other day with Melissa and liked it. There goes that manhood thing again. It's a good thing that no men read this blog anyway.
V - Very favorite stores: Home Depot, Lowes, Ebay
W - Worst Habit: Blog Tags. Actually I am sort of an internet addict. I can spend hours on end surfing around the net jumping from news sites to sports sites to shoping sites (though I rarely buy anything). Fortunately we are now in American Idol season so I can surf in peace while Melissa watches the four judges critique the performances. Speaking of AI I can't stand the new judge. She's every bit as dumb as Paula but with an attitude which just makes her painful to watch.
X-ray or Ultrasound: Now this is the dumbest question I've ever come across in a blog tag. Who likes one radiological study over another, ironically I was asked by the radiologist yesterday which part of radiology I liked best, but that is another story. The point is that x-ray and ultrasound are used for entirely different reasons. Now if you were asking me if I would rather have x-ray vision or ultrasound vision I would have to say flying.
Y - Your Favorite Food: Alaskan King Crab. I must be getting less lazy because a few years ago my favorite food was Lobster for the sheer fact that eating crab is so much work, but it's just so good that I can handle the work to get to that succulent feast inside, or maybe it's because I'm wider than I was a few years back and eating crab gets the nod for the exercise factor.
Z- Zodiac: I hate astrology. Depending on the source for the calendar I fall into Aquarius or Pisces. Searching for both signs on wikipedia today I find Aquarius: January 20 - February 18, Pisces: February 20 - March 20. Hold on a minute wiki folks I was born on February 19th! Stupid zodiac. I think I'm going to make my own Mountain biking, dad, doctor, Ute fan sign henceforth known as mobaddorute. That's right folks my zodiac sign is mobaddorute. Any of you out there born on February 19th join me as a mobaddorute for we determine our own destiny...... mobaddorcougs not allowed.
B - Best Friend(s): Melissa and her three children (for those of you who may have stumbled on this blog and are now wondering if I married a woman with children from a previous marriage, they are my kids too, but from time to time I refer to them as her children. Usually when they are being bad.)
C - Cake or Pie: No cake will ever rival a good pecan pie.
D - Day of Choice: Saturday unless I am on a medicine or OB call then Saturday is my least favorite day.
E - Essential Item: Chapstick. My phone used to be essential, but ever since starting residency it seems to resemble a ball and chain and I leave it behind whenever I can.
F - Favorite Color: Olive (Melissa tells me that is a type of green and that I may or may not have a suit in this color)
G - Gummy Bears or Worms: Melissa doesn't allow me to eat these anymore as we had an unfortunate experience once when I left a bag on the dash of the car during a hot day. All the worms melted together and I was left with a sour gummy mass that I proceeded to eat over the next week. Melissa was thoroughly grossed out hence the ban on gummy items for me.
H - Hometown: Cedar City, UT - also referred to as Zion or the promised land
I - Indulgence: Blog tags
J - January or July:- This one might have been closer had I not just lived through a week of subzero temperatures. July for sure. If I can convince Melissa to spend a couple of weeks in January down in the southern hemisphere for the next 30 years it might become close again.
K - Kids: I like 'em most of the time. (Don't go commenting on how the tag wants to know how many kids I have, you all know how many kids I have. Heck some of you get to see them more than I do. It's my blog tag and so I decide what it wants to know and on this occasion I think it is asking me if I like kids.)
L - Life is incomplete without: Love - How's that for sappy? Though it is how I feel, being a man, I had to qualify the answer lest my manhood be challenged.
M - Marriage Date: Generally I think it is a good idea to take a date to a marriage so I have to say yes to this one. I took Melissa to a marriage before we were married and look how that turned out. I don't recall any of our guests bringing dates to our marriage 10 year ago.
N - Number of Siblings: 20 - 3 brothers, 2 sisters, 5 brothers-in-law, 7 sisters-in-law, 3 friends who are like brothers.
O - Oranges or Apples: it depends on the orange and the apple. Oranges in Brazil are tasteless. Red delicious apples are no longer delicious. A good fuji beats a bad florida orange, but in the end it all comes down to laziness and since eating an apple requires much less work than eating an orange I have to go with apples.
P- Phobias or Fears: Social gatherings by myself or when Melissa is involved in a discussion without me. Seriously I don't know how to take care of myself anymore!
Q - Quote(s): "(") .................................................That was very Ryanesque if I do say so myself.
R- Ring size: Depends on the finger
S - Season: There are a lot of seasons that Melissa uses that I like, but since I don't often know which tastes go with which seasons I'm going to have to say salt. For those of you who were looking for a weather season on this one you need look no further than letter J.
T- Tag 3 Friends: The three people I would like to tag would be Bob, Doug, and Ryan because I think their responses would be even wittier (I think highly of myself) than my own and there fore very enjoyable for me to read, but since I know they will never participate in blog tags I will tag no one. Plus the fact that I don't think they will ever read this (see next letter).
U - Unknown fact about me: I think I've done enough of these blog tags that I've pretty much gotten out all the unkown facts about me. Oh wait I've got one. I watched North and South the other day with Melissa and liked it. There goes that manhood thing again. It's a good thing that no men read this blog anyway.
V - Very favorite stores: Home Depot, Lowes, Ebay
W - Worst Habit: Blog Tags. Actually I am sort of an internet addict. I can spend hours on end surfing around the net jumping from news sites to sports sites to shoping sites (though I rarely buy anything). Fortunately we are now in American Idol season so I can surf in peace while Melissa watches the four judges critique the performances. Speaking of AI I can't stand the new judge. She's every bit as dumb as Paula but with an attitude which just makes her painful to watch.
X-ray or Ultrasound: Now this is the dumbest question I've ever come across in a blog tag. Who likes one radiological study over another, ironically I was asked by the radiologist yesterday which part of radiology I liked best, but that is another story. The point is that x-ray and ultrasound are used for entirely different reasons. Now if you were asking me if I would rather have x-ray vision or ultrasound vision I would have to say flying.
Y - Your Favorite Food: Alaskan King Crab. I must be getting less lazy because a few years ago my favorite food was Lobster for the sheer fact that eating crab is so much work, but it's just so good that I can handle the work to get to that succulent feast inside, or maybe it's because I'm wider than I was a few years back and eating crab gets the nod for the exercise factor.
Z- Zodiac: I hate astrology. Depending on the source for the calendar I fall into Aquarius or Pisces. Searching for both signs on wikipedia today I find Aquarius: January 20 - February 18, Pisces: February 20 - March 20. Hold on a minute wiki folks I was born on February 19th! Stupid zodiac. I think I'm going to make my own Mountain biking, dad, doctor, Ute fan sign henceforth known as mobaddorute. That's right folks my zodiac sign is mobaddorute. Any of you out there born on February 19th join me as a mobaddorute for we determine our own destiny...... mobaddorcougs not allowed.
Friday, January 16, 2009
Some more Home Projects
Having the second look progressive meal at our house was a great motivation to get a few projects completed. We, mostly I, decided that before everyone came it would be nice to finish putting up the crown molding in the dining room, do the finish work on all the crown that we had put up in the house (this included mudding, sanding, and painting the joints in 4 rooms) make the valance for the living room curtains, sew and hang the curtains for the living room and dining room and recover the pillow for my Queen Anne chair to match the curtains.
This close-up gives you a better look at the crown and the colors of the curtains. Just in case you happen to be my mom and care about those things.
So some of this was done very last minute but I am happy to say we completed it all. Jacob actually designed, fabricated, and upolstered the valance in the livinig room. I am very impressed with his work and it is nice to know if the whole doctor thing doesn't pan out we always have something else to fall back on. Thanks to Tracy for lending me her sewing machine when mine decided to be stubborn and send me into crying fits. (no this isn't an exagarration, there were many tears shed.)
So without further ado, here are some of the pictures. Sorry they are horrible quaility, I am no photographer. I also added a picture of the boys room with the bunkbed in it. We got the loft bed for a steal and a few coats of black spray paint and it looked brand new. The boys love it.
This close-up gives you a better look at the crown and the colors of the curtains. Just in case you happen to be my mom and care about those things. 
Happy Birthday and Surgery Spencer!!
Spencer's 6th birthday was on the 10th, the same day as the St. Joseph Residency 2nd look. Because of this, Spencer got to have quite a stretched out birthday celebration. He started the morning by trying to make sure he told every person that came to our house for the progressive meal (about 45 I would guess) that it was his birthday. One of the applicants brought their daughter and Spencer was so very happy to make a new friend.
That afternoon daddy took him to the College Football Hall of Fame for the final portion of the progressive meal. Spencer was very excited that this part of the day was kept for just him and his daddy. I am told they had a great time, that Spencer ran into his new friend again, and there were several pictures taken. Unfortunately none with Spencer in them, just lots with this particular helmet in it. Surprised??
Upon returning from the Hall of Fame it was present time. We let Spencer open his presents from family and he was very happy to have received exactly the presents he had picked out at the store a few days earlier. Then it was off to Burger King, where he got his very own kids meal. He was highly disappointed in the quality of the toy however, and decided those toys in kids meals are just dumb. I believe we have said this just about every time we go and remind them we don't buy kids meals, but it is nice to have it confirmed.
After a great meal, at least in the kids eyes, we dropped the kids off at our friends the Larsen's. Jacob and I had a very nice meal at the Tippecanoe Restaurant for Second Look. The kids had a great night and Spencer was very excited to get a cupcake that even had a candle and then get to have fun with play dough until we got there. (I don't have play dough at our house, as I hate the stuff, and so Spencer is in major play dough withdrawals) Thanks Clint and Becca, you guys are the greatest.
On Monday we finished up the birthday festivities with a small party. The original plan was for the family to go to Chuck E Cheese to celebrate but when Spencer found out it would be a family night out and no friends he absolutely turned it down. I told him that things had and would be really crazy and I wouldn't have time to throw a big party for him. He still stuck to the party idea and agreed to the guest list remaining at only 5 friends. I must say I was disappointed that I could not persuade him to do Chuck E Cheese (easier for me) but the party turned out great and he was very happy so that made it worth it.
He decided on a Batman party and had all of his friends dress up as their favorite superhero. They all looked so cute. We played Batman games, ate a batman cake, Opened some great superhero gifts, and all and all a great two hours of fun for a 6 year old boy. Thanks to my friend Amber, she threw a Batman party for her little boy and posted all about it on her blog including the games she played (I was so glad I didn't have to think up my own games) and how she made an amazing butter cream icing transfer for the cake. Once Spencer saw the pictures of that amazing cake he decided he wanted one just like it. So here is my first attempt at a butter cream icing transfer. It isn't perfect but I learned a lot while doing it and thought it was a lot of fun to do. I think we might be making more of these in the future. Thanks again Amber. And thanks to all of Spencer friends and their parents for helping to make Spencer's birthday a great year.
Spencer followed up his birthday celebrations with Surgery on Wednesday. Kristian was super sick the previous two days and so Dad stayed home with him while I took Spencer to the surgery center. The surgery was outpatient and we to fix his "pee pee hole". The surgery went very well and very quick, Spencer was very good and brave, and came away with a lot of stickers and even a flower that he so sweetly gave to Jessi. Spencer was a "little" upset the first few times he had to pee but that ended soon and now he is very happy to be feeling much better, and so are we. Kristian is also pretty much over his sickness so we are once again, a healthy family. For a few days at least. :)
That afternoon daddy took him to the College Football Hall of Fame for the final portion of the progressive meal. Spencer was very excited that this part of the day was kept for just him and his daddy. I am told they had a great time, that Spencer ran into his new friend again, and there were several pictures taken. Unfortunately none with Spencer in them, just lots with this particular helmet in it. Surprised??
Upon returning from the Hall of Fame it was present time. We let Spencer open his presents from family and he was very happy to have received exactly the presents he had picked out at the store a few days earlier. Then it was off to Burger King, where he got his very own kids meal. He was highly disappointed in the quality of the toy however, and decided those toys in kids meals are just dumb. I believe we have said this just about every time we go and remind them we don't buy kids meals, but it is nice to have it confirmed.
After a great meal, at least in the kids eyes, we dropped the kids off at our friends the Larsen's. Jacob and I had a very nice meal at the Tippecanoe Restaurant for Second Look. The kids had a great night and Spencer was very excited to get a cupcake that even had a candle and then get to have fun with play dough until we got there. (I don't have play dough at our house, as I hate the stuff, and so Spencer is in major play dough withdrawals) Thanks Clint and Becca, you guys are the greatest.
On Monday we finished up the birthday festivities with a small party. The original plan was for the family to go to Chuck E Cheese to celebrate but when Spencer found out it would be a family night out and no friends he absolutely turned it down. I told him that things had and would be really crazy and I wouldn't have time to throw a big party for him. He still stuck to the party idea and agreed to the guest list remaining at only 5 friends. I must say I was disappointed that I could not persuade him to do Chuck E Cheese (easier for me) but the party turned out great and he was very happy so that made it worth it.
He decided on a Batman party and had all of his friends dress up as their favorite superhero. They all looked so cute. We played Batman games, ate a batman cake, Opened some great superhero gifts, and all and all a great two hours of fun for a 6 year old boy. Thanks to my friend Amber, she threw a Batman party for her little boy and posted all about it on her blog including the games she played (I was so glad I didn't have to think up my own games) and how she made an amazing butter cream icing transfer for the cake. Once Spencer saw the pictures of that amazing cake he decided he wanted one just like it. So here is my first attempt at a butter cream icing transfer. It isn't perfect but I learned a lot while doing it and thought it was a lot of fun to do. I think we might be making more of these in the future. Thanks again Amber. And thanks to all of Spencer friends and their parents for helping to make Spencer's birthday a great year.
Spencer followed up his birthday celebrations with Surgery on Wednesday. Kristian was super sick the previous two days and so Dad stayed home with him while I took Spencer to the surgery center. The surgery was outpatient and we to fix his "pee pee hole". The surgery went very well and very quick, Spencer was very good and brave, and came away with a lot of stickers and even a flower that he so sweetly gave to Jessi. Spencer was a "little" upset the first few times he had to pee but that ended soon and now he is very happy to be feeling much better, and so are we. Kristian is also pretty much over his sickness so we are once again, a healthy family. For a few days at least. :)
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