"Superman just doesn't die, right?"

Even thought the statement above is a little misplaced since the Christopher Reeves tragedy, it was said today by Billy Rundle, referring to his long time friend, Evel Knievel. "America's legendary daredevil" (according to the Smithsonian), Evel Knievel died today at the age of 69. A hero for some, an icon for others and just plain PSYCHO for the rest of us. Seriously, look at some of the videos on Youtube of this guy, he was crazy! He broke nearly 40 different bones in his career, and on one jump at Caesar's Palace in Vegas he cleared the 151 feet, but the crash landing put him in a coma for nearly a month. He tried to jump the Snake River Canyon in a jet propulsion motorcycle ("Skycycle") but had a malfunction which landed him in the canyon itself. He was pretty cool, though. He used to run a motorcycle dealership and would give discounts to guys that could beat him in armwrestling. "Over the Top", baby! This guy was crazy, but it's sad that he passed away today.

Metroblogger?

Okay, so in college I heard the term "metrosexual" which I understand is a male who is really trendy in what he does/wears and spends as much time worrying about what he looks like as an average diva would (some people might consider Braden a metrosexual because he spends a ridiculous amount of time in front of the mirror and generally getting ready for his day [Amanda, has that changed or can I get an "AMEN"] but Braden's clothing choice and the recent pics posted on Amanda's blog might state otherwise, but he's had glimpses of a metrosexual image). I've also heard this "metro" prefix added to other things to denote a male who does things that typically only women do. While in some ways I would like to be able to dress trendy and cool, I'm just not interested in spending the time and could really care less what 60 teenagers think of me when I go to work or what I look like when I run an errand to Wal-Mart. But, since I have been in the blogger world I have realized there is a rare few of us males that blog. I'm really into this blogging thing and find myself searching for fun reasons to take pictures of something or have a cool experience that I can blog about. I also love looking at others blogs and looking at their links to track down other people that I might know that are blogging. And each time I got to a site that might be labeled "The Merwins" or "Braden and Amanda's blog" or something I go there with the knowledge that although the blog is representative of their family or that couple, it is written by the female. This goes without fail. Please find me someone else that you know that has a family blog that is written by the male. Also, do women find it awkward to post comments on a males blog? Seriously, just cause I'm a metroblogger, doesn't mean I have to be shunned from the blogging community... does it? I don't remember anything when I was signing up for a blog that there was a requirement to be a female, even if you represented a male. But then again, I didn't completely read the "terms and conditions" section, which may have included that requirement. I already know I'm an odd man, but does that mean I have to be out? There are only a small percentage of males in the mental health field (I was one of three male graduates in my class of 31), so I'm kind of used to being singled out and being different. And, come to think of it, I did work in the Bridal industry for 2.5 years. This is getting a little creepy, I'll sign off now. Any feedback? Thoughts?

Christmas time is here

I know that some people feel like right after Thanksgiving is a little too early to celebrate Christmas, but I was definitely into starting early this year. Besides, in the Philippines, the people start celebrating Christmas as soon as the months start ending in "ber" (SeptemBER), so late November doesn't seem too early. When we got back from the Farmer's after Thanksgiving Mary set up the Christmas tree while Nathan napped, Sarah played and I cleaned up the house and did the annual fun task of figuring out Christmas lights. My task was frustrating, but I was glad that we didn't set up the tree together, because we both have opinions about how it should be done (mine - let's get this thing up, Mary's - go slowly, make sure each branch is just right... very particular). Even though we were both frustrated at times this year, neither of us was frustrated at each other. A significant improvement over previous years.




Nathan and Sarah loved putting up the ornaments. This was the first time Nathan got to experience it, so he had a lot of fun. If left to his own devices, he is much like his father: get the things in the general area and go get some more... move, move, move! He would just get an ornament, run stick it deep inside the tree area, let go and run for another. Fortunately Daddy was there to teach him the finer arts of ornament hanging and Mommy was there to rehang them once Daddy and Nathan had gone for their next ornament. Nathan was really cute and just so excited. Sarah loved it and was so excited to hang the ornaments in particular places and was very picky about which ornaments she got to hang. We have really enjoyed having Christmas music on the last couple of days. The results are below, though the tree does look a little crooked, which Mary has fixed I believe.


After we got the Christmas tree set up I got to go out and put up our Christmas lights on the house. I had my staple gun and was ready to get the job done, but was happily surprised to find out that a previous owner of our house had installed clips for the Christmas light (a nice benefit of a pre-owned house)! It was my first time, so it still took a little figuring out, but I was done in less than an hour and the results are pretty good. I was proud of myself and Nathan and Sarah were excited to go out after dinner that night and see them lit for the first time. It was a lot of fun!

Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving we headed over to the Farmer's house (my Aunt and Uncle) in Fruitland. They have 10 fun kids (8 girls), so it is lots of fun to go and be there. We have fun with my cousins and Sarah and Nathan are either doted on by the kids or are completely absorbed individually by their immense supply of toys. We had a lot of fun, were well-fed and enjoyed the company and hospitality of the Farmer's and some of their friends. I didn't capture many pics, but here are a few.

Here is Sarah with some of my cousins putting together some kind of Thanksgiving mixture (Bugles - cornucopia, candy corn - pilgrim's corn, peanuts - seeds, pretzels- folded arms/prayer, etc.). As usual, Laurie is very creative.
Here is Mary and my cousin Emma making crescent rolls. I love how easily and comfortably Mary blends in with my family.

We also made a quick visit to Jim and Peggy's house in Nyssa (another Aunt and Uncle) and saw some of my cousins and my Uncle Warren as well. We stayed up late on Thurs playing games and then went home Friday early afternoon. We had a lot of fun and lots of thanks to the Fruitland Farmer's for hosting us so graciously and comfortably! Only one regret: I never actually got to play Guitar Hero even though Jaime invited me several times and I had plenty of other opportunities. I will have to do it next time. I'll admit that I was a little intimidated by their skill in watching them and wasn't sure if I wanted to throw my inexperience in the mix.

6th Anniversary

Mary and I celebrated our 6th anniversary just over a week ago. We plan on spending a weekend away soon (we found a couple in our ward willing to do kid swaps for the weekend... Yay!), but we did go out for a nice dinner in Mtn Home and enjoyed some time out together. It's been a great 6 years with so much change and growth. I'm really blessed to have such a spectacular wife. I even wrote my first poem for her, which will NOT be published here, sorry.

This is the pic from our sixth anniversary, taken by our friends who volunteered to watch Sarah and Nathan for us. PS - Mary doesn't like this pic very much.
This is a pic from our fifth anniversary, taken out in front of my folks' house. Mary was in charge last year and we did a little tour of some of our early dates (downtown Spaghetti Factory and the Seattle Aquarium). We then went and spent a couple of nights in Leavenworth. I was in charge of our fourth anniversary and we went and stayed at some townhouses for two nights out at Fort Casey on Whidbey Island. This is us at the lighthouse by the Fort.
This is a recent picture of us, though I don't know from when or for what.
This is us on a hike last summer that we went on with Chris, Rebecca, Jimmy and Shannon and their kids outside of Enumclaw, WA.

Many thanks to Mom and Dad Hamm who have watched our kids for all of our anniversary get-aways. It is so nice to be able to leave your kids in trusted hands knowing that they'll be loved and well taken care of. Thanks and we're sorry you won't be able to do it as much as you (AND WE!) would like.... but just let us know and you're welcome to come and visit for a few days.

Fan's Delight

I figure since most of "my" fans are really just here to see pics of Sarah and Nathan, I'll indulge you: little dialogue and lot's of pics. Below are some recent miscellaneous pictures of us. We didn't take many at Robb and Heather's when we visited there for the baby blessing, but there are a few. If you want to see more pics from our visit there, see Robb & Heathers and Rebecca's blogs (Links over there --------> )


Nathan being held by his Uncle Jordan while watching football at Robb and Heathers in Pasco.
Mary wearing a diaper on her head while sipping some Root Beer. She lost at a game of greed and her loss required her to wear a diaper (a clean one) on her head during dinner. We're still looking forward to Jordan milking a gallon of goat milk (another losing consequence) in the near future at Robb and Heather's neighbors house... should be good and the neighbor has already agreed to allow it. Stay tuned!

Sometimes I make pancakes and get fancy when I do a "mickey mouse" pancake for Sarah and a ball for Nathan (real tricky!). After I had made a couple, Mary enters the picture and asks Sarah if she wants a pig pancake, to which she excitedly yells "yeah!". I'm thinking, I gotta see this... how are you going to get pancake batter to make a pig. Well, the results were quite impressive to say the least! Nice work Mary!



It's so nice to be able to go the park in November. It's a bit chilly, but it's not wet, and if the sun is out it can be quite pleasant. Nathan is a kamikaze at the park and absolutely loves the huge slides. Sarah, prefers the swings and is learning to do them on her own.

These two are just before Nathan got a haircut. We had some fun and spiked it a little bit. He obviously was enjoying something sweet, otherwise he wouldn't be sitting so still.

I don't know why he was doing this but after church he was sitting at the little coffee table and "saying prayers". Of course, we had to capture it on camera. I know that all three of the pics are pretty much the same, but he was so adorable in all of them that I couldn't leave one off. This is a frequent, late evening outfit: diaper, socks, shirt, no pants. Here he is in a white shirt and tie, without pants. At the end of the day, Nathan's often had a little leakage which necessitates losing the pants which we're a) too tired/rushed to replace or b) it's close enough to bedtime that he'll be in jammies in a few hours anyway. Oh well. Also, these pics give the "after-shot" of Nathan's haircut. Good Job Mary!

Tagged....

So I apparently got tagged by my sis recently, so I need to respond. I generally think these things are lame but fun, so I'll indulge. Plus Mary and I had a fun time last night talking about possibilities, for her and me.

Tag Rules
A. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning.
B. Each player lists 6 facts/habits about themselves.
C. At the end of the post, the player then tags 6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

1. When I write emails, I'm usually really wordy. I'm not one of those people who can just reply to an email in all lower cases with a couple of words. I have to have some kind of introduction, use complete thoughts, spell words correctly, use correct punctuation, say thanks or have some kind of final greeting, and sign my name. I just can't do the brief, informal things... except I'm learning to do it in txtng. I put this one first as a warning as this trait of mine will be evident in the subsequent answers.

2. I would guess that some people know about this... but many others don't. Last summer ('06), Mary and I volunteered to tear apart my parents deck before the painters started on the house, so the job could be thorough and my parents planned to build a new deck soon. So we went to the task with ferocity and did the job pretty quickly. After removing the top layer and the rails, we were on to the support beams. These beams stand on end so are narrow (about 3 inches or so). Anyway, in order to get them loose we had to hit them at the bottom. Just before we were about to do this, I gave Mary the following warning (in a very informative and "know-it-all" voice): "Now, be really careful because these things are narrow and if you're swinging up with the hammer and you miss then you could whack yourself right in the head" (picture me illustrating it as well). About two minutes after the "safety tip", I was swinging with two hands up underneath the board, missed the board and hit myself square in the forehead. How stupid can you be! Yes, I hit myself in the head with a hammer. This required a trip to the ER, about six stitches in my forehead, and the retelling of this embarrassing story too many times. This was of course a traumatic event for my daughter, which she has not forgotten, and likes to "build a deck like daddy" which includes several hammer motions and noises, followed by a whack in the forehead. Thanks Sarah!

3. People have a hard time getting use to my humor and wit. I don't know how I would explain my sense of humor, but as I've met new people and received feedback, I've gathered that it's confusing for them and unique. I think that it works so well because I'm able to pull such a straight face that it confuses people. There can often be uncomfortable moments when people are not used to my humor and some people, regardless of how long I've known them, still have a hard time knowing when I'm joking and when I'm not. Because this is difficult to explain, I'll use an example. A couple of months ago, Mary had a good idea to frame some of the pictures that Sarah has colored and she has them up in our dining area. Sarah's really proud of them and likes to show them to other people. Mary's brother Kris came through on Tues night on his way home to Washington from Provo, UT for Thanksgiving. He had a couple of other people that were hitching rides that we had never met. One of the girls noticed the framed colored pictures on our wall and commented how good an artist Sarah was. I replied in a deadpanned face and voice that they were actually mine and that it was something I've really been working on. She actually believed me and apologized to Mary and hoped that I wouldn't take offense! One of the other girls knew right away that I was joking and the other guy, I think, was a little confused. I think that she was a little hesitant the rest of the night whenever I said things. Fun times. For a blog example, please see my Blog announcing my nephew Carson's birth in October.

4. I love my job! I really do! I tell people that I really enjoy it and describe things that I like about it but I really do love it. I feel a little embarrassed about it because I figured I'd be trudging through sessions to get my hours for licensure and then move on to bigger and better things. I might still do the latter two, but I'm enjoying the individual, group and family session that I get to facilitate. I enjoy going to work and I love coming home. It's a great combo!

5. Caution: If this one is kind of weird for you, please read #3 again! Me and Michael Jordan have way too much in common! Remember those eery similarities between those assassinated Presidents and their assassins, this is right in line with that. Besides Michael Jordan being tall and black (I considered adding basketball skills and wealth to our differences, but I decided those were more the result of the previous two). Before going into the details, I have to acknowledge Mary's role in this. His full name is Michael Jeffrey Jordan. I have a brother-in-law named Michael, my name is Jeffrey and I have a brother named Jordan. Coincidence, I think not! If you take Mary and my first initials from our first name, they make MJ, a common nickname for MJ. Additionally, I was 23 (MJ's famous number)when I married Mary and our ages when we got married added up to 45 (number he wore briefly during one of his several comebacks). He played in Chicago, I've been to Chicago... once. He plays basketball, I play basketball. I know, this is all just too much of a coincidence by now. He wasn't very good at baseball and, guess what, yep, neither was I. He has a lot of money, I would like to have a lot of money. He's bald, I'm going in that direction. He got cut from his High School basketball team, I should have been cut from my High School basketball team. He has two kids, I have two kids. He drives really fast cars, my car went fast down a hill once. He probably still believes that he could be competitive at basketball (known as URS - Uncle Rico Syndrome), I still believe in my heart that I haven't lost a step. This is just a taste of the eery things that we have in common. Clearly there is a link, I just need him to acknowledge it.... so spread the word!

6. I LOVE SPORTS! I spend too much time on ESPN.com and follow all major sports religiously. I know stats and can talk about sports stuff with most fans. I would love to play sports more, but I only like team sports, which makes being in shape difficult and more expensive. Some of you already know this, but this is me letting you know that you don't understand the extent of my passion. I'd love to watch sports more often than I do, but that would consume me, so I rely on reading articles on Deadspin.com, ESPN.com, and Seattle's local news sites. My peak performance in terms of knowledge of the sports scene was actually during grad school. I spent between 1-2 hours a day in the car listening to 950 KJR sports talk radio and my favorite distraction from writers block (or writers avoidance) was ESPN.com. What can I say, I'm a sports nut.

That's it about me, sorry for the wordiness. I tag Amanda AND Braden, Mom AND Dad :)

Visit to SLC

Before we decided on a date for me to begin my job in Mtn Home, I was insistent that we take a week off for some kind of a fun family vacation. We couldn't have had more fun! After getting "settled in" to our temporary living situation in Mtn Home we headed for SLC, Utah to visit our good friends Kari and Adam and their two kids. Adam, who was starting his second year of residency, was remarkably able to get that week off at the hospital. On our way down we stopped for a brief visit at the Salmond's residence outside of Logan. It was great to see Bishop Salmond and his wife Patty and hope that we can drop by some more in the future. We just spent about an hour or so there and enjoyed catching up with them and seeing their new house. Sarah and Nathan went into their toy room downstairs and we hardly heard a peep out of them until it was time to go. Patty enjoyed feeding them plenty of cookies : * ) We then continued our cruise down to the Sugarhouse area outside of Salt Lake and began our visit with Kari and Adam. It was really great to see them and spend time with them. We spent every evening playing games (primarily Ticket to Ride: Europe) until around midnight and then did various trips or visits during the day. We spent a day on Temple Square and enjoyed walking around there. We took a trip down to Provo to see our friend Eric as well as Mary's brother Kris. We went to the zoo in SLC and enjoyed doing that. Mary and Kari took a shopping trip up around Park City and Jeff and Adam played tennis a couple of mornings. It really was a vacation reminiscent of old times in this fun friendship of ours! Before heading home we went to another park (the name escapes me) that has a bunch of sprinklers and Nathan and Sarah just got SOAKED! and we weren't even planning on them getting wet so it was pretty funny. While there I met up with one of my old mission buddies, Corey and his wife Rebecca and their two kids. It was fun to catch up with them and hang out for a bit while also trying to keep track of our kids. It was really warm the week that we were there and so the kids enjoyed frequent sprinkler activities as can be seen in some of the pics below. Nathan really enjoyed Kari and Adam's boxer, Dirk, and had fun with him. We enjoyed barbecueing food and just hanging out together. It was a lot of fun. I think we kind of hi-jacked Kari and Adam's unexpected vacation, but I think that we all enjoyed a great time together. A big THANK YOU to Kari and Adam for hosting us and showing us around SLC a bit!!!!!

Sarah and Clate next to some fountains on the side of the Salt Lake LDS TempleSarah in front of the Salt Lake LDS Temple. CHEESE!
Sarah in front of the Christus statue on Temple Square in SLC

The kids playing in the water in Kari and Adam's backyard








Us with Mary's brother, Kris, at Chuck-A-Rama : * )

Pickin' up and goin' away

So, because we have only had this blog for a couple of weeks, I thought I would document a little about our move to Mtn. Home from the Seattle area. We packed up our stuff on Saturday and then enjoyed Father's Day with family and then left first thing Monday morning on June 18th. I left a few hours ahead of Mary and the kids in the big truck and trailer (pictured above out in front of the Farmer's house in Fruitland). We actually made great time in traveling to Fruitland and arrived there mid-afternoon on Monday. We never actually caravaned together but we were in regular phone contact. Fortunately for Mary we purchased a two-screen portable DVD player so the kids were much more content then they otherwise would have been. Nathan got pretty upset toward the end of the trip, but things generally went okay. I really enjoyed just listening to music and driving a really big truck. I think that in my next life I'll be a trucker with a big beard. We enjoyed playing at the Farmer's house in Fruitland that afternoon/evening and they were so hospitable. They have 10 kids (8 girls) so Sarah and Nathan were in toy heaven, let alone having other older kids wanting to dote on them. The next morning we got up and let the kids play a bit and then traveled the two hours or so to Mtn Home. We were still awaiting closure on our house so we were able to rent a brand new townhouse for one month until our house was available. The picture above was our first meal in Mtn Home (pizza of course), notice the coffee table for our dining table! We soon upgraded tables to a card table, which we used until we finally purchased a dining table off of Craigslist in September. We enjoyed getting settled in Mtn Home and adjusting to the stifling heat and were happy to have A/C for a month at least.

Trick or Treat

Happy Halloween! We enjoyed taking the kids trick or treating this year. I have had classes on Halloween the last two years so it was great to finally be a part of it this year. The kids were so cute! Sarah was Cinderella and Nathan was Gus (the plump mouse friend of Cinderella's). Mary did some hard work to make Nathan look like Gus, sewing the shoes, hat and shirt and adding them to the mouse costume Sarah wore two years ago. It turned out great!



These first initial pictures on the street was on our way to the local Middle School for a kind of Halloween carnival. The kids had fun but a lot of the games were for a little bit older kids that required a little too much skill. Plus the candy wasn't that great so we cut out early and went to get candy the traditional way. We accidentally met up with three other families from church that were trick or treating together but were not really able to keep up with them as Nathan was the youngest of the bunch and was certainly slower. Overall, we had a great time and the kids were both just so cute. Nathan would get to the door and knock with Sarah and when the door would open he would just start walking right in, the people were always a little surprised. The other cute thing that Nathan would do was he kept trying to get the candy out of the bucket or take it from the person but he had on his mouse mittens and so he would inevitably drop it in spite of his valiant two-handed efforts. This was greatly disappointing for him, but luckily Mom kept a steady stream of Smarties coming his way. It's so much fun as a parent to see how enchanting and exciting these little experiences are for your kids while they also bring back so many memories for us as parents. No matter how hard we try, we can't soak enough of it in! SO MUCH FUN!!!

Halloween Party!!!

So about a month ago or so Mary had finished painting Nathan's room and asked Sarah how she wanted to decorate her room and Sarah replied "I want to decorate for my Halloween Party" (like, duh Mom and Dad!). So we decided that we would host a Halloween Party for Sarah and her friends. Sarah wanted to be Cinderella and fortunately we found a costume at a store for pretty cheap. We enjoyed decorating, Mary did most of the leg work, and we left the decorations up through Halloween. We had the party on Saturday the 27th and it was a lot of fun for everyone.

Here's the group of kids that came to Sarah's Halloween Party. A wide range of ages, but a good number of Sarah's friends from church. One of the games they played was "Pin the nose on Jack O. Lantern". The kids enjoyed it but it was hard to get pictures of them doing it. Notice the drawing Mary did behind the kids in the picture.
One of the games the kids played was "Mummy Wrap" where they got to wrap up some of the kids with toilet paper. Sarah is the one on the far right. They did a pretty good job if you ask me! They also enjoyed wrapping me up in toilet paper at the end of the party (picture NOT attached).
The kids also enjoyed decorating cookies and later eating them. Here is Sarah with her cookies.
Another game the kids played was "Who's the ghost" where half of the kids were taken into one of the rooms and then one of them was brought out under a sheet and the kids had to guess who the ghost was. The kids really liked this one and enjoyed trying to figure out which kid it was.

Overall the party was a success and the kids seemed to have lot's of fun. They did some hide-and-seek when their were down times and seemed to enjoy that. Nathan's costume wasn't quite ready for the party so he just had regular clothes. He got excited about everything and really enjoyed following the other kids around and doing whatever they were doing.

Pickle Juice

Sometimes as parents we get caught in a trap that we set for our kids. I'm often of the opinion that I should show my kids why I'm right to say yes or no by letting them see for themselves. Nathan likes to "help" me with cooking dinner sometimes (thanks Sarah :*), so if I'm heating up a pot or something he'll try and get a stool and stand by me and start to reach for the pot. I tell him that it's "hot" and he repeats that back to me and points at the pot (he already learned this lesson on the lawnmower engine after I finished mowing one day). So sometimes if he insists with the hot pot I will help him feel the steam coming off the pot or the radiating heat a few inches above the pot or pan... hoping that this sinks in that closer is worse. Anyway, today he was insistent that he wanted "juice" in his sippy cup, which we were out of. Unfortunately there happened to be a jar of open pickles on the counter within his line of sight. He decided that the color of the pickle juice closely resembled a recent juice that he had drank. So he pointed at the pickle jar and was insistent that he have it, in spite of my telling him "no". So I thought: "I'll show you"... and got out a spoon and gave him a sample of the pickle juice... which of course he liked and began asking for more. After a couple of spoonfuls I realized that this wasn't just a new taste to him but a good one. So of course I ended up pouring pickle juice in his sippy cup. Hey, if it's good enough for dehydrated football players, it's good enough for my boy. Meanwhile, Mary just shook her head and said "I knew he was going to like it!" Oh well.....

Fall Leaves

I've been itching to do this with the kids. I have memories of jumping and playing in piles of leaves growing up. The nice thing about doing it here is that most of the leaves have fallen and they're dry. We've had three days of gorgeous weather here in the upper 60's - low 70's, so we didn't have to worry about any wet, slimey leaves. The kids had SO much fun! Nathan just dove right in and loved to get buried with leaves. He also couldn't walk in the deep stuff more than a step or two before falling on his face, which he enjoyed. We probably did this for about 45 minutes after I got home from work and it was just so nice outside. I did a lot of raking and Mary did a lot of picture taking. Sarah really enjoyed picking up leaves and throwing them in the air until we realized that the wind was blowing them into the neighbors yard. Whoops! Mary and I had so much fun watching how excited Nathan and Sarah were having. It's great to be with carefree happy kids and just watch them have so much fun. I hope that it will be as nice tomorrow afternoon so that we can do this again... I think if we do this again I'll have to get more hands on with my play and get buried too. Anyway, I hope you enjoy(ed) the pics. This was a blast for everyone!