Brad + Lauries Mom Dad + Kids place

Labor Day at Bardwell

2009-09-10T11:58:00.004-05:00

I continue to stuggle with the archaic interface of blogger, but here are pictures of our day at Bardwell. Oh what fun it was to ride in a two-person open tube!

Katie, otherwise known as Magoo, and Julie whooping it up
Drew and I bouncing around to songs we made up as we went

Dustin showing us one way NOT to get back on the boat, haha

Jacob is supervising the tubing activity of his cousin and brother

So this was supposed to be a Nestea plunge, but someone chickened out. The water was great!

Jacob and Julie sittin in a tube, the little one's not at all a boob!

Some tubing is safer when the tube is parked :>)

Drew, like his cousin Dustin, have similar aversions to being photographed in any kind of relaxed and normal settings, always the ham...

Finally, King Jacob smiles his approval on the events of the day, particularly the food. This guy can EAT! He's gonna be a whopper!

SHOW LOW, AZ

2009-09-10T11:38:00.002-05:00

It was a cool, rainy day when we went to visit Susan's old stompin' grounds--110 in Phoenix, 60 in Show Low! Here are best friends and sisters on the Mogollon Trail
Pretty as a postcard!

Dustin was our sidekick all day. And look, we actually got a smile out of him! Well, that's because he was trying to pull his shirt up over his face...

What a Summer!

2009-09-03T19:56:00.009-05:00

Welcome, Charlotte Lauree! Your arrival was the highlight of the summer. Glad you could join us:-)

OKAY, so these are all in reverse chronological order, even though that is not the way I uploaded them...

These are my boys at Monahanas Sandhills State Park, trying out the slopes on the dunes just about sunrise on our way home from AZ

Sweetheart Kinsey jumping over grandpa for the camera!

Kinsey plays fetch with Uncle BJ, Moose and Duke

Katherine trying to avoid the spinklers and...wet dogs--good luck!

No trip to AZ is complete without at least one hike up Camelback Mountain. Dustin and I did it three times!

Howdy, Connor! Is the watermelon good?

This may be the ONLY good picture of Clint I have ever taken. I think he was too tired to pull any faces. Congratulations, pops! Good job with Ms. Charlotte

There is nothing like a good Sunday afternoon meal with family. Susan & Scott stuck around with us for a few days too. I don't have the trip to Show Low pics, but we did it. While it was in the 110 degree range in Phoenix, Show Low was 60! What a nice change.

Try as I might, I did not make any major advances in my efforts to be on Sage's preferred person list, although I must say that list is VERY short (mom, dad, and grandma Shari, and maybe Dustin)

OK, what's on your mind?

BJ and Katherine, so what do you think BJ was thinking?!

Hello Kinsey! Let's play ball!

Kenedi and grandpa had fun in Kinsey's pool!

McKay came to joy in the fun too. These two cousins whooped it up

There isn't another grin like Connors. What a easy going guy. Did I mention that he is pretty much always hungry?

Chance has an idea!

There were no dry eyes at GG's funeral. Very hard to sing

Laurie saying goodbye. This was tough.

So back in July we went to VA and DC

Zac greeting Mr. T-Rex

Doug's family and ours (sans Dustin, who has a serious aversion to being photographed) at the palace gardens in CW

Dustin enjoying the beach, haha

QB Dustin at work

No score and two months ago, Zac acted like a crazy man. Scoot over, ABE!

OK, I'm about to cream my brother Doug in a friendly game of beach football. Actually, it was more like Rugby, or just a free-for-all! But any excuse was good enough to take out some aggression

This ride at Busch Gardens, called Griffon, was exceptional! Zoom in on the front right to see some familiar faces.

Our June high adventure was whitewater kayaking. We spared no luxury when camping!

Well, that's about it. Summer has been loaded. We've seen, felt and experienced a wide variety of experiences and emotions. Thank God for all of it.

Alice Cooper - School's Out!!!

2009-06-10T11:00:00.006-05:00

I won't write much, but the fun is on! Since last I wrote, Katie had a dance recital, Drew was baptized, and Zac was ordained a teacher. Zac & Dustin had birthdays, as did Amber and soon Audrie then Chance. Marianne & Clint had their anniversary (on Zac's birthday). Nick has graduated, school is out for summer and already Amber & family have come and gone, both grandmas have come and gone, and Audrie is here for another week or so with her kids, but Craig is gone. Nick has announced that he will be leaving to AZ at the end of this month! Dustin left this morning for scout camp and Zac & mom leave for scout camp and girl's camp respectively next week, followed by Brad to high adventure on the river the week after. OMG! (as they say...)

This beautiful butterfly would not be captured on camera!

Drew was pretty excited as were we all about his baptism & confirmation!

Gma Y hosted a fine birthday party!

The birthday person wears the birthday hat

Paintball warriors Z & D (Z has new gun--unfair advantage, according to D). Craig & Trav were in a war too. The primary injury was to Craig's ring finger--he couldn't put his wedding ring on the next day, haha

"What is my line??"

"Free at last!"

Kinsey & Grandpa on Blackie

Madagascar is on!

Chance is learning the rudiments of snake handling from his Uncle Zac

Kenedi's opinion of the snake, facial rendition

Lunch Time

2009-04-27T09:18:00.003-05:00

It's the case of the mysterious nutritious lunch! Who dares eat such a meal?

Could it be Cosmo?

What about Dakota?

See if you can decide which of these it is, so hard to tell!

29 YEARS

2009-04-24T12:12:00.005-05:00

Laurie and I had a great weekend celebrating 29 years together. How did I get so lucky? Here's what we did. We started by going to the temple, the place where it all began on April 18, 1980 in Mesa, AZ. Of course, we went to the Dallas Temple:

This time, I had planned everything in advance and even had reservations. We ate at Saltgrass at LBJ & Midway (leftover gift card from our 2007 datebook...), then on to the Omni Mandolay in Las Colinas where we had a corner suite, watched "Taken" in bed, and slept in late as the rain pounded around outside. Ahh, the life!

Here we are in the living room of the hotel:

Nice, huh!

After a scrumptious buffet breakfast (we both ate a couple meals since they were so good), we had to go back and prostrate ourselves since we were too full to move, and since our next event required NO RAIN (it was still raining). After another movie, the rain finally quit so we took off across town to Billy Bobs and then to the Main Street Arts Festival in downtown Ft. Worth. Yes, that sounds very out of caracter for us. Us and crowds? No, not often. But we got in the groove for this one:

It was a really neat event. This is one of the stages they rotated live musical performers on throughout the day.

Much of the art was fine; some of it was not so fine. Overall, it was a mind-broadening experience for a couple of small timers like us.

The last vestige of our celebration was another meal, this time we split one, at our old Arlington hangout, Mac's American Grill for some blackened orange roughy and a goldbrick ice cream dessert. And lest we arrive home before everyone else was in bed, we hit another movie (another gift card leftover from the 2007 datebook), pretty good, "State of Play". Reminds me of politics.

We got one late congratulations this Wednesday night when we got home, our dear dear friends had decorated the yard! Dustin thanks them (you know who you are!) for letting him have the job of cleaning it up. We did leave it all for a day:0) Can you read the "29" spelled out in forks? Yes, new meaning to "stick a fork in it", almost as good as Amber's baked potatoes (haha)

Last, here's a photo of the most awesome new stadium around (at $1.1 billion, it should be, right!), the new Cowboys stadium in Arlington next to the Ballpark. It is scheduled to open with a George Strait concert on June 6. Come and party with us!

EASTER

2009-04-17T12:14:00.007-05:00

K-Kai Kahu Elli E Bailey (OK, someone help me out on the spelling?)

We had a great big celebration at our home for Easter. After all, this is the MOST significant event in Christianity. Even though we make a bigger deal out of Christmas, it is really Easter that has all the significance. Before diving into the wonderful food, we had a family spiritual experience, mom telling about a YW event, then Terrell sharing her testimony of the improvement in her life and her relationship with the Savior since she was baptized, exactly one year ago to the day! It was moving. A few more of us spoke and there was a wonderful spirit with us, a very nice Easter gift from the Lord.

We had 22 of us there. For us, it was mom, me, Nick w/ Hannah, Zac & Dustin. Then we had David and Terrell, Sarah, Carrie & Kai along with Debbie (yeah--finally got her back, way to go Dave!). We had both grandmas, Thelma and Mary. Then we had all of Ora and Troy's family, with Chadler, Sierra, Hayden & Zoee as well as Troy's mom Betty and her husband Arlo Young (great name). Here are pictures, hope you enjoy them. We enjoyed making them happen!

Dakota and David became good friends (David the canine, not David the human) And the only pictures of Dave and Terrell are here, unfortunately without their heads...

Zac & his cousin Sierra--NO CHIPPED TEETH! (private joke)

Sierra is getting pretty nice looking!

My sis and me

Troy, Ora and mom (grandma)

Hanna decided to tape Nick's face hahaha

Sarah, Kai and Carrie

Zac & Chandler waiting for dessert

OK, it's hard to get Debbie's picture, but this was her birthday too, so here's the cake 54 yrs

Arlo & Betty Johnson Young, grandma Thelma Young!

Zoee & Sierra, crazy sisters

My favorite one of all! Grandma says "Laurrrie!"

DAKOTA IS AT IT AGAIN

2009-04-14T21:14:00.003-05:00

This is an alert! I will have a new post with pictures very soon. Stay tuned.

This was the Happy Easter Card Dakota and I sent out. See you soon

Spring Get Away

2009-03-26T21:42:00.009-05:00

It seems to get more and more difficult to get a post in once you get out of the habit. Katherine, how have you managed to keep it up? I know it was a NY res, but congrats, you have done it!

Life has been pretty full. We've had missionaries in our home on Monday nights to teach a young lady and her mom. We've been to Colorado, on some of its slopes and back, all over the state on business, down to Austin to testify on eminent domain--all in all, very diverse and very fulfilling. Here are some pictures:

Sounds like, from Julie's blog, that aquarium visits were a popular item! We found it so too. This is in Denver:

I think the shark is running from Kenedi...they both have their mouths open baring their teeth...
We have learned that running from her is the best course some times, right toot?!

They have great parks in Denver and surrounds. The weather is beautiful most of the time. Ahh, lunch at the park!

Here we are at Winter Park, what a studly group!

We had the good fortune to have Dennis & Suzanne along with Brandon and Jessica come up to Audrie's for a few hours. We had a great time. Chance and Tristan became fast four year old friends too!

Monday Zac Dustin and I went to Copper Mountain. What a place! More trails with more variety than anywhere I've ever been. It got up to about 50 degrees! What fun. Of course, watch out for the yellow snow...

We pulled off a slope, pulled out the food from my camelback, and had fun putzing around in the snow!

All good things must change venue, so we brought the crew (except Craig...) back to Texas. We love the road trips in the van! Oh what fun it is to ride in a 300 HP van. Really, we did not suffer any of Scott and Julie's fun. We enjoyed the ride!

Unibomber

2009-02-15T17:35:00.006-06:00

So Zac was trying to identify his interests today. He revealed that one of them is blowing things up. Accordingly, he built a suicide bomber out of tongue depressors and dog pillow stuffing. Here is the video of the event:

Very educational stuff!

Courage

2009-02-11T14:59:00.003-06:00

What did the lion (in this case "lioness") want from the wizard? Courage! Well, this one's already got it for sure--she married me, that proves it! New Beginnings in YW tonight has some sort of skit acting out the WofOZ. Call her for the details. Isn't she cute in her lionesse getup? I told her she needs to put some of those lioness moves on me:-) She still has to put her whiskers on...

Awards at Scout Camp + Pinewood Derby

2009-02-09T15:56:00.011-06:00

We had a nice campout at Cedar Hill State Park. The weather was reasonable, a bit cold, but reasonable.

We seldom camp at a real camp ground like this one, but since we had electricity, we took advantage of it to have waffles along with the standard fare of eggs and bacon.

Since all of the boys truly struggle to beat Syd (the Sloth) at fire building unless large quantities of gasoline are employed (referenced in bold print in "The Guide to Safe Scouting", though not in a positive light), we thought it would be educational to review firebuilding techniques then have a competition. The contest was to build a fire, started with no more than 3 matches, sufficient to burn through a jute string tied across two stakes 18" above the ground. Sounds simple enough, right? This is what it looked like:

As the boys contemplated the challenge, what tinder to use, how to compensate for the gale-force winds, and so forth, I considered appropriate awards. Candy can always work for kids right? But alas, they had been eating candy and junk all night! We did not need more sugar crazed boys running around with fire. As I promenaded myself about the camp ground pondering this enigma, I happened upon a small baby pacifier lying on the ground. It was in pristine condition. My first thought was, some baby and his parents are missing this! My second thought was, I can use this for an award! The notion of always awarding a prize to the winner had begun to set in my craw, and as it did, I had one of those Eureka! moments: we would make an award to the losing team, and having just acquired the necessary paraphenalia, we would give it a very special name, to be disclosed ONLY at the awards ceremony!

The three teams set about making fires. Some used small dry reeds. Others found cardboard and lit it off. One of the teams found that lowering the string might facilitate a rapid burn-thru(remember the scout law??).

So the fires were built and strings were burnt...

and whose team would come in last you ask, the dubious "winner" in my backwards event? Yes, you guessed it, my own son Zac and his two young teammates. You can imagine the eager anticipation as we made a big to-do over the heretofore "secret" prize to be given. This is all the boys lined up in Olympic podium fashion, eagerly awaiting the coveted (but as yet undisclosed) prize:

We made a great to-do over the award, then announced that the last-place team would be the recipient. Great dissatisfaction was voiced by the fastest teams until we held high in the air the prize pacifier while simultaneously announcing the the name of the award: the YOU SUCK award! There was but a very brief moment of disbelief, followed by a vociferous melange of various emotions, including though not limited to disgust/anger/angst/violence/vocal outcry/etc. by the winning loser as well as taunts, catcalls, mocking and derision from the losing winners. This pandamonium was immediately followed by Zac slamming into me with all his might, just the way a linebacker would attack a running back trying to get past him. OUch! After a brief tussle, here is a photo of the "winning" losing team. Notice Kayden (the one in green) had no issues with the new award:

The following week was what may well be the FINAL running of the pinewood derby for this Young family. Here is Dustin being issued his drivers permit for the race:

Last year Dustin was the pencil car. This year he is the guitar car, which you can see at the lower right of the photo.

While his car was not the fastest, it was not the slowest. There were many admirerers of the most unique guitar car (mostly Led Zepelin fans).

The end.

HOWDY-We're Back!

2009-01-28T17:09:00.004-06:00

So, after a lengthy hiatus from the blogspot, I figured I better throw one out there before the month is over. We got up this morning to the site of lots of ice! The news said that it was the most since 1980 this morning, but that must have been somewhere north of here. For sure, it was icy, but not historically icy. Of course, since this is Texas, schools were out and businesses were closed. Dustin and I got out pretty early so we could enjoy the 19 degree morning and slide around a little. We jogged over to the old Walter Stephenson road past the bypass bridge. We could slide down the road great just standing on our feet! What was really fun was trying to run back up the hill in the clear ice spots-hahaha--we just sort of ran in place. It is good exercise, but don't be in a hurry. Then we took a short cut across the hwy 287 since there were almost no cars, slid on it some, then found some more good ice over by the Temple's old place. What a crack up. I am good at being a kid. I could do it every day. It sucks having to be an adult...
Here is a short video of our first attempt at riding the inflatable sled down the driveway. See you next post : )

My Christmas Story

2008-12-19T22:27:00.002-06:00

I had a very cool experience this Christmas season that I want to tell you about. I’ve been going to the temple more often, like every Tuesday at 7 AM. This Tuesday, after the session, I came out and checked my phone. I had a message from a business client and associate who lives in Rockwall. We had been trying to get together on the phone for a few weeks without success. His message suggested that he would call again between 9 and 10 AM (I got the message at 9), and that he had a funeral to do at 11 (he owns several cemeteries and a funeral home). I had a feeling to go and talk with him. I was thinking it might be about church, particularly Prop 8, but knowing him to be sincere, I wasn’t worried to talk. It was a little of a long shot to drive out and chance to catch him, but I did it. When I got there, before I got out of the car, I saw him running to his truck to leave. I called out to him and got out to try to catch him. He got out, came over, and gave me a strong embrace, which was quite the first. He was very glad to see me and though he didn’t have much time, he took me back into the funeral home to a private room to talk. Immediately he began talking of the troubles of the world. I told him we (the world) needed a change of heart due to the gospel of Christ (as opposed to Obama’s change). He told me he was a Christian Baptist. I told him I was too (no, not Baptist). He said, “but your Christ is not the same, is it?” I told him that our Christ is the only name given under heaven whereby men can be saved” and that He was my personal Savior. I told him that His name was on our church. I told him that our church is all about the atonement of Christ. The spirit was powerful between us. For sure, he felt it. He was excited about it. So was I. He was going to meet with a prominent LDS businessman later that week from SLC who is the 2nd largest funeral home operator in the country and wanted to know a little before he met him! As we continued to talk, he asked how my business was doing. I told him that the retirement community in Burleson that we have worked on for more than 2 years had unraveled due to the economy. He said he was having lunch the next day with a gentleman in a related business who might have some interest and invited me to come back the next day to lunch with them.
Needless to say, I was pretty excited, both at the prospect of continuing a discussion with Dewayne about the church, but also a possible sale for the retirement development. So I went back to Rockwall on Wednesday. I was first to arrive at the restaurant. Dewayne got there shortly after. The other gentleman was late to come, which was a good thing. While we waited, we talked more about the church. We covered a shotgun of topics, including the Word of Wisdom, Families, the Book of Mormon and more. When we finished, just before the other guy arrived, he said, “you know, I should probably be a Mormon!” Of course thought I, I could help him with that! The meeting with the other man was not a success as far as Burleson was concerned, but wholly worth the time and effort to have the conversation with my friend. One neat thing about him is that he is extremely prominent in Rockwall and respected by many, many people. I am going to put together a package of items, including a Book of Mormon, The Testament, and a copy of the Family Proclamation and take it to him for Christmas.
Isn’t it amazing that when we talk to people about Jesus Christ, the spirit is there to testify of His divine mission, and not for any eloquence or ability of ours. That is his (the spirit’s) most important role. He is good at it!

Air like Shrek's Swamp

2008-12-19T18:38:00.002-06:00

Some of you may be aware of the air quality issues that exist here in Midlothian. USA Today conducted a significant survey of over 120,000 schools nationwide. It listed Mt. Peak Elementary, where Dustin attends, as in the 1st percentile of all offenders, together with all the other schools our children attend being in the top worst 5 percent! Here is the link to the recap on WFAA (channel 8 here): http://www.wfaa.com/sharedcontent/dws/wfaa/latestnews/stories/wfaa081211_mo_airpollution.53f937f9.html#slcgm_comments_anchor
In apparent attempt to asuage concerned parents, although completely unqualified, JD Kenedy, Superintendent the MISD, issued a statement to the community that he had inquired with the TCEQ (Texas Commission on Environmental Quality) and all is well (...in Zion). Here is his statement:
http://www.midlothian-isd.net/_misdnews/archive/misd-air.html
I decided to post replies through several media, and here is a copy of my comments:
The influence of big money seems to be penetrating every level of government and politics. That it should also affect the course of public education is bewildering to a trusting public. My wife spoke to the attendance person at school the other day and asked her what she thought about this alarming news. In response, she recited Dr. Kenedy's statement and parrotted his feelings, exclaiming that she had been here 30+ years and everything is fine to her. Maybe, but what about everyone else?! The problem is that not everyone reacts to these toxins the same way. For example, I am allergic to Benadryl, commonly used to help with allergic reactions! For whatever reason, it makes my heart race at an alarming and life-threatening rate. The toxins being unnecessarily spewed out of these factories, like a game of Russian Roulette, are killing unsuspecting citizens while the EPA, TCEQ and now, MISD stand by, in the face of ever-mounting quantities of evidence, and offer lame statements endorsing the offenders. The scriptures speak of those in the latter days who call evil good and good evil. While some may live healthy lives with no adverse reaction to the proven and known toxins, others will surely suffer. How can we turn this blind eye?! I hear the words from pro-cement advocates, "Midlothian needs TXI. Midlothian needs Holcim. Midlothian needs Ash Grove." "There are too many jobs, too much money and too much power to make them comply with clean emissions standards and lose them." I ask, how is this point of view really different than the selling of Senate seats, with comments like, "...it's worth too much #$%^& money to give it away"? The bottom line is that it is wrong! Do we want a legacy for our children that reads, "Big Business over Young Minds?" Will our ephithats read, "Rest in peace, uh, no, scratch that--I mean Rest in cement kiln dust!" It is time to do as the Boy Scouts and live the Scout Law, being Trustworthy, Loyal, Helpful, Friendly, Courteous, Kind, Obedient, Cheerful, Thrifty, Brave, Clean, and Reverent. It is time to do as Jesus taught, to do unto others as we would have them do unto us, NOT before they can do it to us.

Crazy what goes on in this little town...

OK, WHAT did you do to Rudolph?!

2008-12-19T15:35:00.005-06:00

So we get home and what is Dakota sporting with this time? You got it--Rudolph's antlers! Sorry kids, thanks to this insane pero negro, there is no red-nosed reindeer to guide santa's sleigh! Only a pitch black canine freak. But wait...I hear a new song coming on...maybe she'll do??

Then one foggy afternoon,

Bradley's comin' home.

D'kota with your eyes so bright,

Won't you trash my house tonight?

Then all the humans squeal-ed,

As they yelled it out in pain.

They'll never let Dakota,

Ever out her kennel again!!!

I have absolutely no idea where she came up with the antlers. When she first brought them home, they were connected with a swatch of skull. I've been worried that we'll find them planted in the tread of one of our car tires, since she leaves them any old place. Sort of reminds me of a certain refrigerator wheel, right BJ? Have we bonded with this dog yet?

Zac and I had a good campout last weekend down at the Johnson's ranch. Here are a couple of photos.

We decided to sleep with no fly on the tent. The moon was huge and bright, so we went to sleep watching it. It was cold but great!

Zac doesn't get cold--everyone else (except Russell) is bundled to the hilt.

I guess one of the highlights was when Matt, a lovable symmetrically shaped young man in our troop (that means his height and width proportions are approximately equivalent), slipped down the slope of the pond and became stuck in the mud in shallow water, unable to extract himself. He was a good sport, drying out the best he could near the fire. He didn't have a change of clothes. Notice how he smiles so big, even when his back is turned... Here's a big turtle he brought back with him!

This is Andy picking out Saphire's hooves. I did Sky's. Whoa, it's not the same picking out a 2200 lb shire as our 1100 lb quarters! What fun, though.

The pair pulled the wagon loaded with about 20 people all over the hills of the ranch. Incredible!

The Bitch is Back

2008-12-08T12:32:00.000-06:00

With the premature demise of her only offspring, Dakota has quickly returned to her youthful exuberance that characterized her prior to child bearing and parental responsibilities. This is not wholy a good thing. Sure, it is entertaining to watch her bounce and prance and run, drag sticks twice her size, and generally make Tigger look like Gary from SpongeBob. But unfortunately, her sense of good judgment has shrunk as fast as her puppy-less teats and everything seems to be fair game once again. When I was asked by a fellow scouter at church yesterday what animal brain we would be bringing next (see our previous post regarding squirrel anatomy), I considered a certain black dog...
Do any of you remember Elton John's song, the one that inspired the title to this post???
If we didn't all enjoy her the rest of the time, we would entice her to go play with the neighbor's goats. Some of you will get my drift.
This is the remains of our competition volleyball, now stripped of its entire padded outer layer. You will see it as multi-colored flecks strewn across the front yard. Notice her remorse...

This is what is left of Laurie's autographed beach ball from girls camp. Who needs sentimental crap anyway. Thanks, Dakota. How she got it down is a mystery, unless she was able to bounce ninja-style off of the lockers, then the van and finally up the shelves and pull it out. Again, notice her perked up ears. Yes, there were things being uttered under our breath that she has not heard before!

Actually, she was looking over at the rest of her mayhem. Somehow she was able to open the Rubbermaid bin, pull out a string of Christmas lights (one of the few good ones no less), and rip parts of it to shreds. Boots, shoes, her own pillow, and cardboard are all part of her reverie. She just plain went nuts. This is all over one night's time. I think I am going to start keeping her in the rabbit cage (the rabbit was also a victim of her playtime craziness).

Squirrel anatomy class

2008-12-02T21:39:00.000-06:00

I got home from work to find that a large unfortunate tree rat was lying dead in my front yard, apparently the victim of Dakota's very fast and agile hunting skills. He had not been lifeless long as his body was still quite supple. The logical thing to do of course was to pick him up and chase Dustin and Lauren with him. While the loud high pitched squeals were anticipated, we decided to turn the squirrel's unfortunate demise into a science project. We decided to disect him and examine his organs! So off to the bridge we all went, Zac, Dustin Lauren and I, to educate ourselves. Here are the results. WARNING: if you are a little squeamish, this may not be for you!

This initial incision gave us a good view of the colon, liver, heart, lungs and stomach, and probably some other stuff we weren't sure of, as well as, well, his male components.

This is a view of the heart cut in two as well as the lungs. The dark red mass is coagulated blood. We did this on the bridge so we could feed the fish and turtles in the pond when we finished.

This is simply gross. Maybe we have lived out too long...

In this photo, we learned that Shrek was telling the truth when he said that eyes are filled with jelly, as seen here to the right of the skull.

We all wanted to see the brain intact, so we took the head to the scroll saw, cut off just the top of the cranium, and voila! We were able to extract it along with the mudulla oblongata (we assume that if crocodiles have one as Col. Sanders taught us, squirrels surely do too). Here is what we found:

Dustin is taking the brain to school tomorrow in a jar filled with alcohol. Lauren claimed the skull and the tail. Kym was thrilled, needless to say. Zac has claim to the exterior male genitalia, which he is considering placing on the desk of his athletics coach who gave him lunch detention today for arriving 4 minutes early rather than 5 minutes. There are, perhaps, many ways to interpret such a gesture. I counseled Zac that he may not want to take credit for the exhibit, if he elects to go through with it!

Well, that's it for another day. Who knows what tomorrow will bring!

Post-Thanksgiving chillin

2008-12-01T21:13:00.000-06:00

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving at our home. Due to a dead battery and a mysteriously missing fuel pump relay (haha), Craig and Audrie were unable to leave when they planned. Chance, Dustin, Dakota and I took advantage of this opportunity to have lunch and a movie in the underground fort in the back. It was pretty cool to be six feet under and still moving around! Here are some pictures:

We took off a small part of the roof to let a little more light in. You can see what a wonderful cavernous hangout it is! The back wall is closed up with railroad ties. One enters by crawling through a 15' tunnel (that's where Dustin is squatting in the picture above), then dropping into the main chamber. Chance brought all the food in his backpack.

Since we couldn't find Lion King 1, we watched Lion King 1 1/2. We dined on PBJ's, chips, oranges, apples, Fruit Gushers, Kool-Aid and more--fare for a king!

It was hard to keep Dakota out of the food...

Chance had to guard his PBJ carefully!

Simba chillin out just like us!

I don't think he was scared, maybe cold a little...

We all hated to go, but a messenger was sent to end the party (and call me to fix the car...)

2008-11-20T21:45:00.000-06:00

Some of you know that we have had a long-term canine guest at our home: Dakota. Dakota married Cosmo and they had a little girl: Vudoo. Very sadly, Vudoo went swimming in the pool with inadequate supervision last Saturday and now resides under several hundred pounds of dirt in our way back yard pet cemetery, which is now becoming quite populated. We were all very sad about this, especially Dustin who locked himself in his room when he found out. Vudoo, we are sorry and we will miss you. Dakota, I guess you don't get spayed just yet after all.

Each morning, Dakota, Cosmo and I accompany Dustin up to wait for the bus at the corner. Dakota, a very smart dog (not that she often uses it for good...), has learned a new trick, which Dustin captured on video as follows:

Typically, she licks off the mucoidal delicacy on her first jump. This one did not dangle as well as others. Oh well. Who knows what other tricks we'll learn while waiting for the bus!

This next picture relates to my last post, item 6. This is how I knew Dustin was home from school today. Please notice 1) empty tp roll on the right, and 2) fully clogged toilet on the left! For goodness sakes! It simply doesn't take an entire roll to clean or even to polish such a small bum! I am considering tp rationing...

Finally, I wanted to add some interesting detail on the endless counting that goes on in my mind. First, you may find, as do I, that if you cluster the counting, it becomes at once more reliable and easier. For example, you can count to 10 by 1,2,3,4...10. OR, you can hear two groups of 3 beats and one group of 4 beats and that is 10. I wonder if any computer algorithms take advantage of this approach? It is WAY easier to count this way, then you just have to keep track of the 10's.
The other number related thing is that I sometimes convert to other number bases. For example, when I saw BJ and Katherine's house address, 11101, I converted it from binary to 29 base 10 (decimal). That made it pretty easy to remember and also serves as an error check.
So that's it for tonight's show. Happy Thanksgiving to all our family and friends :)

2008-11-05T14:03:00.001-06:00

No pictures, just text, so if that's boring to you, adios. I am in a quirky mood, so here goes my six someone asked me for a long time ago but I ignored:

1. My mind works with numbers only. Names don't stick until a number goes with it, doesn't matter if it's a phone number, a serial number, or a tail number--I need numbers to think.

2. Which brings me to the next item: I count in my head for any repetitive activity in which I engage. It is automatic. It comes from my Medulla Oblongatta (however you spell that, Waterboy). For example, when I urinate, the counter starts. The number counting has been in french for 30 years now. So, a safety stop will count out to between 10-15. A recognizable but not yet serious situation is a 15-25 tic event. A wake me up out of a dead sleep will go for 30-45. A STOP everything now and go this instant will get 60 or more... And lest you think it is limited to dehydration exclusively, I count steps as I run, cycle, fill my water containers, chew, brush my teeth, etc, etc ad nausium

3. Speaking of brushing my teeth, I am meticulous. I think I passed this down to Amber (was it in your post about brushing teeth being an absolute prerequisite to going to bed?) So, my morning brushing gets 10 strokes for each "station" in my mouth. I have assigned 22 stations, which means 220 brush storkes, with each one being a "back-forth". Yes, I am OCD, no doubt. Night time gets double, with some extra work to make sure the nasty textured crap on the inside is for sure gone, cuz the tongue travels religiously and methodically over the teeth 24/7 and it KNOWS the crap spots and will NOT let me alone if there is some. So that makes 440 + at night. Now you know why it takes me so long to get to bed. The up side is that I recently went to the dentist for my first cleaning since 1993 (yes, that's before a couple of my kids were born). To their astonishment, the hygenists were amazed that they had no work to do. HA! Poetic justice!

4. Since the pre-existence I believe, I ALWAYS put on my left sock, pant leg, shoe, or whatever first, then my right. NO exceptions. If for some reason the right goes on first, I take it off and start over. This is scarry for some of you who thought you knew me. Oh well, breathe deeply.

5. I can't stand for the 3-way light switches (you know, the ones that have 2 or more places you can turn a light off or on) to be in the "on" position if the light is off, or in the "off" position if the light is on. I will go all the way across the house/office/yard to fix this anomaly. So, for exampnle, our front exterior porch lights can be controlled by a switch in the kitchen by the sliding door, by a switch at the front door, or by a switch next to the exterior door going into Nick's room. I will navigate the entire house to fix an irregularity with the switch position. Actually, this annoys even me, but I have to live with myself so I just do it as fast as I can.

6. I am glad that we are only responsible to post 6 items or I would possibly be reclassified by my peers out of the sane component of the human race. However, I may find some sympathy among other men with this last one. I only use two squares of TP at a time, neatly folded over, when doing my business. If by some unfortunate chance the quality of the TP is sub-par, it may have to be three squares to avoid a puncture. I use the full size, then fold in half and use again, then in half again, thus getting three swipes out of two squares. That maximizes the use out of that piece of flush-it-away expense. Until I started living with females, I assumed this was pretty much the norm world-wide. One roll of TP can last me up to 12 years. Since I have been living with women now for the past 29 years, I realize that one roll is only supposed to last one day--you know, one roll=one day. When we are on TP rationing in the last days, I hope to make some converts. It drives me insane(r).

So there you have it. I'm as weird a duck as ever quacked. I'll get back to pictures for the next post--much safer.

2008-10-16T00:01:00.000-05:00

OK, i haven't died. I'll get a real post up this weekend. With Laurie gone there is just too much to do! Look at that time--past midnight, so ridiculous. We have to tell you all about the wonderful trip to Mexico with the Cardon family. It was a truly unique and wonderful experience. More this weekend (I hope...)

There's a Man in the House

2008-09-27T22:01:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday to Nick! Here is the man on September 22

I came home Friday night from a 2-day board meeting for TSSA and here is what Dustin had to show me:

It turns out that he was running down the driveway as Nick was driving away, Dakota was chasing Nick, and Dustin quit watching his feet! Dakota does not realize that humans can't leap over obstacles (particularly when they are not looking) like dogs. Dakota tripped him while they were both running full speed. Poor guy, he was swollen about an inch out. Yes, it hurt about like it looks. We thought he broke his hip!

BJ and I are headed to Phoenix early in the morning. The fact is, we were headed out today until this odd object impaled itself on his tire. It turns out that the apartment maintenance guy who moved out their refrigerator today managed to handle the appliance in such a way as to pop off one of the feet! The assembly landed directly under BJ's tire such that as soon as he drove off, he ran over it. Naturally, there was a bolt pointing directly up at his tire. By the time we were able to deal with that, it was time to go see a movie!

Last item, another wild creature. Nick saw him and Zac caught him in the theater room. I have no idea how he got in there!

Nick rocks!

2008-09-21T19:17:00.000-05:00

Saturday morning, with a day planned full of activities, Nick came in nearly doubled over in pain. He had been fighting whatever this is for a few days, but finally said he needed to go to the doctor. Laurie takes him to Baylor and the rest of us nervously await some news. We thought it might be some kind of kidney infection. Melanie said it sounded like appendicitis to her. Whatever it is, we all got a little nervous. After some blood work and whatever they do there for all that $$$, they concluded that he did not have appendicitis, but most likely kidney stones. For any of you whose lives have not included a run in either first hand or vicariously with kidney stones, those who have will tell you they are not your friends. If they are, they are very bad ones, ones that will cause you much pain and suffering! For now, we assume he has kidney stones that he will have to pass in the next week or so. If that does not happen, they want to do some kind of cat scan to narrow down further the possibilities. Bishop Ayres and I gave him a blessing. He can't be too bad off--he decided not to cancel his 18th birthday party we had scheduled for that night! So with his mind swimming in the morphine from the hospital and the codeine from the drugstore, we went ahead with the bash! Good thing--we counted over 50 people from school that came. No way we could have canceled that. It was wild but fun. I designated Dustin to be the official photographer. If any of you need a wedding photographer, (can you say BJ?!) Dustin might be the one. I have included some of his photos below. BJ & Katherine were there too, since, after all, it was actually BJ's 23rd! Nick's is not really til Monday. We had a bonfire in the back, heated the spa, put out the 100' slip n slide in the south pasture, played basketball and volleyball, had the ping pong table going as well as air hockey, ripstiks, green machine, and just about every contrivance we could come up with (except the motorized ones). It was great fun. Laurie cooked the weiners, I made rootbeer. All in all, quite a good night. 7--midnight or so. Thank goodness for church at 1 PM!

Earlier we went to the MacDonnell's fundraiser for cancer at Applebee's. Then we went to the gun show and wathched every kind of person buy, sell, and carry around weapons of all kinds. It gave us pause and cause for thought for sure.

Get ready for some football posts! Zac is No. 40. Tuesday night was his first game. He is on the 'A' team. He got one near sack and caused the QB to miss his toss. Way to go, Zac!

2008-09-14T21:42:00.000-05:00

Well, I decided I needed a new car. The old one had 175,000. What a deal! Here it is:

Had ya going, didn't I ! Didn't really know what else to post, but it was time for a new one:)

Bailing Out-Carrie & Kai Left Today

2008-09-04T22:24:00.001-05:00

Carrie and Kai have been at the casa for the past few days. They left today. Thanks for the visit! Like the sign Susan has in her kitchen, "I have learned that being with the ones I love is enough." For sure! What a pleasure to have them around. Kai is like a machine when he starts the leg squats--he just keeps going and going! Next visit, we expect he'll be running all over. Right now he can crawl about as fast as we walk. Thanks again for the visit, Carrie.

What's the Buzz

2008-09-04T18:42:00.000-05:00

So we come home in the garage and Zac says, OUCH! I hate dragonflies, as he takes a swat at his attacker.

The wild pet week continues. It turns out to be a wild and crazed humingbird!

So what happens is the little guy flies into the garage, but as you can see his cranial cavity is not large enough to let him figure out how to fly OUT (even with the 8' tall doors wide open). So I go get the swimming pool net to capture him, very concerned about his health, since one false swish of the net and we have killed the dragonfly.

I was able to get him in the net, but just as I went to release him into the wild, he took off into the garage again (can you say moron?). Well, he buzzed and flew, flew and hovered until "Houston, we have a problem, we're out of gas!" He just sank down onto the bed of the big red truck like Chances flying saucer running out of batteries. I think I laughed right out loud. "Sucks for you!" I thought he was dead.

So then I went over and picked him up. No, I did not administer mouth-to-beak. I took him in and stuck that little hyperdermic into some peach juice. After a few beaks-full of that, I took him outside and AWAY he flew! I should have been a vet

We expect to see a kangaroo or an ostrich next...

Labor Day Post

2008-09-01T21:45:00.000-05:00

OK, I have been away for a week or two. Just too many things to keep up with to post, but here we are again (smile).

Today we (all but Nick) loaded up the horses and went down to the Johnsons to ride. Rebecca leaves to BYU-Idaho on Wednesday morning. Laurie has wanted to go ride with her pretty much all summer. We borrowed Leon Baker’s 3-horse slant trailer so we could take Ozzie, Blackie and Tootsie (maybe mom's new soon to be re-named horse, this is her in the pic). Tootsie is what she was trained to be—a barrel race horse. And is Laurie trained to be a race horse jockie? Uh...maybe not...Gee whiz—she is fast!!! Her stride is 50% longer than Blackie’s. Rebecca was on her and me on Blackie. She took off and left us in the dust.

Dustin & Robbie, me on Tootsie in the pond...

Bro. West’s funeral is this Wednesday. We are all very heavy hearted about this. I have felt this way: he has a very important work to do that he can’t do on this mortal earth. How do I conclude that? Well, he has 3 beautiful daughters under 3 years old. The most important work he can do on this earth is to raise them and be a worthy husband. If he, being a good and righteous man, was called away from work that important here, think how more important the work is that he is being called out of this mortality to do! That is clear to me. I don’t even doubt or wonder about it.

We had a really good sacrament meeting yesterday. Stephanie Weber (Zac's age) gave her first ever talk. She talked about integrity, quoted from Job, and told stories about keeping one’s integrity notwithstanding peer pressure. Although she was shaking with her nerves, she gave a great talk. Sister Weber spoke next on faith. Wow! She is a giant I didn’t really know. Her great-great grandmother came from England in 1856, joined the Martin Handcart Company, and lost all of her family including a step son whose valiance saved her life while trekking to SLC. She told the entire story of her ancestry from that woman. That was wonderful faith. Brother Davidson (you may not remember them, but they moved here from Roseville where BJ’s mission was) spoke on missionary work and it was great, not your run-of-the mill talk.

Well, we had lots of animals visit this weekend. First, Dusting screamed like he was being attacked Saturday morning. Mom had him washing the sliding window in the kitchen, he was standing outside, when a large snake slithered across his foot into the house! They came and got me, I caught the rascal. He was in the kitchen by the dishwasher and smelled like skunk! He was about 4 ½ feet long and fat. And mean! He kept striking so much that he ended up with his fang stuck in his own side! I let him go in the neighbors’ pond...

Saturday night Dustin couldn't sleep in his room so he slept in between mom and me, too many bad snake dreams. I finally retreated to his room to sleep once he crashed, which is much cooler anyway.

What was funny is that we were running after the snake just as Scott & Julie drove up to visit us for the day. I think they thought we were going to hide from them, or that I had forgotten to tell Laurie they were coming. We had a great "just hang out" day. We built some target holders then went shooting. Here are the newest NRA members:

We had lots of laughs doing just about nothing. It's been too long!

So last night, Cosmo is barking his head off. A small skunk is evading him and ends up in the garage at my office. Oh boy! Then he finds two more of them under the pool deck and crawls under to get them. He comes out yelping and rolls in the grass trying to get the smell off his nose! It was hilarious to watch.

Finally, we found a 2 pound bullfrog in the pool and scooped him out. Laurie kissed him and voila, her prince charming appeared!

(gag me, like that's ever gonna happen (flushing toilet in background)). So charming went and threw him on Carrie (who is visiting with Kai). She did an imitation of the exploding bird (Shrek) (just before exploding).

So there you have it—no dull moments here. Audrie and Amber Skyped me from Denver—it was great to see everyone. Except for the large vertical crack I was exposed to!!! My eyes will never be the same. Kinsey and Chance were there as well as Travis, Conner and Kenedi. Oh, and I can’t forget Figuero, Chance’s new victim, I mean kitten.

Since Bop posted some Galveston pics, I won't put too many, except she did NOT look like a cow, so here she is with JALEI:

And here she is with me!

Here are a couple more:

1st solids video:

About 100 mph...

Here's the responsible (haha) driver!
Isn't she beautiful! I did good when I married this one!

Here's Dustin and me at Six Flags for his birthday outing (about 3 months late)

And here's Zac and me, same place about a week later!

Finally, we did our annual (Craig & Chance, you were with us last year) Ranger's game where we have personalized seats at 1st base thanks to our SIZEABLE contribution to Clay Ellis' orthodontist business...

So there you have it—a week in the life of the Youngs. Aren't we blessed!!!

Hope all is going well. Just keep swimming!

What now?

2008-08-17T21:46:00.000-05:00

So there are a bunch of things to tell this post. The saga just kind of stacks up on us! The best way to handle it is with pictures. Here goes. Audrie asked for a picture of Zac sans (French for without) braces. The only one I have is posted below (unless this blogger software jacks the picture position again...which it just did, placing it above!@#$%). OK, now it thinks that is a web address, good grief. There is also this picture of how I feel about the way this works.

I just want a freakin' photo to post below my type. I've tried every format option including "none".

We held a work project called the "dam cleanup project" last Saturday. At least I called it the dam cleanup. Others, I believe, spelled it slightly differently. So after slipping into the pond while extracting various branches, we three guys looked about the way Z does in the picture at the top. Here goes a video. Never a dull moment at the Texas homestead!

Thursday we (unfortunately without Nick) went to Houston to pick up Marianne and Sage, go to Blake's 5th b-day party at the swimming pool, and go to the beach in Galveston with Susan & Scott, Stacy and her kids. What a blast! Lessons learned: (some already experienced and should have been learned previously) don't travel without a dehydration plan when young children are on board; don't turn Scott loose in Costco or any store without Susan to chaperone if you are on a schedule or want to be on a schedule; apply sunscreen even when it's raining.
I'll try a couple pictures again. Good luck finding them on the page. Lights out til next post. Oh, one more thing, did you know that Scott can kneel beside his bed for at least 3 hours without getting up? Watch for it the next time you visit. If you're thinking brother of Jared, try thinking hearts or solitaire.

The Friday Evening Post

2008-08-08T17:37:00.000-05:00

This is definitely not MS Publisher. I have no idea how to manage the media, so these are just out there. Some of these are on or looking at Mt. Baldy, the highest peak on the ranch at 12,441'. We had a cool sacrament meeting up there. They should all be so close to God!

I love Aspens. We hiked through all kinds of different vegetation depending on the elevation.

Chandler and I hung out some. He is one tough kid. Everyone else is in coats/freezing. Not him, he wore the same shirt and shorts rain, shine, hail, freezing, whatever! He has man muscles on him too--he never slowed down hiking. I think it is the Young blood in him (smile).

This is my new backyard...
Humingbirds were everywhere. I got this one in mid-hover next to the sugar water decanter.

I got up at 4 AM and went for a hike. See the moon in the background sky?
This is my good friend Tiger. He has some mighty weird rain paints on, even though there is absolutely no fashion show going on up there.

So it's 5:37 PM Friday. What's a 50 year-old to do? Why post to the family blog of course...

I was sent out to look up HD air antennas to mount on our 50' tower to put some HD vibes into the new flatscreen we got for mom's 51st. Thanks to Travis, it is nicely mounted on our bedroom wall which now is a household focal and gathering point. Hmmm, probably should have mounted it in the kitchen or something.

I promised a couple of pictures from Philmont so here they are. The striking sunsets above are from my solitary reverie on the top of Dean Skyline near Elk Horn Camp. This is where I wrapped up my 1st 50 and started my second. Not too bad.

This word processor really sucks. Everything I wrote last is first. I'm not fixing it--sorry. I gotta go see what forms of filial love are being acted out inside between Z & D - hopefully no blood.

test, test, test

2008-08-04T14:53:00.001-05:00

For sure this needs to be Laurie's deal, but here goes. All you get is a picture of us for now.

I'm wearing the new tie Kris sent me for my 50th and Laurie has on the friendship bracelet he sent her (he's got the corresponding ring I'm told).

In addition, I'm sporting 2 weeks of facial hair thanks to my Philmont trek. It got shaved off this morning.