New Camera so even more pictures.

Once again this Valentines day Chris and I made our wives a dinner.  The food was fabulous as always and we had a great time.   We made the normal scallops and the shrimp, but also a gluten free gourmet pizza dough from scratch and the this chocolate mousse desert.  The candy shapes are hand made and it was quite the production to make them so we were glad they turned out.

This tasted quite good.

So a couple weeks ago I changed out our kitchen sink for a dark composite granite one and had this old white thing staring at me in the garage for a while now so I thought there had to be something I could do with it.  This is what I came up with.  I figure this would be a great summer party beer/soda tub where you can fill it with ice and it would look pretty cool.

Hopefully we can have a chance to use this during the summer BBQ season while entertaining friends.  It is amazing what you can do with a bunch of old scrap wood and closet doors.  I knew I was keeping them around for some reason.

Last week there were epic conditions up on Mt. Spokane and I had a chance to go out with my buddies for some night snowboarding.  The conditions were amazing and really made my day/week.  After being up there I am starting to think I need to start snowboarding more often. 

Here is Matthew playing some "hoop ball" as James calls it.

 

I got my new camera the other day and am excited to learn how to take better pictures with it.  I got a Lumix LX7 and there are so many bells and whistles on this thing it is going to take a long time to figure out all of its settings and how to take great pictures.

James posing for the camera.

Matthew right before he tried to grab the camera.

Mesmerized by James trying to ride his bike...and do you think that this kid is teething by the looks of that drool?

Cutie.  sometimes he is so cute I know that if I am left alone with him I would actually squeeze him to death.

Here is James on the very old laptop we have not turned on in over three years pounding away trying to type a letter to his cousins.

Close up of Matthew

Another one

And here is another one with the teeth in it.  He has three in on the top and another one on the way.  We know it is coming since he is usually up crying for about 2hrs during the night.

Here is a 30 second exposure shot I took last night while I was out messing around with my new toy. 

It was such a clear night that I was able to get a bunch of star pictures, but it was quite cold so I had to limit my fun.  I also had a wife to spend QT with inside and she was quite proud of my photography skills...if only through the first 100 pictures I made her sit through.

 

Let it snow...and snow...and snow some more.

Winter is here and the lack of snow does not seem to be an issue any longer.  Like a lot of the western states we have not had a lot of water this winter and it was looking like it was going to be a long dry winter, we that has changed and we are now seeing white all over the place.  With all the snow we have had a chance to get out there and go sledding a couple of times.

Against his mothers wishes he did go down the steep part of the hill in a sled.  I was right behind him holding on of course.

Mom also got to go with James, but unfortunately for him, she is not that good at steering.  They had a great time and Brenda eventually got the hang of steering the new sled.

It was about 15 degrees the other day and we headed out for a walk.  Since it was so cold we did not go out very long.  Matthew is wearing and hand made touke from a co-worker.  Ridiculously cute square face opening that makes you laugh every time you look at him. 

The sink box provided some extended fun.

 

This weekend we went to Jim and Sandi's house.  They got dumped on and both the basketball games on Friday and Saturday were cancelled.  The snow was so bad that they even cancelled church on Sunday morning.  By Sunday afternoon the roads cleared and we headed home.

James loved clearing the snow

We even got a chance to get the speedster out.  It was a riot taking that thing out and doing a bunch of doughnuts.  When Brenda went out I could hear screams of laughter all down the driveway.

All smiles from Jim.

Getting stuck is all part of the fun.  The engine was also running a bit hot, but there was plenty of snow all around to put on the radiator to cool the engine off.  This summer Jim and I are going to compete in a speedster run (I will be the navigator although I can drive a T) and it should be pretty fun.

Matthew Turns 1!!!!!

So, I am sick of the state of the union address and thought it would be a good time to do something constructive and write a blog post of what we have been up to lately.  Life  continues to be better than we could have ever expected.  Sure there are some ups and downs, but we are really enjoying just having these two boys in the house and being able to watch them grow.

Matthew is really getting bigger and loves to take baths.  He has taken a couple of nose dives in the tub ending up with a mouth full of water, but generally come up smiling and laughing.

Sometimes this kid is so cute I can hardly stand it.  Give him a bottle and then the little puppy dog and he goes to bed very quickly and easily.

I, of course, had a killer 'stache going and was loving every minute of it.  I actually was getting a lot of compliments on it from people at Church and work.  It only posed a problem when trying to engage in interpersonal mouth to mouth speech training with ones spouse.

So off it finally came.  I was a bit sad to see it go, but the wife was happy.  James noticed it right away and asked where it went?  I told him I had to cut it off.  He then pointed to my lip and started making chainsaw noises saying "saw saw"...so darn cute sometimes.

It has been pretty mild this winter up here with very little snow to date, but to get out the other weekend we decided to take the sled out on Liberty Lake and walk across the lake.  Initially we were a bit hesitant, but out on the lake the ice appears to be about 10" thick so we made it all the way across.

Brenda walked most of the way, but when I tried to spin the sled around and Matt flew out and bonked his head on the Ice, she figure it was tine for her to get a ride and hold Matthew as well.

Notice Matthew's shirt?

That's right, he turned one last week.  We actually got him up and measured him as we do with both boys at regular intervals and although he was 1/4" shorter than James at 8 months, he is now over a 1/4" taller than he was at a year.  He is standing and hanging onto things, but still not walking.  Such a cute kid and a joy to be around that enough cannot be said.  Matt, we love you so much and have really treasured this last year we have got a chance to know you.  We look forward to what God has in store for you and know you are going to touch so many lives.

Last night I had enough.  It was time to get a new kitchen sink.  Our old one was badly damaged from some cleaner the previous owner used and it was time to get one we could actually clean.  Of course Home Depot is completely worthless and did not have the color of sink we wanted although they said they did.  It was so convoluted over there they could not even order it in and had no idea why they could not find the color we wanted.  Utter incompetence. 

 

So it was off to Lowes...the other waste of time.  After finding a sink we liked we notice the sink was on the top shelf and we were going to need help.  A guy came buy and called for assistance...5 minutes later he came back to say the guy who was supposed to be there was on break and someone else was coming.  To make a long story short...no one ever came.  I got so fed up and sick after 10 minutes I got the huge stair thing with the chain and sign saying "Employees Only...Do Not Touch" and wheeled it over to where I could climb up it and pull the 50lb sink down.  Those worthless employees in that store never even noticed or offered assistance.  Good thing I actually know what I am doing.  God forbid I be at the mercy of these "helpful sales associates".

The old sink came out easy enough and we had to do a little work to get the new one to fit the spot.  James was all over me every time I got to work and really wants to help out.  He was in charge of the drill for this task.

And ...viola.  it only took about 2 hours to switch out and get it all cleaned up.

Pretty nice sink and it made Brenda very happy so that is what really counts.

I think I heard Obama say at some point in time that "this is America, and if you work hard, you can get ahead".  Although I certainly agree with this statement it seems as though his administration has thought that if you do get ahead, you should be taxed and penalized because of that and drug back down.  Obviously I am not one of the top even 10% in America, but his administration and their strong arm tactics have started a class warfare where the middle and lower class have started to feel that the system is rigged and no one has a chance to get ahead.  Since they cannot get ahead, they need government to get involved and make the playing field more even.  What a bunch of BS malarkey from some socialist fear mongers.  This is still America, and if you work hard you can...AND SHOULD....get ahead without being dragged down by the overbearing and over reaching government I would add.

Christmas 2013

 

Christmas time was great at our house and I now know how hard it is not to buy every toy you see for your kids.  Every time I would go to the store I would see things that I knew James would love and it was all I could do to keep myself from buying it all for him.  This is the time of year when we have a chance to catch up with friends and family as well through Christmas cards.  This is probably Brenda's favorite thing about this time of year.'

When we were in CA earlier this year this picture was taken by a friend of ours.  Lucy is only one day younger than James.  If arranging marriages was a possibility I think we would jump at the chance.  These two had a great time together and were so cute. We just received this pic from her parents with their Christmas card.

Moustache is coming in nicely.  When we Skyped with my sister a week ago or so she insisted it be removed before her wedding in March.  I am not going to be in the ceremony so not sure why it matters.  I am pretty sure I should keep it so as to not outshine the groom.

James was ready for Christmas eve gift opening but he had a few days to wait.

My sister made this for Brenda and I lest we forget when we were married.  It will be good to hang on the wall so when I look at it on 6-27-14 I can be reminded that I need to go out and get a pair of socks for Brenda. 

It did snow here mid December as well, but was mostly melted by Christmas.

James helped me with "mowing" the walk.

 

I don't have a lot of pictures of the Christmas gift opening but a lot of videos.

Christmas morning James awoke to this beauty under the tree.

He thought he was O so cool in his truck in full uniform.

He also got to put out a few fires.  This car was given to him by my parents, but it was pretty banged up when I got it.  After a little work by Jim and myself we got it fixed, dents removed, and marker taken off the paint job.  Mr. Clean magic erasers are really magic.  They took the permanent marker off without even marking the paint.

Matthew really liked James's drill and other toys.  They also got a Nativity set for Christmas so they played and played with it all the time.

Matthew is right on the edge of walking and is being oh so cute.

We got a chance to go to CDA and see the bald eagles there.  The Kokanee had spawned and were all over the shoreline dead which is easy picking for the many bald eagles in the area.

Of course a lot of fun was had just hanging out around the house as well.  Note the scale BMW on thee table that Matthew got for Christmas.  It is really fun to play with, but strictly for Matthew of course

 

After Christmas we got a chance to go to Bozeman and see my parents.  The kids had a great time and Brenda and I got to go out to a movie while mom and dad watched the kiddos (their idea...but we did not let them think about it long).

Tickling the ivories with grandma.

 

While out there I got a chance to go fishing in the bear trap.  The temperature was only about 24-30 and cold, but the fish were biting so it kind of warmed us up.  You know it is cold when occasionally you have to de-ice the eyes of your rod in order to get the line to move.

My dad got this nice brown after hunting him for over a hour.  Perseverance wins every time.

 

All in all it was a great Christmas and we are indeed thankful for Gods grace race and the gift of salvation for all who accept it.