I'm very disapointed!

I think I've waited patiently long enough. I have been out here in the middle of nowhere checking all the blogs daily to see all of the Halloween pictures of cute nieces and nephews in costumes. Nothing. I expect you all to repent over this weekend, and have pictures up by the end of Sunday. A vos te digo tambien Laura. Ya es tiempo para que pongas algo en el blog.

Happy Belated Birthday!

I'm sure you all know by now that we are really, really bad at remembering birthdays. We are so sorry Ralph! We hope you have a great birthday.

Reunion Pictures

Did we ever get the photoshopped photos from the lady?

Voting time

Who's everyone voting for? Adrianne and I voted for Chuck Baldwin--we know there's no way he's going to win, but we are registered in Utah and they will select McCain regardless of what we do. We agree with the constitution party's position on most things. Are any of you in states where your vote actually means anything?

What is/has every one done for Halloween?

We went and picked pumpkins and then carved them. Unfortunately, it's now sure that I will not be here for halloween. I am going to Sierra California for 3 weeks this Saterday.

FUmpa FUmpa FUmpa...NOAH!!

Is someone talking to me?
FUMpa FUmpa FUmpa
NOAH!!
Who is This?
It's a miracle. Andy put a new post on his blog. It's even got pictures and everything. You should check it out.

Noah

Laura asked me to post some pictures of Noah.

He is 10 pounds 6 ounces, and 22 inches long.

SOMETHING COMPLETED - FINALLY!

We enjoyed watching general conference yesterday and today, and our testimonies have been strengthened through the talks we heard from the general authorities and other church leaders. We were glad to hear about new temples in Rome and Philadelphia, both of which we hope to visit :-).

Friday and Saturday (before and in between sessions) Dad cut and glued the capstones for the planters in front of the house. He started building them last summer, and feels great satisfaction at finally completing them. Still lots more capstones to do on the "great wall," in the back yard, but he continues to move forward.

Destructo Man

My little one year old boy (birthday pictures on my blog) is a constant mess maker. He climbs into everything, pulls things out of all the cupboards and drawers he can open, throws things on the floor and says uh oh! He is so cute, but I have twice as much to clean up now that he has learned these new abilities. When he gets hungry, he climbs over to the snack cabinet, pulls out some cookies or crackers and eats right thru the package. I finally have had to lock some of the cupboards up. He pulls out all the pots and climbs inside that cupboard while I am cooking dinner. He loves to watch things fall and say uh oh. Ah, what a fun stage this is.

Post Cards, please

Check out this post from Adrianne's sister. Her daughters class is collecting post cards.

http://mcclarkies.blogspot.com/2008/10/shout-out-for-postcards.html

Mike

Yesterday morning

Yesterday morning Adrianne and I got up for the day around 0610. I got into the shower and Adrianne went for a jog. After being in the shower for a few minutes, it was time to wash my face. I applied the soap to my face, and as I was doing so, I heard, from about 3 feet behind me, "Mahhh-mahhh." Naturally, hearing what sounded like ghost noises to me, I screamed like a girl. A second into the scream my brain caught up with my adrenalin and I recognized that the noise was Isaac.

Let me interrupt my story. On Sunday I was going to the bathroom when I overheard Adrianne telling the boys that I was a monster and that they needed to go "quish" me. I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to play with the boys, so as they ran down the hall to squish me, I turned and yelled, "Roarrrr!" Will was a little startled, but Isaac, stopped, shook like he was having a seizure and then started bawling. That was not my intended reaction, especially since it took about 30 minutes to help him stop crying. For the rest of the day he kept saying, "Daddy, no be monster/dinosaur."

Now, back to my story. I quickly opened the shower curtain to see Isaac, terrified, standing in the bathroom. Before I could say anything, he screamed, too. I tried to reassure him that things were okay, and that I was just a little scared by him, but all he would say was, "Daddy, no be monster. Daddy, no be monster." I couldn't figure out what to do--Do I hop out of the shower naked, dripping, and with soap all over my face to comfort my crying child or do I pick him up and bring him into the shower? I decided to pat his head, and tell him he was okay. After a few minutes he calmed down enough for me to tell him to go back to sleep and that mommy would be home when he woke up.

I no more than shut the curtain and resumed my shower when I heard, "Daddy, what was that scary noise?" With less patience for him, I told Will to get back in his bed and go to sleep.

Some men are afraid to admit that they scream like a little girl. I am not.

Mike

Advice

Does anyone know anything about the current market? Other than it is not doing great.

We are thinking about refinancing (again) and wondered what will happen to the interest rates over the next few months.

I have to lock-in my rate and am not sure what to do!

Chores

How does your family do chores? Mom and dad do it all? The kids have assignments? Charts? Daily, weekly? What do you do??

One more thing...

P.S. How is Laura, Andy's pregnant wife, doing?

Wheat Grinders and USAF Academy

Mom has offered to get each family a wheat grinder for Christmas. http://www.blendtec.com/millpromo.aspx (Mom, the promo code is here on the page--it seems like the code only applies to 1 purchase, so you might have to do a separate purchase for each grinder) If you are interested in getting one, please let her know.

I have been becoming more and more concerned about food storage recently. I went to the cannery for the first time in my life yesterday. We now have a lot of macaroni that will not go bad for the next 30 years, but we still need to get some other stuff. I am excited about having a wheat grinder, too. I only have 3 cans of wheat right now, but next time we go, I will get more. I'm convinced that even if we never have to use it, our family will still be blessed for following the Lord's counsel on food storage. “From the standpoint of food production, storage, handling, and the Lord’s counsel, wheat should have high priority. … Water, of course, is essential. Other basics could include honey or sugar, legumes, milk products or substitutes, and salt or its equivalent. The revelation to produce and store food may be as essential to our temporal welfare today as boarding the ark was to the people in the days of Noah.” (Ezra Taft Benson, Oct. 1980.)

On another note, unless something out of the ordinary happens, we will be moving to Dayton, OH in Aug 09 where I will get a master's degree in mechanical engineering. We will then move to Colorado Springs in Dec 10/Jan 11 where I will teach at the Air Force Academy for the following 4 years. Exciting, eh?

Mike

New FamilySearch Take Two

Well, I got access to the new FamilySearch on Wednesday and have probably spent 10 or so hours on it since. I am really enjoying messing with it. So far, I've completed the training for family history consultants/priesthood leaders and have spent most of the rest of my time going through and combining duplicate records of a number of our ancestors. In fact, almost every one of them has had at least 2 records. It has been very interesting to me. I think Aunt Shauna is also working on things--there was a piece of information that she changed.

I haven't actually tried to find anyone new. I've added a few pieces of information from Grandpa Paulsen's records (the ones I stole from Mandy). I am just starting to go through the records he has and compare them with the information on line. Most of the people I'm updating have already had their temple work done, but it seems like there have been a few sets of siblings that are awaiting their work--I don't know for sure because I haven't tried to combine their records. You see, almost every time I've found someone who needs their temple work done, I find a duplicate (or a few duplicates) that already have their temple work done.

In any case, if your temple district is using the new FamilySearch, I invite you to register and take a look around.

Mike

FREE!!!

This morning there was an ad from a yard sale. They had all this stuff left over from their yard sale and were giving it away free. My sister in law and I went and spent about an hour going through all the stuff. This is the junk I came home with. There is a mirror, some clothes, a printer ink, cookbooks, candles, candlesticks, laundry detergent, shoes, a tray, knick nacks,

a fleece blankie, fat curling iron, etc. It was soooo fun! I wouldn't have bought this stuff, but since it was free...!!! My sister in law Laura got a bunch of stuff, too. She got some roller blades, books and a bunch of more stuff. I think people should give me stuff free more often!!

Poll

So Mom told me today that Laura is already dilated. SO we better hurry up and place our bets.

Important facts

Her due date is October 17th

She had Nick 4 weeks early.

PLACE YOUR BETS

New Family Search

Mike wants to know who is using the new family search. He is very excited about it.

New Post

Everyday I check this blog to see if something new is here... like many of you, but there isn't. I've finally come up with something to post.

Rummage Sales!!

Also known as yard sales and garage sales.
Most weekends through out the summer in any town.

You may not know this, but I am addicted to yard sales. I hate to miss them, what if they have just what I need at an incredible price?? Here there are sales from Wednesday to Saturday, and sometimes Sunday, too. I can usually get in at least one a day and fill my obsession. Today I got a book for 50 cents for Jacob.
I've found some good things this season. We got a lawn mower, a rake, decoration for Jacob's room, clothes, and other stuff I can't remember. Oh, lamps, little people farm...
I've also seen some really weird stuff for sale:
empty bear honey bottles
empty gatorade bottles

This is Powwow weekend in Bismarck. It is the big weekend for sales because lots of people come into town. I will try to hit at least a few a day for the next few days. I will let you know how it goes.

Have you been "saling" thing summer? What have you found? What weird things have you seen?