The Buckaroos

Our Life in Pictures

2011-05-12T00:50:00.000-06:00

Spring Training - Finally Baseball is Back!!!

Phoenix Zoo - What are you doing up there?

This is the perfect size for me!!

Can I feed the ducks again?

I couldn't let the boys have all the fun

Opening Day 2011!!!

Oliver loves to climb the stairs 1/2 way and then sit for a while

11 Months Old

Oliver's one egg he found this year

The Easter Bunny's eggs
Oliver's brother was kind enough to help him eat his

Notice his egg did not get touched

End result of Oliver's egg

Jared entered a Peep contest

Those birds had it coming!!!!

Free pancake day at IHOP

My brother was kind enough to share with me

We tried making cinnamon rolls, they failed but we had fun in the process

Shamrock Shakes ROCK!!!!!

Super Dad

Don't we look cute clean

My mom is so mean to me

Gotta get a picture before Parker is bigger than Oliver

Being a king is hard work

There's a new sheriff in town

Airplane Restaurant in CO Springs

Joseph loved flying us to a tropical location while we waited for our food

Oliver & Parker

Joseph is a true CO boy

Shopping with my bro by my side

Sugar cookies & dirt make a great combination

Yep IN-N-OUT is still gross!!!!!!
I think the meal was only enjoyed by one

Look mom I'm a cat!!!

Children's Museum in Phoenix
Joseph had a blast. The scarves went in the tubes and blew out at the top.

Noodle Forest = Super Happy 3 Year Old

Why isn't real grocery shopping this much fun

Liver's first swing of the summer

Joseph dressed himself

Everyone needs a super hero with them at Home Depot

Jared finally made it to a Rockies game with us

This is one of my favorite outfits ever!!!

Mommy really needs a girl

Joseph put these shoes on himself then wanted his picture in them

Liver & Rose

Chick-fil-A is the best!!!

Happy Birthday Joseph

2011-02-05T01:12:00.000-07:00

Happy 3rd Birthday Joseph!!

2011-02-05T01:11:00.000-07:00

I can't believe my little Joseph is already 3. I swear it was just yesterday that I was in denial that you were coming

Massive Photo Update

2011-02-05T01:09:00.003-07:00

It about time the Buck Boys start honoring their redneckness

Picture by Joseph

Oliver loved this butterfly and tried to eat it shortly after this picture

Spider Joseph

Another photo by Joseph

Joseph loved the bug part of the Butterfly Pavilion way better than the butterfly part.

Family picture taking is hard

Our Christmas Tree 2010

I still think this chair would have been perfect for our entry. It was only $200!!

Santa Oliver

Christmas Swap 2010

Oliver lost his head while napping one day

Luckily I found it

Decorating Gingerbread house and Train for FHE

Oliver had his first candy cane and appears to have loved it

Got my front room painted by a homeless guy. How could I pass on a color called Aebleskiver!!! Break out the powdered sugar and roll me in the walls!!

Visited the ghetto fabulous of my parents' neighbor

Christmas 2010

Joseph did not want to open presents on Christmas. We stopped first at my parents and he just wanted to play on the computer. We had to bribe him to come and open his presents.
As we were driving up to Jared's parents' house I asked him:
"Are you going to be a good boy at Papa Buck's and open presents or are you going to be a punk?"
Joseph responded "I be a punk"
True to his word he was a punk and wanted to play wii instead of opening presents. Once we convinced Joseph that opening presents was fun he seems to have a great time.

Way better than sleeping bags

Liver decided that our gingerbread house had been sitting on the table long enough. He smashed it and then helped himself to a piece.

Took Oliver sledding for the first time. He seemed to enjoy it and even fell asleep as I was dragging him back up the hill.

Every time it snows I try and get Joseph to go outside and play in it. His response is always "no it's cold outside" He truly is his mother's child.

Liver got bored watching me paint

This is the closest Jared will ever get to being a Blue Man

We had to see Santa to make sure he got our lists

Oliver decided that he did not need to wear his clothes while taking a nap

Too bad they will not both fit up here for long

I put Joseph in the car and told him to do his buckle while I put the cart back. I found him here when I got back to the car.

Christmas/Holiday Swap Match Up

2010-11-22T00:34:00.001-07:00

The swap is on!!!

Please contact each other within the next day or two and please let me know if you do not hear from your swap partner within a week, I will need to make changes.

1. Living Aloha - Five Great Kiddos
angieonmaui@gmail.com - fivegreatkiddos@yahoo.com

2. Love, Laughter and a Little Chaos - The Rotella Family
jmhhermon@yahoo.com - DSRotella@comcast.net

3. amy d ...randomly me - Bladhs
amydouglass@cox.net - rosebladh@yahoo.com

4. Team Frisbee - Happy Hodge Podge
morganolw@yahoo.com - ckiser@chem-cashtd.com

5. The Buckaroos - Denton Sanitorium
hendi123@hotmail.com - jenny.denton@cox.net

Please remember that all packages should be mailed out no later than the 10th of December. But sooner would be better so the person receiving your package can enjoy their goodies this year. Also this swap is not limited to Christmas items. It can include anything winter related you'd like. Some great items to include could be hand towels, socks, note cards, decorations, your favorite holiday treats, etc...If you have a fun holiday tradition that is easy to share that would be great to include as well.

Also don't forget to send me pictures so I can post them on my blog for all to see the goodies and get great ideas for the future.

Christmas/Holiday Swap

2010-11-05T23:51:00.000-06:00

I'm hosting a Christmas/Holiday Swap

How it will work is you leave a comment with your email address and I will start pairing people up together. I will then let you know who you are swapping with and give you their email address , so that you can exchange addresses, etc... All packages will have to be mailed out no later than the 10th of December. But sooner would be better so the person receiving your package can enjoy their goodies this year.

This swap is not limited to Christmas items. It can include anything winter related you'd like. Some great items to include could be hand towels, socks, note cards, decorations, your favorite holiday treats, etc...If you have a fun holiday tradition that is easy to share that would be great to include as well. If you need some ideas check out the pictures from a Halloween swap I participated in.

If you don't think you can do it, please don't sign up to participate and then not follow through. Let me know if you DON'T receive your package by the 15th of December.

I think a $20.00 limit is about right.

By the way...everyone is welcome on this swap, no need to be a follower, etc...Just please make sure you are going to commit to it. Invite all your friends and family to join in on this as well.

Also please take pictures of the packages you receive and I will post them on my blog so everyone can see all the awesome things that were exchanged.

Halloween 2010

2010-11-05T18:21:00.000-06:00

Halloween has come and gone. Living in CO the weather is crazy and unpredictable with the exception of Halloween. I'm a native and you can pretty much guarantee that it will snow on Halloween or be bitterly cold. This year we had the BEST weather!!! I was able to take Joseph out Trick-or-Treating on Halloween night in flip flops and a sweatshirt!!!

We went to the Trick-or-Treat Street at the rec center and got enough candy to give out on Halloween night and still have some left over.

They had this cute pumpkin patch at the trick or treat street where every family got to pick a pumpkin to take home. Oliver enjoyed sitting and licking the pumpkins. I had to laugh cause I saw a few people taking Oliver's picture. One guy came up and told me I should enter Oliver in a photo contest. Maybe that's what other people were taking his picture for. If you see him win a contest let me know so I can hit up the winner for a share of the money.

Should I be worried that random strangers are taking my child's picture? Have you ever taken a picture of someone you didn't know?

Joseph took this picture. I think he did quite well.

We also raked up the leaves in our front yard and had fun jumping in the pile. Thanks to big winds earlier in the week we had more than our tree's leaves in our yard.

Jared also set up a spook alley in our basement for the kids. It seemed to be a big hit. I found these videos of it on the camera. They don't really do it justice.

Halloween Swap

2010-10-28T01:45:00.000-06:00

My friend Susan hosted a Halloween swap on her blog fivegreatkiddos. You made a halloween package and sent it to you assigned person and they sent you one back. I was assigned amy d...randomly me. I got my package first and this is what I got:

It was awesome to come home and have a package sitting on my front porch. Although Jared didn't get it.

Jared: Who is this package from?
Me: Someone from Kansas.
J: How do you know her?
M: I don't
J: So a random stranger just sent you a package
M: yep pretty awesome huh

I then had to explain the swap to him.

Anyway I had to send Amy a package as well and so I went searching for some awesome things. Joseph helped me make halloween dog treats for her dog Miley and picked out the collar. All the pictures are taken by Amy. Somehow she made ordinary things look amazing. I really wish I had photography skills like her.

Overall it was super fun and looks like Susan is organizing a Christmas swap as well. Come and join it!!! You won't regret it!!

Fall 2010

2010-10-28T00:14:00.000-06:00

Oliver turned 5 months old. He continues to grow longer but can not seem to gain any weight. His doctor is not worried so I'm not too concerned but it is funny to see him next to babies that are 3-4 months younger than him and have them look huge compared to him. For his five month birthday I finally packed all the newborn clothes away as they were starting to get snug on him.

5 months old and still only 10 pounds

Joseph often climbs into bed with Oliver. When I found Joseph he said "look mom I reading walliver a story"
So stinkin' cute I hope they stay best friends for a long time.

We won tickets to see the CO Rapids (soccer team) play. The game was fun but the best part was we each got a slanket!!! Way better than a snuggie

I guess if baseball doesn't work out maybe hockey will.

We went and fed the ducks and geese the other day. Joseph loved it and laugh every time the bread got snatched from his hand. Turns out even the ducks in Highlands Ranch are snobby, some of our bread was so moldy even they wouldn't eat it.

Oliver watched the ducks with interest for a while then decided to take a nap.

Joe Joe and No No + sand & water = two cute and messy boys

We went to a little corn maze on Main Street in Parker with Carol, Noah & Lola. Joseph had a blast playing in the hay and was entertained for over a hour. Well worth the drive out to Parker.

Watch out Noah!!

Looking for Halloween costumes

We found this at Goodwill and I asked Joseph if he wanted to try it on expecting him to say no. But he tried it one and was mad when we made him take it off.

Joseph held his cinnamon roll and told me to take his picture. Best $0.99 roll we've ever had.

That's right I took a picture during church

We went to our last Rockies game of the year on Joseph's 3rd Birthday. The swag afterwards was a little lame but it was still fun. It was a little sad eating my last cheese steak sandwich and saying goodbye to all the regulars and our usher Linda. Forgot to take any pictures at the game but here's what Joseph looked like on his way home

Joseph turned 3 on September 29th. I can't believe how fast time is going. We went to the Rockies game then came home and met Jared for dinner at The White Chocolate Grill. We had big plans for Joseph's birthday but didn't get much done. Life just got the better of us but the good news is Jared didn't lose his job this year a first for Joseph's birthday week.

Joseph is up to 30 pounds!!!!

We celebrated his birthday with my family during our monthly family dinner. My mom made this awesome train cake. Joseph loved it and still talks about it.

We went to Yogurtland many many times. My current favorite is pumpkin pie & cheesecake mixed.

We also went to Andy & Kristen's Wedding. Fun was had by all and Joseph found himself a girlfriend.

The excitement was too much of Oliver to handle

I have no idea what 3 year old stuck his finger in the cake and then hide behind the dessert table.

I swear his finger is not about to get inserted in the cake

Joseph has decided clothing is optional. I often find myself saying "Joseph put some clothes on so I can take your picture without being reported to social services. At least he decided to wear boots for this picture.

Tag! You're it

2010-10-07T00:18:00.003-06:00

My friend Susan posted these questions to answer on her blog. Join in the fun and answer them on your blog too

1. What is your favorite children's book?

That’s a tough one. There are so many to choose from. Growing up some of my favorites were:
Where the Wild Things Are - Maurice Sendak
A Chocolate Moose for Dinner– Fred Gwynne
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs - Judi Barrett
Dr. Suess, Beverly Cleverly, The Berenstain Bears, & Curious George

I have a (bad if you ask Jared) habit of buying books at garage sales, especially children’s books. I probably own at least 300 children’s books and yet I buy more almost every week. Lately Joseph has been choosing the books and he loves anything with a puppy or train but I don’t mind because I love reading stories with him anytime. If fact I was reading stories to Joseph at 2:00 AM yesterday as he was sick and wanted his mama close by. How could I resist that cute feverish face.
My least favorite book is Goodnight Moon. I think that book is so stupid and can’t believe it is so popular.

2. What's your favorite meal (I want particulars, specifics) Don't just say breakfast or dinner

Aebleskivers. I don’t make them well though so I have to have other make them for me. I can eat tons of them in one sitting. You can put whatever you want on them and being an adult now I should switch to eating them with jam or something healthy but I still favor them with my special powder sugar & sugar mixture. Totally not at all healthy but so good!!!

3. Would your favorite weekend getaway be spent with your family or alone? C'mon, it's okay to answer this one truthfully.

I would choose my family 90% of the time. I love spending time with all my family immediate and extended. Some of my best times and memories are from camping, playing games and other activities with family. That being said there is also times when being by myself for a while with a stack of books and movies sounds awesome too.

4. Who is your Hollywood heart throb?

Nick Lachey

5. What is your least favorite chore to do?

Cook dinner and clean the living room 10 times a day.

6. What is your favorite season and why?

Summer for sure. It’s hot, the sun is up late, fruit is in season, flowers are blooming; the kids are all outside playing while the adults are sitting around talking, the 4th of July, parades, smore parties, everything and everyone seem slower, plus usually you don’t have to see any snow!!

7. If you could change one feature about yourself, what would it be?

I’d like to be a few inches taller.

8. What is your favorite thing about yourself?

I remain calm in a stressful situation

9. Do you text while you drive? YOU BETTER SAY NO!

Absolutely not, if fact I rarely even text. It’s much easier to just call someone and get all the details worked out than send a bunch of texts back and forth.

10. If you could get rid of one piece of technology, what would it be?

I’d say anything that requires ear buds. I hate how everyone get so wrapped up in their iPods, games, phones, etc and tunes everyone else out. It’s one of my biggest pet peeves. I hate when I’m trying to talk to someone and they just try and carry on a conversation while still listening to their iPod. I once had a girl come over to babysit and she kept one ear bud in while I was giving her instructions. It gave the impression of “what you’re telling me is not so important that you deserve my full attention” Needless to say I never called her back to babysit again.

Great Photo Update

2010-08-29T23:52:00.015-06:00

The peanut gallery has complained that our blog has not been updated for a VERY long time. Here's some highlights from our lives in no particular order.

Oliver's first trip to the pool that he got to swim. I'm happy to report that none of us got a cold afterwards and the swim diaper in Oliver's swimsuit does in fact hold baby poop.

One of the McDonald's by our house sells their ice cream cones for $0.25. We have been several times and spend more in gas getting there than we do on ice cream.

Joseph played hard all summer from the moment he woke up until he went to bed. One night when we told him to go up to bed he only made it to the stairs. Like mother like son I guess.

For some reason the expression on Oliver's face cracked me up so I had to take his picture. The picture didn't quite catch the expression but I still think that kid is adorable. He is still sleeping great and slept right thru the flash of this picture.

This was taken today. Joseph decided he wanted a bath and so he filled the tub up and climbed in. I was in the office and thought "that water has been running for a while" and went to investigate. This is what the tub looked like after some of the water had drained. Joseph decided he was done with his bath after 5 minutes later.

Not sure what Oliver is thinking about

My best friend Leah Miller Salinas and her family came for a visit. He son Joaquin is almost the same age as Joseph. They had great fun together and I wish they lived closer so we could see them more. Maybe one day we'll make it out to NYC to visit them.

Joseph decided a few weeks ago that he wanted to use the potty and has pretty much potty trained himself. He is super excited to wear his Mickey Mouse underwear and one day I found him with 6 pairs on at once. He is doing great and has only had a few accidents. The worst was last weekend a few minutes after I had taken him to the bathroom and he pitched a fit that he didn't have to go potty while waiting line at Yogurtland. Needless to say had the line not been so long and people not been so close to the front I'm sure the huge puddle might have driven customers away. It was one of the few times I honestly did not want to claim Joseph as my son.

We have been to ton of Rockies games this year. Joseph loves going to the games and is super cute as he cheers his team on. He asks several times a week to go to another game. He also will randomly shout out "Go Rockies"
Joseph and Jared got to walk around the track at Coors Field before a Rockies game a few weeks ago in the Rockies Rookies Parade.

We stopped at Bass Pro Shops to look at the fish while Jared had a job interview in Denver to be a kindergarten teacher. He would have been hired if he had his certificate already. He was going to teach while going back to school to get his certificate but that is on hold right now. He took the Place test (like the bar exam for teachers) in August and got a 291 out of a possible 300 but he still has to go back to school and take the classes to become a teacher. Turns out to get his certificate he would have to do another 2 years of school. So that is on the back burner for now and we are hoping that the company he is temping at will hire him full time.

This is one of the first times Joseph wanted anything to do with Oliver. He is starting to really like Oliver and has started to give him hugs and kisses without being forced to.

How can you not love that cute boy!!!

If this isn't brotherly love I don't know what is

Joseph is getting his own sense of style!! I love it when he dresses himself

I had a nanny this summer and it was fantastic!!! Meet Madeline not only is she Joseph's best friend she would watch Oliver for hours and takes better care of him than I do. The "mommy gene" is strong in her. She kept asking all summer if she could babysit Oliver overnight and assured me that she would get up with him no matter what time it was.

She walked Oliver for hours in this stroller and he loved it. Our house was super sad when school started this year. Joseph still asks everyday to go to Madeline's house and he lives for the weekends when she is home.

This happened on our way to a Rockies Game

Luckily Grandpa Buck came and rescued us from the freeway and we were on our way again.

Happy 3 month birthday Oliver!!! He is still a super happy and content baby. He is now sleeping 10-14 hours a night!!! He is rolling from his back to his tummy and loves to helicopter around on the floor and in his bed.

Oliver hit double digits in his weight!!!

Joseph went poop for the first time all on his own and didn't tell me until afterwards. I wanted to go to Yogurtland to celebrate but Joseph just wanted a hot dog instead.

Inception

2010-07-13T12:30:00.004-06:00

Folks-Went to see Christopher Nolan/Leonardo Dicaprio's "Inception" on a free screening last night. Here is my Review of the Movie.

This is the most Intelligent movie I have ever seen- therefore don't go see it when you're tired. Inception is unlike any movie I've ever expereinced and KUDOS to Christopher Nolan who both wrote and directed this layered movie. Gotta give him props in both roles as there was A LOT to keep track of and he absolutely nailed it! The movie is complex and layered and completely believable despite the implausability of the plot. The idea, which is the central crux of the movie, is absolutely brilliant. I can't stop thinking about the movie and how deep inside me there is an idea like this that needs to come out in book form.

You must see this movie. It is fantastic! I will never again be able to tolerate loose ends at the end of a movie. The juxtaposition of the timelines was a stroke of genius! I waited in anticipation of the end to see how they were going to tie up all the mastefully created loose ends, of which there were many- oh they tied them up alright!

Simply out, I have been inspired and have spent most of the day lost in thought as to how to write a book or otherwise tap into my creative potential. One of the best praises I can give of the movie is even though I saw it for free, I fully intend to pay to see it again in IMAX so I can follow the craft, rather than the plot this time.

Again, this is a thinking movie- it fully engages you and draws you in and, in fact, messes with your mind (in a good way.) If you don't like this movie it's because you are stupid- literally-it's because you didn't get it and the concepts went over you, you got lost and weren't thinking it our for yourself.

Go see it. In IMAX. Though I don't recommend it in 3-d (ours was in 2-d) but there was a scene which we agreed would be great in 3-d. Go see this movie, and later read my book that I'm writing after being so inspired. Plus the poster and trailers are somewhat misleading. The scene of the Crime is in your mind- only the tip of the iceberg. But you don't have to take my word for it.

47 stars out of 10!

Happy One Month Birthday Oliver

2010-06-21T21:56:00.009-06:00

Warning this post is super long and full of info most of you could care less about but I need to record it before I forget.

Oliver you are one month old today!! I can’t believe how fast the time has flown and how quickly it seems you’ve always been part of our lives. It strange to think about the past and remember you were not born yet.

For the most part the transition from one to two has gone fairly smoothly. Most days have been fine but I’ve had my not so great days are well. The worst being the day I was so moody and Joseph was driving me nuts. He wasn’t really doing anything super naughty but I just wanted to smack him. To keep myself from hitting him I had to lock him outside for about 10 minutes while I calmed down. Last week was difficult as well as I had strep and was so sick that just walking from my bed to the bathroom took all I had. Luckily Oliver was ok just eating and sleeping next to me. I’m not sure what all Joseph did or ate. He would bring me the milk and his cup when he needed a refill. The family room was trashed when I finally made it out of bed and down the stairs. Luckily my mom came up and took care of all of us and cleaned my house. A huge THANK YOU to her!!

Oliver is nursing fairly well which has been a huge improvement to Joseph who never took well to nursing. However when it comes to sleep Joseph has him beat. I remember Joseph being a better sleeper although maybe I’ve just forgotten. Oliver sleeps 5-7 hours at night before wanting to be fed again. Joseph is sleeping is his worst ever. Bedtime with Joseph was always super easy. We’d put his PJs on, say prayers, put him in bed and say good night and he would sleep 10-12 hours. Now he fights us every step of the way. He won’t go to bed unless Jared or I lay down with him until he falls asleep. Once asleep he won’t stay asleep and is usually up a few times a night. He either climbs in bed with us or makes me get up with him and go back to his bed. Between feeding Oliver and Joseph waking me I’m lucky if I get 3-4 hours without being woken up.

Joseph is starting to warm up a little bit to Oliver. He still wants almost nothing to do with him but every once in a while he takes an interest. For example one day we were in the backyard playing ball and Joseph hit a few over the fence that backs to the road. Oliver was asleep in his baby cabana so I was going to leave him sleeping and take Joseph and walk around to the street to retrieve the balls. Joseph totally freaked out that I was going to leave Oliver and insisted that he come too. He also wants to be in more pictures with Oliver but still won’t sit too close and will only touch or kiss him when we make him. Usually it’s because he threw something and it hit Oliver. Usually it’s a ball but he’s also hit him with a crayon, cup, bagel and probably other things I didn’t see. My favorite is when I try and put Oliver by Joseph he’ll back away and say “I don’t want it”. Personally I’d rather Joseph want nothing to do with Oliver than have him hitting, biting or trying to harm him. When Jared was little he pushed his little brother Andy off the counter. According to my mom I took a big bite of my little brother Carl. So hopefully Joseph will continue to ignore Oliver rather than follow his parents’ violence.

This is how I often find Oliver in the morning. It doesn't matter how tight we make the blanket he usually gets his arms and sometimes his legs out. My favorite is when he has one arm out the top and the other out the bottom.

For Christmas Uncle Andy gave Joseph a Build A Bear dressed like Darth Vader. I couldn't resist having a Darth Oliver. I thought it was funny, Oliver didn't agree with me.

Here's our new heavy weight. Oliver is 7 pounds 1/2 ounce. Not too shabby gaining 1 1/2 pounds in a month.

Here's how you can often find us in the morning. All 4 of us in the same bed.

This is where I found Joseph this morning. Right inside our bedroom by the door. That frog by his head is made out of cement. Not the best pillow but he seemed to like it.

This month has not been super eventful. We’ve been on a few outings mostly just to the store, church, park or to visit the proud Grandparents. We went to the Wildlife Museum two weeks ago because the library gave me a free pass. For being free it was alright but not worth the money otherwise. Joseph’s favorite parts were giant pinball like machine you added balls to the top and once it reached a certain level all the balls would roll down and simulate an avalanche knocking skiers and trees down. The other was a fish projection on the floor and when you stepped on it the fish would swim away. I had to laugh at this as Joseph decided since there were fish there had to be water and insisted he take his shoes off to play with the fish.

Sorry the video is pretty dark but here's Joseph playing with the fish at the Wildlife Museum

HowDee Pardners

2010-06-20T21:56:00.004-06:00

So I heard on the Radio that the movie theater by our house was doing a Toy Story 3 promotion this weekend so, since Mommy was sick I decided to take Joseph to check it out. As part of the celebration, Woody and Buzz were supposed to be on hand to entertain the kids and render themselves for pictures. We went at the scheduled start time but there was no one there and even the movie theater seemed pretty empty. So we walked around for awhile and came back. When we came back we found "Woodee" and "Buss." All that was missing was a Big Bird with a droopy eye as featured in our wedding video. So here are the fotos of "Woodee" and "Buss" (don't want to get sued after all.)

So since we were basically in Disneyland, we decided to check out Circo Vasquez at the Aurora mall. Seriously though we did decide to go to the Rockies game. Long story short, Rockies has a 4 run lead in the ninth inning with 2 outs. I thought, this one's over so I'll put my mitt away. Well the Brewers hit a 3 run homer and load the bases to get within one run and possibly take the lead. Remember my glove is in my bag, instead of on my hand where it resided for the other 26 outs. Sure enough the hitter fouls one off and I look up and quickly do the calculations- yep its heading right for me. So it comes in, theres no obstructions and it comes in and hits me right in the hand, pops up and bounces off my hand and the stiff next to me gets it. All the while my glove was in my bag. It was destined for me, never had one come at me so clean and my glove was in my bag. So then later I get a text from a friend that says, "hey were you at the Rockies game wearing a green shirt and did you almost get that last foul ball? I saw you on TV" Great, a failure on live TV.

Then today was father's day. Since I'm such a die hard Bachelor fan, I got the Bachelor video game for Wii. I know it doesn't come out until next month, but Leigh Anna and the boys were able to pull some strings and got it early. Don't believe me eh? Perhaps these fotos will convince you.

Oliver!

2010-05-23T17:13:00.007-06:00

Well after 9 seemingly endless months on Friday May 21, 2010 our son Oliver Stuart Buck was born. He was 5 pounds 7 ounces and was 18 inches long. The labor was quick and progressed speedily throughout the day. It started with a phone call at 7:30 am from Leigh Anna saying she was having contractions- a pun she posted on Facebook which no one seemed to get. I decided to go to work because I thought I still had a full work shift to prepare for the baby. But at 11 I got a call that she was dilated to a 6- so I hightailed it to the hospital where in just a few hours Oliver was born at 2:31 in the afternoon, after only about 15 minutes of pushing and 4-5 solid pushes. HUGE improvement over the 2 hours of pushing followed by forceps needed for Joseph's birth. We've been chillin at the hospital ever since but we arrived home today about 2:00. Mommy and Olly are downstairs sleeping, Joseph is at Papa's house and I am blogging.

But what people really want to see are the pictures- so here is a few. Joseph was our staff photographer and we have many pictures of Daddy's shoes, but here are a few good ones. Thanks to all who visited us and sent well wishes- now the hard part trying to fight off the tiredness and get this boy fed. I'm taking a little time off work to help out but I'm already kind of tired- but he's worth it- he's cute.

Both of our children were born exactly on their due dates even though once again Mommy lied about it to throw people off the trail to make the pregnancy seem shorter. This seems quite amazing to me. It is also amazing to me that one minute they are so small and the next they are crazy like Joseph and running all over the place.

Julie & Julia

2010-03-17T20:15:00.002-06:00

Howdy you few remaining blog readers. Since we lost our camera(s) blogging has been a drag since no one wants only text. But then I realized that most blogs are just people posting pictures of their kids and family and "blogging" about why their kids/family is better or cuter than others'. Well in this literary funk I decided I would use my camera-less blog space for something good. The title of the post here refers to a slow paced, lame movie which resulted in an Oscar nomination for Meryl Streep. The premise of the movie is that Amy Adams (hot stuff in Night at the Museum 2, but more on that later) cooks her way through Julia Childs cook book and then blogs about it. The movie was boring so I don't recommend it but it made me stop and think, what can I blog about that will change the world? What do the people want to know about? What are the core issues in America? What can I contribute to our society, much the same way Amy Adams changed history with her iconic "cookblog" work? The answer came during Doppleganger week on Facebook...

As you may know I have a life's dream to be the last person on Earth to not have a Facebook page-too many perverts. However I live vicariously through others' Facebook pages. During Doppleganger week I asked my buddy Nate who was my Doppleganger. The answer- The
ShamWow guy.

Shamwow Guy

Me

I can see the relation I guess. A Bit of a stretch. Anyway a la Amy Adams- I've decided to blog my way through television infomercial products, 1 per month.

Seeing how there is a remarkeable similarity between the 2 of us, The Shamwow is product #1.

First off, it should be mentioned that I actually own a Shamwow. I got it for Christmas 2 years ago. I did not order it off TV, but through the magic of Target I got one. So as for category number one, elapsed time from ordering until delivery, this one is top notch. 10 out of 10. As soon as I opened the present I had my Shamwow. High Marks.

Next effectiveness.

I remember around this same time last year we had our annual freak March blizzard. We got 36" of snow in 4 hours. Big heavy, sloppy wet snow, piled knee high on my driveway. I begrudgingly went out to shovel the snow when I had an idea...

Shamwow.

I took it out of the box and laid it on my driveway. Almost instantaneously, the Shamwow absorbed all 4 feet of the snow on my driveway and began to pull up the moisture from my neighbors driveway. I said "enough is enough."

I brought it into the house and wrung it out into a plastic dishwashing trough I keep around the house. When I wrung out the shamwow, sure enough all that snow it absorbed, wrung out as Dr. Thunder soda.

Now that's effective. "I mean look at this thing, it practically sells itself."

So that's the Shamwow. I promise you I own one though the above story might have been embellished. A little.

Please read this blog and pass it on to your friends to read, otherwise you won't get to hear the Snuggie (Weezer snuggie) review next month.

Water coolers and two years old don't mix

2010-03-13T23:07:00.003-07:00

I've decided that having a water cooler on my nightstand combined with a two year old who always wants to "sleep in mommy's bed" is a bad idea. Twice this week I've discovered my side completely soaked. The first time Jared was already asleep so I had to sleep on the very edge to stay dry. Tonight Joseph came out of our room a few minutes after laying down. I noticed the cup under the cooler was gone. Didn't take me long to find it under my pillow and a huge wet spot right where I sleep. Honestly if Joseph is going to soak the bed at least do it on daddy's side!! I guess I should be grateful it's just water. I really should stop being such a softy and make him go to his bed first. But he's so cute when he asks to sleep in mommy's bed that I always let him lay down in our bed until he gets up. Most night he only lasts 5 - 10 minutes before losing mommy bed privileges.

Cherry Pop Refashion Frock GROSGRAIN GIVEAWAY!!!!

2010-02-10T06:52:00.000-07:00

Cherry Pop Refashion Frock GROSGRAIN GIVEAWAY!!!!

I wish I had this lady's mad sewing skills. I see the original dress and just think "what an ugly dress" not "I could turn this into..." This dress is so stinkin' cute.

It's happened!!! What to do now!!

2009-12-17T00:44:00.002-07:00

Yesterday Joseph was on an extended timeout in his crib partly for being naughty but mostly so I didn't kill him as I was being a grump myself. I was trying to clean the kitchen and could hear him crying and was planning on getting him as soon as I finished wiping down the counters. I heard him stop crying and thought good he fell asleep. A few minutes later I heard the patter on little feet on the stairs and thought "NNNOOOO it's happened" Sure enough Joseph walked into the kitchen with a huge smile on his face. He has officially learned to climb out of him crib. Honestly I'm really surprised it's taken him this long but I was really enjoying the it while it lasted. This morning when I went to get him out of bed he ran to the side and tried to climb out again.
Guess it's time to set up the crib tent and see how long that lasts before he figures out how to get out of that too.

The devil's child

2009-11-22T23:00:00.007-07:00

Have you ever sworn your child is possessed? I often think Joseph is crazy but I've never really thought "this child has a devil inside him" until last night. I heard him crying in his bed around 4:00 AM. I waited a few minutes to see if he would go back to sleep. Finally I gave up and went to see what was upsetting him. As soon as I walked into his room he went hysterical. I got him out of his crib and he started thrashing around. He was running into the wall, throwing himself on the floor, trying to hit and kick me. He would pick up books and then drop them a few feet later. At first it was a little funny to see him so out of control but it soon started to really freak me out. Nothing Jared or I would do could calm him down. Finally after 45 minutes Joseph made us go to the basement and play Wii which finally settled him down but he was still up for another hour or so.
Not really sure what brought the devil to enter my son but I hope we don't see him again.

Snow Day

2009-11-15T21:54:00.012-07:00

Last night the weatherman was predicting snow measuring in the feet to hit our house. We have the best stake presidency cause they decided last night to cancel all church meetings today!! I loved sleeping in today knowing I could stay in my jammies all day. Jared went to bed before the announcement so he would not believe me that church was canceled. Finally after 4 phone calls making sure we heard church was canceled he finally believed me. We enjoyed a day at home together as a family. We turned on Christmas tunes and started putting up our Christmas decorations. I figured since we didn't take our 4th of July decorations down til last week I should get an early start on Christmas.

While Jared was out shoveling our driveway Joseph and I went out and played in the snow. The storm must have changed directions because we only had 6-8 inches.

Joseph liked the snow much better this year and couldn't wait to get outside in it. He spent most of his time eating the snow and throwing "snowballs" He really thought the fact he could throw snow at other people was awesome.

After all the snow fun we had the best dinner in a long time. roast, mashed potatoes, rolls and best of all baby carrots!!! It was Jared's idea and it was super yummy!! Plus our house smelled great all day while it cooked.

A week of fun.

2009-09-04T15:08:00.003-06:00

This week ended on days of fun. After being sick on Monday my mom was a little weary to take me out. Luckily on Wednesday my aunt Diana called and said she was at Belleview Park and that we should come and join her. My mom agreed so away we went.

I started by playing in the stream. I love water and can't seem to get enough of it. I was having a blast in it until I tried to walk up a little waterfall that was covered in Algae. Down I went and up I came covered in green gunk and sopping wet.

Next we headed over to ride the train. Lately I get very excited when I see a train and love to say "choo choo".

I don't know why I look scared in the picture cause I loved the train ride.

Notice the awesome pink swim diaper I'm rockin'. What can I say my mom shops at garage sales and can't always choose the color the diapers are. I don't care cause pink it currently my favorite color. I still wear my awesome pink crocs (as seen below) all the time.

After that it was off to the petting zoo. We saw cows, chickens, a pig, goat, ducks, and sheep -which were my favorite animal to pet.

I tried to get a better look at the pig but my mom kept telling me to stop climbing the fence.

Yesterday Grandpa Hendrickson and mom took to see the Rockies take on the Mets. I still love baseball and get excited every time I see the stadium. This last week of so I've started walking around the house cheering for the Rockies. Mom really needs to get a video of it cause it's super cute.

I talked my mom into letting me have purple hair for the game. I think it turned out awesome!! Everyone at the game thought it was super cute.

Also this week mom let me eat all of daddy's leftover birthday cake. She even let me have it for breakfast. Although I had to listen to her sing about how great she was cause she let me have chocolate cake.

A Day of Fun

2009-08-31T22:15:00.004-06:00

We started today with Joseph's first good puke of his life. Who knew is little stomach could hold so much. Luckily he was in the kitchen at the time so it wasn't awful to clean up. Although it certainly put my gag reflexes to work. If I didn't know better I'd say I was pregnant.

Right after we got dressed I left Joseph on our vanity for a few minutes. I heard him crying and just thought it was because he felt yucky. Boy was I in for a laugh when I came back...

I'm happy to report it all almost came off. The only sad thing is his outfit is brand new. It lasted a whole 5 minutes before it got stained. Luckily Joseph insisted on wearing a sweatshirt.

We spent the rest of the day watching TV, reading books, and playing WII. Jared go the new Wii Resort Sports game for his birthday. It's super fun.

4th of July Festivities

2009-07-12T19:30:00.007-06:00

So as you know the 4th of July is the best day of the year in our house, though this year we trudged through and tried to do the best we could even though Michael Jackson is no longer with us. Rest in Peace, king, Rest in Peace. So we tried to move on the best we could and went to the 4th of July parade. Joseph was able to march in the kids and Bike parade, at the prompting of our neighbors. They inspired us to pimp out Joseph's car in order to march in the parade. It was pretty fun but I don't think Joseph cared much. Then we watched the big parade, which had some cool floats including a recreation of Iwo Jima.

Also we stumbled upon a great free activity for you to do with your kids. An unseen benefit to owning a house is the sudden importance of Home Depot. Since the parade shared a parking lot with Home Depot, we stopped by to see what was available. When we got there we saw that there was a free kids expo where the kids get to make a little project and get to where goggles and the orange Home Depot Apron. Better yet, they get to keep the Apron and they get a pin for each project they complete. They do this on Fast Saturday- or the first saturday of each month. Did I mention it's free?!

So we got Joe-Joe (or as I've taken to calling him lately, Draco in honor of the new Potter movie. Why Draco? The hint is hair color) his cute Apron and we built a picnic caddy and Joseph even pounded in the nails (until they got too bent and daddy had to help.) It turned out good, Joseph had fun and its free! We will be returning on Fast Saturday in August. I like Joseph's Zapatos del Barco (Boat shoes) with no socks. He wore that Home Depot apron all day and it is just so cute! We look forward to August.

Then it was back to our house where the BBQing began. We first had some brats and it was a chance to try out our new grill which I had just assembled. It turns out it worked pretty good. We ended up grilling brats, hot dogs, steak burgers and ribs. We had way more food than we could handle but it was all good. We got hampered a little bit by the rain at about 2:30 or so it poured rain most of the rest of the day. Joseph got a chance to see his younger cousin Kylie as they were in town for the 4th of July. It was fun to see her.

At night we went to the fireworks and Annie and I got cool- real cool, I mean check out these glasses! These would be like $50 in Disneyland.Got a few fireworks shots too!

The rain finally let up for fireworks and we saw a pretty good display and watched a couple of illegally parked cars go on to receive tickets after the show so it stinks to be them, but they thought they were better than everyone else so they deserved it.

Oh and our Family Fun shirts came out all right and we actually got a few comments on them and were encouraged to make them professionally. Nice work hon! And a tip of the hat to Max- we couldn't have done it without your support!

San Francisco

2009-07-11T10:01:00.008-06:00

So It's been awhile since we've updated, but about a month ago we went to San Francisco- I had never been. Most of our objective in going was to see both the Oakland A's and the Giants play ball at their home parks. So we studied the schedules and found the only weekend both teams would be in town. So we booked our tickets on Delta and looked forward to watching the game in Oakland which started at 12:30. Our plane left Denver at like 6:30 or something awful like that- actually it was supposed to leave earlier than that and that is where the trouble started. To make a long story short, our plane left late, our connecting in SLC left early and we did not make it to Oakland Coliseum until the 9th inning. This is still tragic and a point of anger. I tried to take a lot of pictures to make it look like we were there more than an inning. There was hope because when we finally got to our seats the game was tied and I was desperately hoping for extra innings. But of course an RBI single wins it for the home team.

Here is our family picture (from left to right) Jared, Travis, Joseph and Leigh Anna Buck. (Travis is number 6)

Proof that we were actually there!

There's our boy Matt Holliday who's hitting a healthy .238 at the time of this posting, bet the $100,000,000 the Monforts were offering doesn't look so bad now does it pretty boy! (We'd still take you back)

Joseph "enjoying" the game, scratch that, inning

Fortunately, the A's play in the dumpiest stadium in baseball, though some vote Dodger Stadium is worse Jeez. After about 30 minutes at the game (including the time it took us to walk around the empty stadium) we went to get some food. Oakland isn't exactly the best part of town so we went searching for authentic, slightly dangerous Mexican food, which we found. We got 3 tacos, a cheeseburger, fries and a soda for like 6 bucks- not bad. Then we went to see the Oakland temple while we were there- Giant temple with golden spires which we assumed was a stupa but ended up being the temple. No Moroni made it difficult if you didn't know the temple already. Afterwards of course we could always see it.

HA! Finally got a smile!

Hugest Snail I've ever seen!

The next day we went and did the touristy stuff on the Wharf. Pier 39- overrated. Ghiradelli's square- lame. Everything was expensive and touristy. But we saw some cool stuff as well. Went and played at the beach for awhile, even though it was freezing cold. Actually, this was the only cold day we had while there. We went in some cool shops, including the International Spy Shop which we assumed would sell cheapo magic gimmicks but actually sells hard core spying stuff that can be used to spy on your wife and track them and bug their phones and stuff- fascinating but creepy as well. Just as the sun was setting we made it to the bridge and got a few shots.

There will come a day when Joseph thinks his Parents are no longer cool- this is proof to the contrary!

Do your parents hang with Spongebob?

Next day we were driving and realized that Emeryville was on the way from Dublin (where we were staying) to SF. So of course we had to stop here.

And here.

Then we made it to the bridge and decided to save some money by not parking at the meters and parking at this little park. We walked down to the Golden Gate State park and walked up the beach and onto the piers, got some snappy pictures. Then I talked Mommy into walking across the bridge. She said I've already done it so I don't need to. But she was a good sport. While crossing the bridge, we noticed the suicide hotline phones and wondered about a documentary we heard about which we watched when we got home. It's called "The Bridge" and it is a fascinating yet shocking delve into suicides from the bridge (24 in one year!!).

After that was the highlight of the trip for me- Oakland A's vs. San Francisco Giants at AT&T Park in SF. I read rankings of the baseball parks and there were only 2 parks ahead of Coors Field and this was one of them (Pittsburgh was ranked #1) We got there a little late (but before the ninth) and we didn't watch all the game because there was so many fun things to do at the stadium. There was a mini baseball park that Joseph played in and that Coke bottle is a pretty fun slide. We missed a few innings checking it out, but I would have to agree that this stadium is right up there with Coors among the best in the bigs.

The last day we went to Santa Cruz, which made Boulder look like a normal town. It was weird and we didn't stay long because we didn't want to miss our flight, which was, of course, late. And the same flying nightmare all over again. But besides the traveling part, a good trip.

Buck Look-alike Meter

2009-06-24T22:59:00.001-06:00

MyHeritage: Family trees - Genealogy - Celebrities - Collage - Morph

Idaho

2009-06-21T22:55:00.022-06:00

My parents went to Rexburg the first week of June to visit Carl & Stephanie. Joseph and I decided it was time for a vacation too and tagged along. We had a fun week and it was interesting to see how much Rexburg has changed since I went to school there. I also got to see my old roommate Jennifer Harris Collins while I was up there. It was fun to see her again and get to meet each others children. I'm super bummed that I forgot to a picture with her. In fact I didn't do a very good job of taking pictures in general.

Joseph took the following pictures. I thought they turned out pretty good.

There's a splash park at Porter Park now that Joseph had a blast on. Even though it barely reached 70' Joseph loved playing in the water. He wasn't the only one because the place was pretty full considering the weather. I guess everyone was so use to the cold Idaho winter that 70' felt like a heat wave. Carl and my dad decided to brave the cold water and got in with Joseph. I'm happy to report that Joseph only turned blue a few times. Lucky we had a warm towel ready every 10-15 minutes for a quick warm up.

Carl tried to take out as many kids as he could while riding the slide.

Jared's little brother Zach is up at Y-Idaho as well so we got to spend lots of quality time with him as well. I think it's safe to say that we enjoyed seeing him more than he enjoyed seeing me. Zach is a great and fun guy but a little shy when it comes to girls. My goal while I was up there was to help him meet some ladies. I brought the "secret weapon" no sane girl could resist... Joseph!! We had success one night when I made Zach take Joseph and me out for ice cream. My cousin Brielle told me about G's Dairy. Which is awesome if you go to Rexburg you have to stop and have an ice cream. I'm drooling just thinking about it.

I made Zach go to his FHE sister's apartment and see if any of them wanted to come with us to get ice cream. As luck would have it only one girl was home. Her name was Brittney and I really liked her. I've been bugging Zach since to ask her out on a real date but he hasn't done it yet.

If any of you know a girl I can set him up with please let me know.

Joseph's Wheels

2009-06-19T23:28:00.016-06:00

Growing up I had many dreams of owning my own power wheels.

I used to dream of all the places I could go if I had one. (I love that I thought I needed a power wheel when I could probably get anywhere faster on my bike) So when I found these sweet wheels at a garage sale for only $5 there was no way I was leaving them behind. I didn't care that Joseph would not be able to reach the pedals for a year or two. William came over and gave him a ride around a few weeks ago but sadly my camera died so I only got one photo and a bad video of the maiden voyage.

William was over again this week so the sweet wheels made their way back out for another ride. We were all surprise (Joseph being the most surprised) when Joseph got the car going by himself. I wish I snapped a picture of the huge smile on his face.

Should I be concerned about my son cruising the yard at 2 1/2 MPH?

I'm sad to say Joseph had his first accident when he broadsided my sister's car. Wish I would of got it on video.

This one's for you Max

2009-06-19T03:06:00.006-06:00

Family Fun inspired me to make cute shirts for the 4th of July. While we were at Wal-Mart buying the supplies we ran into our friend Max. He laughed at the shirt idea and told me to send pictures. So I rushed home put on Jared's 4th of July hat for inspiration and whipped up a practice shirt.

Hope you enjoy the awesome pictures Max. If you still want me to make you a shirt let me know. :)

Here I am whipping out my sewing machine. See Mom I do used it.

Here's the beginning phase...draw a shape on the shirt

Next pin the fabric on the shirt

Here's me using my awesome sewing skills...okay really I have almost no sewing skills

Finished a last!!!

Another fun idea from Family Fun...I love their magazine

They call me Martha

2009-06-08T21:21:00.004-06:00

We got invited to a BBQ a few weeks ago and had to bring a dessert. Jared's mom had just given me a book of really awesome cupcakes and so I decided to make the corn on the cob cupcakes. They turned out super cute but took forever to make. I used candy corn and cut off the yellow part of each one. I think I ended up using 3 bags of candy corn. The butter is a starburst and the salt and pepper is white and black sprinkles.

Let me sing

2009-06-07T13:06:00.003-06:00

Today during the sacrament hymn Joseph opened up a hymn book and started singing along. After the prayer he continued to sing and would flip to a new page and change his tune. Every time I'd try to quite him down he would turn to a new page and sing louder. It was so super cute and funny that I had a hard time making him stop. I wish I could have gotten a video of it.

A Day in the Ghetto

2009-05-28T23:51:00.012-06:00

Keeping with doing all the things we say "One day we should....." We decided to check another thing off our list and go to Lakeside Amusement Park. Both Jared and I have been before but it's been several years for both of us. It costs us $2.50 each to get in and then we decided to buy ride tickets instead of an unlimited pass because it's not much fun going on rides by yourself.

Not quite the Matterhorn Jared wanted to ride but it didn't take driving thru five states to get to it.

The churros we only $1.50!!!

Joseph enjoyed all the little kid rides and he got to ride most of them for free since no one really knew if he needed tickets or not since he was under two. Only one ride operator made us pay. Not too bad we paid 50 cents for 6 0r 7 rides. Not quite as good as the penny horse at King Soopers but still a great deal.

I love that Joseph has the gun pointing towards himself. I tried to fix it but Joseph told me "NO!!" and turned the gun back around.

Jared and I both rode the Wild Chipmunk then the three of us rode the train which goes all the way around the lake. The train was fun except if started sprinkling as we left the station and was pouring by the time we made it back to the station. We all ended up soaked. We tried to wait out the rain be gave up after 30 minutes or so. It finally stopped raining as we were leaving but we didn't feel like unloading and going back. The bonus is they gave us rain checks when we left so we can go back another day for more fun. Anyone want to join us?

Overall I'd say we enjoyed Lakeside and found it more enjoyable than Eliches and it's tons cheaper and has no crowds.

Trying to wait out the rain

After we got rained out we decided to find some authentic mexican. Our only criteria was it had to look ghetto. We hit a payday when we found Los Carboncitos and it got bonus points for sharing a parking lot with a mexican market.

I tried a chicken, steak, and pork taco and all three were excellent. For those daring enough you can have head, tripa, or tongue tacos. Jared had milanesa and said it was a great reminder of the mission. Best of all they had flan!!

A New Look

2009-05-28T23:40:00.005-06:00

Grandma Hendrickson whacked all my hair off and made me get rid of my cute baby curls. Now I look like a toddler instead of a baby. Daddy say's it will help me with the ladies but I told him I had no problem before. What can I say "I'm a chick magnet.

Indiana Annie and the Great Stupa

2009-05-10T17:33:00.006-06:00

So Leigh Anna's birthday was this Tuesday, May 5 (Don't ask) but we celebrated on Friday. I was ridiculed for not doing anything last year so with little guidance, and even less money I set out to make a memorable birthday. I decided to do 2 things that we have never done, even though we said countless times that we should do it. You know those conversations that start, "you know what we should do some time?..." So that's how the adventure began. Keep in mind that we did all this in one day.

First, after completing her end of the deal, I woke up early to attempt to make Aebelskivers for breakfast in bed. I did my best and actually got a good consistency but burned a few of them, but its the thought that counts. They were decent.

So then it was adventure stop #1, even though we have been here many times before we (even though I learned that she had) had never taken the Coors Field tour. So our first stop was 20th and Blake.

Heres some behind the scenes shots. We even got to go on the field and sit (and spit) in the Rockies dugout. We walked around the Rockies side of the tunnel, saw the instant replay box and got some schwag. Joseph even played some baseball while on the diamond. It was very cool. Here is a shot of us on the field, but the guy up in the stands, talking onthe phone is Clint Barmes, the Rockies second baseman. Wonder who he is talking to? Still it was cool, and at the end of the tour, they gave Joseph the best gift anyone can give him- a ball. He's been quite endowed with balls lately.

As a result of phase one of the Adventure, I have uploaded some songs to the playlist here. the songs are all songs of Rockies players that are played as they come to bat. "These are my People" is Todd Helton, the Rockies best player. "Rockstar" is Brad Hawpe, the right fielder. Also have Matt Holiday's song, the best player in all of baseball before he was traded.

After that, we broke briefly for lunch and to gear up for the grand adventure which involved a lot of driving. There is a back story on this one. As college students in Fort collins, somehow we obtained a flyer for the Great Stupa, a buddhist shrine located in the Rockie Mountains. We always vowed to go, but each weekend we never found the time and something would come up. I never forgot those moments, so I decided, now or never, with the hopethat it wouldn't become the Great Stupid. So we got in the car and burned a whole tank of gas, but we made it to the Great Stupa.

I have taken some photos of me at the Stupa, there are many ore photos but I am tired of waiting for them to load. Perhaps Leigh Anna will write her take on it.

But a few questions we'd like your take on-

1. What would be your striding to the plate music if you were a pro-baseball player?

2. What things have you meant to do that have yet to do?

Indiana Jared and the Lost Stnt show Footage

2009-05-10T17:23:00.004-06:00

So thanks to the magic of Blackberry I found some lost footage of Jared in the Indiana Jones Stunt show. Photo #1 s the selection process- thats me in the blue shirt on the left. In my left pocket there is the camers which would have made these pictures better and more numerous. Notice the stage on the back where the boulder chases Indy, who, for some reason comes down repelling into the chamber, but nonetheless my start in hollywood.

Photo 2, is me in costume and in action. Sadly, that's me in the pink bowing in gratitutde to me fans. Not sure why out of all those people I am the one that has to wear pink.
No shots of me with Indy or doing whip work exist but I thought I'd give you this because I just got them from my brother!

Come on You Know You Want To Stay Here

2009-05-01T14:38:00.004-06:00

WILLIAM IT WORKED!!!

I know nobody cares, but here is an update on the adventureland room

So my subcontractor and I have been working on the Adventureland room and I thought I would give an update on the progress. The cone and paper mache replica are for the pit of spikes thats going in by the mirror. I tried to turn on the effects and take a picture for you but it didn't really turn out. There is a blacklight pianted skeleton which shoots darts and a pillar of light which illuminates the best part of the room- the idol. Also have the IKEA torches burning which means I need more- greatest investment ever! And some random relics. It will be cool when its done, once the spikes are in, the music is pumped in and the effects turned on.

A night of freedom

2009-04-23T23:28:00.005-06:00

Joseph is having a slumber party at Grandma & Grandpa Hendrickson's house tonight. He went over to play while Jared and I went and saw "The Proposal". Afterwards I called to see if my parents wanted to keep him since it was bedtime and my dad is coming up tomorrow morning to go to the garage sales with me. (Insert big cheer from me and big groan from Jared). Much to my surprise they said "yes!!" Not that Joseph is usually any problem at night. Joseph has been a super great sleeper almost since birth and goes down without a fuss. Most night we put his pj's on, say prayers, give him a cup of milk and say good night. It takes a grand total of maybe 3 minutes. Slackers we know but I prefer to have a child that can put himself to sleep. I'm sure our next one will not be so easy.
Did I mention that Joseph has been getting his own meals lately as well. It's not even because I'm a lazy mom although I probably am. Joseph is still in his picky "I like food one day and the next day I hate the same exact food" stage. I've found that if I give him food he won't eat it but if he get it himself he'll eat. His favorite this week has been Frosted Mini Wheats and Captain Crunch. He has started eating bananas but only if you leave the peel on and let him pull it himself. I have no idea where he gets his independence from. :) Ok he totally gets it from me.
I liked to say we did great things while being childless but sadly nothing is really different. Jared went to bed not long after we got home cause he has another job interview in the morning. A huge thanks to Reid Allred for the tip on the job. While I'm wasting time reading others blogs and staying up later than I planned.
As for "The Proposal" the movie was the standard chick flick and was cute. Not something I would recommend paying full price to see but a good discount theater or DVD movie. Although much of the movie takes place in Alaska during the summer and it was looking beautiful. I won't mind visiting the lovely state during the season of continuous sun. I don't think I could be paid enough to go to Alaska in the winter but bring on the summer anytime.
Anyway I had to add some cute picture of Joseph swimming at the rec center cause a blog entry is not complete without pictures of the cutie pie

Snowed in Again!!!

2009-04-19T17:51:00.010-06:00

Once again we got snowed-in in April!! We had such a great winter until we hit "spring". We stayed inside drinking cocoa, playing ball and watching movies.

I was upstairs on the computer when I heard a crash. This is what I found:

Joseph somehow managed to not get a drop of cocoa on himself and even tried to clean it up. How can you be mad at such a cute face.

Saturday afternoon I decided it was time to shovel the driveway again. Joseph wanted to put all his gear on and come outside. The problem is he hates snow and refuses to even stand in it. This is pretty much what his face looked like the whole time he was outside. Which if you don't count the time he spend sitting in the car was about 5 minutes. Maybe next year he'll like the white stuff a little better.

Here's Joseph helping to shovel. This is as far out of the garage he got with the shovel.

Joseph at the end of our driveway. The plow truck was kind enough to plow the road but left a huge snow bank at the end of our driveway.

Today the weather was awesome!! Crazy the difference a day makes.

Joseph finally found something he liked about snow.

The Great Movie Quote Rip-Off

2009-04-14T21:46:00.002-06:00

Saw this on some other blog- they posted movie quotes and there was a prize to whoever got the most. We did surprisingly poor at it, so we decided to make our own list. Bonus points if you can name the character

1. "I guess you weren't ready for that...but your kids are gonna love it."
2. "The next time someone asks if you're a God you say YES!"
3. "We can go for a long walk and you can keees me on the Verandah. "The lips is fine."
4. "Ah...but you have heard of me"
5. "Good Morning America is here..."
6. "Release the Prisoners"
7. "Why don't you get out of my Van Halen T-shirt before you jinx the band and they break up!"
8. "Why you wanna marry me anyway? So I can kiss you anytime I want"
9. "This is Bob Genghis Khan, Maxine of Ark, Dave Beethoven, Socrates Johnson, Herman the Kid, Sigmund Frood...and uh...Abraham Lincoln"
10. "50 Dolla Bill!"
11. "This is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."
12. "Fortune and Glory kid, Fortune and Glory"
13. "Put Ze Candle Back"
14. "We are number one- everyone else is number 2 or lower"
15. "Oh..sorry nobody hipped me to that dude"
16. "Hey, you wanna see something really scary?"
17. "Hey dad...wanna have a catch?"
18. "OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH the Claw!"
19. "We're looking for his son harpo..."
20. "Your mom goes to College"
21. "There's no crying in baseball!"
22. "De Profundus te Domine"
23. "If you're good at something, never do it for free"
24. "Name any movie...Ok, how bout jaws?..."That was a great movie"
25. "Slimy yet satisfying."

Win a fabulous prize if you can get all 25!

Opening Day!!!!

2009-04-11T11:18:00.004-06:00

One of the few existing shots of Joseph with his hat on...

Joseph loves hot dogs as you can tell by the look on his face!

Where all those soldiers are standing is the dimensions of the flag!

Hope it Comes off?....

Yumm...hot dogs....

Let the year begin! That's right I know technically the new year started in January but around the Buck house the year doesn't start until early April. In this case April 10- the Rockies Home opener. If you have never been to Coors Field to see a game, get on travelocity right now and get tickets- it's the best place in the world to watch a game. Anyway, opening day is the best game of the year (playoffs aside of course) and its hard to get tickets. The city is jumping, there is a festival atmosphere, the air force does fly bys and theres fireworks. Plus there is baseball! So this year we went cuz my dad got us tickets. We went early to enjoy the festival atmosphere. Tons of free stuff, lots to eat, and best of all its all free (except the game itself.) Leigh Anna even went a little crazy and got a tattoo.

Jared takes a few swings in the free batting cages

We got free energy drinks, a free foam baseball, free magazine, free sweat band, free autographed Bob Boone baseball, free rally towell, and free batting cage swings. I even won a beanbag toss game! It was fun, and they hadn't even thrown the first pitch yet.

Father and Son...

Eventually we made our way into the stadium which was filled to the brim, the one game a year that sells out (playoffs aside.) They pulled out a huge flag that was the size of the whole outfield and then 4 F-16s did a flyby. Later the pilots of those planes came and got the biggest cheers of the game. Best of all the Rockies killed the Phillies, the Buck's second-most hated baseball team (Sorry to all you Bostonians, you're number 1). 10-3 was the final score. It was great! Even the weather held up. Welcome back baseball!

I knew it would happen

2009-04-09T18:13:00.004-06:00

This is what Joseph looked like when he went to bed (Yes Joesph sleeps with slippers on, Jared's dad would be so proud...or appalled as he has a strict no socks to bed rule. He's even been known to do a "sock check" in the middle of the night.)

This is what I found this morning when I got him up. Luckily his diaper was still on. (he's taken his diaper off before)

Next up getting out of the crib by himself. Any guesses on how long til that happens

An Insult to Decency...and an Outrage!

2009-04-08T23:14:00.005-06:00

So due to economic circumstances we had to get rid of cable and decided rather than buy a converter box we'd just go down to basic (and I mean basic) cable. Which means we now get like 5 random channels including golf, and the Speed network. No HGTV or ESPN or, especially, no Fox Sports Rocky Mountain. I'm cool with this decision but because we only get like 5 random channels one of them is VH-1. So we get suckered into watching one of those countdown shows- this time the top 100 80's 1 hit wonders. Several of them are already on my playlist. Here is the link to the list:

http://www.vh1.com/video/play.jhtml?id=1608476&vid=343216

So we start watching at about 50 and the countdown goes on and I'm wondering what will be #1. They pass "Frankie goes to Hollywood" "867-5309/Jenny" and "Twisted Sister." So then I realize with only like 3 or 4 slots to go it's obvious. The #1 80's 1 hit wonder has to be, HAS TO BE, A Flock of Seagulls "I Ran." So they get to the top 3. then the top 2...and Flcok of Seagulls is Number 2!!! I can't beleive it! There's no way. They are the pinnacle of 80's 1 hit wonders. They are the 80s. I am outraged at this point. So of course I have to wait through a commercial break to find out number one but it's not pretty. "Come on Eileen" What?!!!!!!!!! There is no way. I'm not saying Come on Eileen isn't a 1 hit wonder, but come on! More than Flock of Seagulls?!! Yeah right! I know these shows are designed to promote conversation but come on. Anyway, I have included the songs at the bottom of the playlist to let the people decide for themselves.

Also Adventureland Update. The room is progressing. I have acquired several artifacts. Blockbuster gave me a FREE, yeah that's right FREE Indiana Jones sign. I have picked out some color swatches. And I have built the centerpiece to the room. Tell me what you think! (As if anyone cares what I do to my guest room, but you will if you ever have to stay in it!) I am in love with the idol (See Exodus 20 I guess) but I am excited to have the room progress. I intend to finish the idol stand (need some craft moss) and put some dart shooters on the walls, need more plants and need to install my IKEA torch lights. But trust me when it's finished, you'll want to see it.

I'll Take Potpourri for $100 Please, Alex

2009-03-30T21:09:00.009-06:00

Greetings-

I just thought I would ruminate for a while on several things that have happened since the last post. First, my development of PTSD- Post Traumatic Snow Disorder, stemming from the blizzard we had on Thursday. I was at work when it hit and, though everyone implored me to leave early, I stuck it out. The result was a traumatic drive through the blizzard. IT was so scary- wrecks, spin-outs, danger, blind-out conditions, treachery. I had to drive home in it and it has traumatized me. Even today coming home from work I flashed to the white-out conditions of last time. If I had insurance I would get checked out to see if I really do have PTSD.

Next is I had a visit this weekend from my bestest buddy in the whole world- Phil. We met on our respective missions and since the moment we met, we have been each other's best friends. He came out to visit this weekend and it was very much needed. We watched "Howard the Duck" played super-all-star-death Scene it with Rob and drank some old fashioned Paraguayan mate together. It was totally cool and I was sad to see him go, but I am very glad he came.

Next I wanted to share my enthusiasm for Indiana Jones. Dude, I love those movies. The new one gets a lot of flack but "Raiders" was so good it compensates for everything else. That movie is great. I wish I could be an adventurer like Indy. What a way to see the world. In fact a few months ago in Disney World, I came as close as I'll come to living the dream. At the Indiana Jones Stunt show, I was selected to be in the show. I was the very first person picked out of the crowd. I got to be a Cairo bystander in the "Marion in Basket" sequence. I got to wear a pink robe and headband and pretend like I was selling stuff, until the fight broke out then I was supposed to cheer for Indy. Somewhere there exists grainy cell phone pictures of my Indy foray. It was cool. Now my latest project is to convert our guest bedroom into an Adventureland theme. I have some IKEA torches, an Adventureland sign, Indiana Jones map, Indiana Jones movie poster and some signs that I have made to represent Adventureland ambiance. I have even obtained the Fertility Idol from Raiders which I will incorporate into the room. I am pretty excited to get going as I have gathered many items.
Anyway, if you are sad or lonely I recommend watching the Indiana Jones trilogy. It's got action, romance, adventure...in fact, "If Adventure has a name, it must be Indiana Jones!"

Fantastic, Life Changing News

2009-03-14T21:44:00.002-06:00

So for the last 5 or 6 months, things have been pretty gloomy around here and we have been hoping and praying and desiring only one thing. We needed a miracle from heaven and the hopes and prayers of those around us. I went through great frustration, sadness and guilt, and just was so demeaned, demoralized and defeated. Well that all changed. I went to the church to help haul the chairs over to the Stake Center for Stake Conference, when I finally received the miracle we have been seeking. It usually happens when you serve the Lord, and the blessing was immediate. On my way to the Church I saw... a DeLorean. 1986 DMC-12 in pristine condition driving by. It was so awesome! I thought, man the economy might be in shambles I don't have a job but at least there are still DeLoreans out there. It was so awesome!

I should also mention that I got a job this week. For real, and it didn't fall through or be a false alram or have some other weird consequences. I have actually made it through my first week. My new job is at the City of Lakewood Crimelab. Seriously. I work at the Crime Lab. I even have to answer the phone, "Crime Lab, this is Jared." My Official title is "Criminal History Technician," but my main role is to identify, analyze, classify and otherwise cover anything having to do with Fingerprints. And yes, AFIX and AEFIS are real and are actual, extensive databases. I've been learning about whorl, loop and Arch patterns as well as right-slant and all that jazz. I even wear Latex gloves frequently and have a Lab coat at my desk, as well as one of those little fingerprint magnifying glasses. The best part it is it's a job and I get out of the house. Even better is I think I might be enjoying my job- I know doesn't bode well right.

Anyways, just thought I'd share the excellent news with you! I suppose including the one I drove and the one I looked at at the shop, that brings my Lifetime DeLorean sighting total to 6, and counting. Someday she will be mine!

New Music

2009-03-01T15:29:00.004-07:00

Hello. I have been tired of hearing Brad Paisley every time I play solitaire while I'm wasting my time looking for a job, so I've rehashed our playlist. There's something for everyone including some Oscar winners.

On a related note, I just completed "He's Just Not That Into You" the book, and I must say it was quite insightful. I learned a lot. The section on "If he's not marrying you..." was particularly insightful. Perhaps I will write an LDS version to include chapters such as "If he's not praying about it..." and "If he's not taking you on the elevator date..." and "If he's not using stalker net..."

Furthermore, If I had a Facebook page, my status would read "Jared is depressed." I had another job interview on Friday and this time I am not getting the job because of one question. The guy asked me, "this is a 30 hour a week job, are you just using this until you can find something else?" The obvious answer is yes. So once again I have been foiled. I am sad and frustrated at everything. This is my forum so I can say whatever I want, you naysayers that have jobs!

As far as the music, "Leigh Anna" saw some of the selections and immediately complained. She said, "wah wah wah nobody wants to hear your songs- mine were far better." To which I replied, no one wants to hear the entire Brad Paisley Discography every time they see Jospeh pictures. The people want culture. The people want diversity, and as the car commerical says, "the people want to go potty-now." Yes there are some influences, such as Geico, recent headlines and Oscar winners. So let the people decide. It was time for a change right?

Jared gets a Polygraph!

2009-02-26T09:41:00.006-07:00

Ok so, remember our swell Ebay auction and how I thought I was getting a job? Well it's a false alarm, the guy called me back and said his paralegal had it taken care of and he doesn't need me any more, so I'm back to square one with no job. Once again the cycle continues where I've been having lots of interviews all with the same result- more interviews. So that leads me to the latest interview, working at the Lakewood Crime Lab. Over 300 people applied and out of those 300 people, 13 got invited to the "attention to detail" test, including yours truly. So I took the test and stressed all weekend because I missed one and rather than go back and change it, I did the honest thing and accepted it as wrong. On Monday I got a call back and did "very well" on the test and got invited to a Polygraph and further interview. So yesterday was the polygraph. It's kind of like on Tv in that they put those nodes on your fingers, but there was no nodes on my chest or head, but I did have a blood pressure monitor. The questions are yes or no only, and I got yelled at for answering one beyond yes. "Do some people call you Jared?" "Yes- everyone does." (Yelling)

At the end of the test, the guy went over the "red flag questions," questions that exhibited an abnormal response. This one was a doozy. "In the last 5 years have you ever taken any illegal drugs?" Of course the answer was no. Anyone who knows me would know that. Then the guy proceeded to tell me, sometimes you know maybe your wife had some prescription meds and you had a raging headache so you took one, have you ever done that?" "No," I responded I have never taken an illegal drug. Ever."

So I'm a a little nervous on the results because I have no way to disprove the polygraph on this point other than my purely honest word. I haven't taken drugs, so I don't know where the polygraph is getting that. Plus he kept yelling at me to relax. So in an effort to relax I took some deep, controlled breaths, which promted yelling, "Please don't breathe deeply, just relax." Which is it?!

Free sub from Quiznos

2009-02-26T00:16:00.002-07:00

Quiznos is giving away a million free subs. Just click on this link to get yours. If you don't have a Quiznos by you get a coupon anyway and send it to me. I'll sacrifice and eat it in your honor.

http://millionsubs.com/Reg.php?x=1

Anthropolification Boyer Cream Cardi GIVEAWAY!!!! GIVEAWAY!!!!

2009-02-25T21:21:00.000-07:00

Anthropolification Boyer Cream Cardi GIVEAWAY!!!! GIVEAWAY!!!!: "Anthropologie"

This lady is simply amazing!! This sweater is so cute. We have an Anthropologie at our local mall but I've only been in once because the prices were so stinkin' expensive. But maybe I need to start visiting more often to get some ideas for cute clothes. Now if I could only sew....

Free Day

2009-02-25T12:08:00.006-07:00

Yesterday was "free day" as in everything we did had to be free (minus the gas to get there).

We started our day by going to IHOP for free pancake day. It's been years since we've been to IHOP but I'd have to say it wasn't too bad. We each got a stack of three pancakes with unlimited syrup. The pancakes were actually pretty good, a little on the heavy side as both Jared and I agreed 3 was all we could eat. Joseph ate most of his I think although there seemed to be a good potion on the floor.

I started with maple syrup but soon discovered the butter pecan syrup and thought it was super tasty!!

Jared went for the strawberry. Judging from his fake smile I'm not sure if he liked his choice or not.

Joseph went for plain pancakes as his mom was too lazy to deal with a sticky child thus no syrup options were given to him. He doesn't miss what he didn't know right. He did enjoy the crayons and his was until he poked a hole in the side. Seriously who thought styrofoam was a good choice for a kids cup?

For dessert I ate a tasty milworm not as good as the grub I ate in Brazil, not too slimy yet satisfying.

Ok so I didn't really eat the milworm although Jared said he would pay me $1.00 to eat it. I would have done it but then our day would not have been free. Besides I still make all the money so I'd really just be paying myself.

If you haven't guessed our next stop on the free day adventure was the zoo. We happened to be in the bird house for the bug toss. We each got a handful of milworms to toss on the ground for the birds. Joseph loved having the worms crawl in him and was an excellent tosser.

If you look closely you can see the parrots in the background.

Joseph wanted to bring this lizard home and if it wasn't cemented down I would have agreed. Fake is probably the only pet that poor kid will ever get.

Joseph found the drums to be really fun. Finally something he could hit without being told "NO!!"

We took Joseph to the zoo when he was about 6 weeks old and took his picture in front of this sign. I'm still amazed how much he has changed.

http://jljbuck.blogspot.com/2007/11/aminalz-at-zoo.html

Leave it to me to stick my head in odd places. At least I won't get pooped on like Joseph.

Overall we had an enjoyable trip to the zoo. My parents and Diana met us there and braved the crowds with us. Plus it was super nice out unlike Valentine's Day (10 day before) when we looked like this...

Sure we didn't have the crowds the first time but I'd take warm weather and crowds any day over the cold.

I ended the day by watching Nights in Rodanthe which I got from Redbox with a free code. I read the book a few years ago so I had to check out the movie. It was a little lame if you ask me but alright for a free movie.

http://nightsinrodanthe.warnerbros.com/

Hammond's Candy Factory

2009-02-20T15:49:00.005-07:00

Joseph and I went to Hammond's Candy Factory today with some girls that have kids about the same age. I don't think the kids had nearly as much fun as us girls. It was so much fun to spend time with other moms and discuss life and talk about our husbands. Sadly I forgot to take any pictures of the actual candy making but we had fun anyway.

Lucy, Matthew & Joseph - bring on the candy!!

I let Joseph hold a candy cane which made him super happy....

until I took it away. I'm such a mean mom

On the way home the tension started to ease between Joseph and Lucy and this is what happened....

If I die...

2009-02-16T20:05:00.003-07:00

I want to be remembered in the following manner. Having recently been to a funeral, it made me think of what I want for my own funeral- I could only think of one thing. Please see the following video. In the event of my untimely death, I request that this be done at my funeral. Seriously. I don't plan on it happening soon but I just want to make sure someone knows my last rites. Check out the video- I promise it will be worth it. Rest in Peace, Mr. Fish...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7wNB1Rczek&feature=related

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

2009-02-14T10:50:00.003-07:00

Happy Valentine's Day! So today is the grand lover's day. I woke up this morning to a phone call from an attorney who is making me an independent contractor in his Bankruptcy business and wants me to help market his firm and grow his business! The best part is he'll be paying me for it! So I'm not sure what I've stumbled onto but I have a job lined up! Sweet! Then I went downstairs to announce the good news and saw that my sweet Wife had made a delicious special breakfast. It's hard to notice but the the pancakes are pink! Very Sweet!

Later, strangely enough, I saw this auction on Ebay...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=190287072606

Weird huh, it's totally a miracle! You should bid on it, or forward to all your friends and have them bid on it and drive the price way up so we'll be on TV! To me I see the Virgen on the left hand side, her head is kind of tilted and she is holding Jesus at a 45 degree angle. Annie says its the serpent and the tree of life. It could be a fun game, what do you see? Anyways we'll see if anyone bids on it. So far it has been a good day as I have hope and may be getting a little income, responsibility and social contact. Sweet!

Seriously Lord!!

2009-02-11T09:46:00.003-07:00

Warning:I'm writing this with my tongue deeply rooted in my cheek. I honestly don't blame the Lord for our misfortune. Please don't take my ranting too seriously.

Have you ever really wanted to scream "Seriously Lord!! Did you listen to my request!! Are you sure you haven't confused me with someone else!!"

As you are aware Jared is still out of work. I don't know if a prayer has been said in our house without a request for a job Jared. Maybe my problem is I was asking too much. My plea usually went as followed "Please help Jared to find a job that he will like (cause seriously who wants a husband who comes home every night grumpy because he hates his job) and that will make enough money to support our family so I can stay home with Joseph."

On fast Sunday (Feb 1st) we had an extended family fast for Jared to finally get a job. He had two interviews the week before and one was looking very promising. We were hopeful that our faith was going to pull us thru and that Jared would get the position we so desperately were seeking. Instead I got a call Friday (Feb 6th) from my boss telling me that layoffs had hit my office again and I was the "chosen one". Yep in answer to our plea for Jared to get a job I lost mine instead. Thus the desire to yell "SERIOUSLY LORD!!!" To top it off we still have not heard on the job but Jared was suppose to hear within a week and it's been almost two so it's not looking good.
My last day of work will be March 6th and I do get a 6 week severance and should qualify for unemployment so hopefully Jared can find something before our income and health insurance runs out. I know I should be looking for a new job as well but I haven't been able to make myself look. I'm really torn because I'd like to follow the prophet's council to stay home and raise my children (no I'm not pregnant) but I also have a desire to not let my family starve and love my house and have no desire to be homeless. I'm feeling a little robbed as well because I feel like I've done my part by going to college myself. Which allowed me to support our family while Jared completed his schooling and pay his dues. I'm tired of being the "bacon maker" and want to be a stay at home mom. Funny how growing up I thought staying home with my kids was a right, now I feel like it would be a privilege.
I know we are better off than many families because we have been living below our means, the only debt we have is our house and Jared's student loans and do have some food storage. Plus we have our health.
The Lord has blessed us with so much that I know I have no right to complain. You can never have too much humility right. I guess my new motto should be "Bring it on!!" (That's a joke Lord I really am not asking for my trials)

He's Just Not That Into You

2009-02-04T16:14:00.007-07:00

So its time for kind of a catch up blog. First off, I still do not have a job and the overall economy is depressing me even more. I see Community College ads while Joseph takes his nap and it seems like that is the answer- once you graduate all your problems are solved. Nevertheless, I am in the upper 10% of educated people and here I am. I have a few opportunities pending so lets hope for the best.

Next we went to see a preview of He's Just Not That Into You starring Jennifer Connolly, Kevin Connelly and others. I was expecting a stupid lame-o chick flick but it turns out it was highly complex and expertly written. I give it, get this, a 9 out of 10. Very intriguing insight into your romance status regardless of your relationship, from the just started dating, to the old married couple. I recommend it.

We watched this movie on a free Redbox DVD called the Rocker- an average movie but its about a 40 something who joins a high school band and they make it big. The funny part of the movie is at the end. We're watching it and the credits come on and Joseph wanders his way over. He starts gyrating to the rock music, swiveling his hips, clapping his hands and air guitaring. He's laughing the whole time and just keeps rocking out. We were just rolling on the Floor laughing, or as the kids would say, ROTFL. It was funny.

Plus Joseph has gone on a Punk Rocker kick lately. He died his hair into a pink mohawk, and now even has a Colorado division of Wildlife Tattoo. Too young to rebel? Nonsense!

Oh and a few weeks ago, I hit a bad skid on the job search front in that I had an interview with the Government, I made arrangements to have Joseph "Sid Vicious" get watched, because they said the interview would be all day. I carefully prepared for the interview and had everything ready to go- except the night before it snowed and was brutally viciously cold, meaning the freeways of Denver were ice. So I left home super early to have enough time to drop Joseph "Billy Idol" off and make it to my interview. the interview was at 8:30 I left at 6:30 and I had to go approximately 20 miles. I arrived at 9:15. The guy came out to meet me with a disgruntled face brow and said, "being on time is one of the responsibilities of the job- we're done here." And just like that my opportunity ended. I heard the now-familiar refrain "it wasn't meant to be" a lot that day, but most agree the guy was a jerk for not understanding I was literally trapped in traffic. Aaaargh! When will it be meant to be?!

Also we recently found some old travel vouchers and are thinking of going to DC before they expire. I want(ed) to stay in the Watergate Hotel but its closed for most of the year for renovations. Any cheap hotels nearby in DC? We are on a very tight budget and we picked DC because it is cheap (everything is free) but Lodging will be expensive. If only I could get a stinkin job...

Opera House Glove and Caplet GIVEAWAY!!!!

2009-02-04T12:26:00.000-07:00

Opera House Glove and Caplet GIVEAWAY!!!!

Once again she outdid herself. I feel the need to read The Great Gatsby.

100 Things we've NEVER done

2009-01-12T12:43:00.002-07:00

There is a list going around on various blogs and sites of "100 things I've done", such as climb a mountain, visit niagara falls etc. Well we thought it might be interesting to do a list of "100 things we've NEVER done that "normal" people have."

1. Gotten Drunk

2. Tasted Alcohol

3. Tried smoking

4. Gone to Europe

5. Bought Alcohol

6. Bought coffee at Starbucks

7. Gave birth to a girl

8. Gone shopping with my sisters (Jared)

9. Bought a new car

10. Gone on vacation to somewhere other than Disney (ok that's not true)

11. Gone to New York City

12. Gone to Washington DC

13. Flown 1st class

14. Visited Oregon

15. Had an active balance on our credit card

16. bowled more than 200

17. Been on a cruise

18. OWNED A DOG

19. Owned a cat

20. Have a desire to own a dog

21. Ditto, cat

22. Ran away from home (unless college, missions count)

23. Used an ATM (only since we've been married)

24. Let our temple recommends expire

25. Seen a show in Las Vegas

26. Received an IRS audit

27. Been wanted by the FBI

28. Been to jail

29. Been out in the parking lot while Barclay went to jail

30. Gone on a tour of Coors field

31. Toured the Wonder bread factory

32. Gone to a midnight mass (in America)

33. Sang Karaoke

34. Gone to a nightclub

35. Gone to Mexico on Spring Break

36. Regretted #35

37. Eaten escargot

38. Like sea food

39. Gotten Chinese take-out

40. Gotten a pizza delivered

41. Had children with color in their hair

42. Received a blood transfusion

43. Had a broken bone (Leigh Anna)

44. Had "relations" with anyone else

45. Ran out of Air Supply

46. Seen the Cubs play at Wrigley

47. Seen the Yankees at Yankee Stadium

48. Seen Fenway

49. Dated our cousins

50. Been a wingman

Ok there is the first 50. Some of these are quite amazing now that I think about it. Well let us know what you think!

Jared's Yetification

2008-12-24T09:08:00.007-07:00

As our trip progressed, we ended up going on one of my new top 3 rides- Expedition Everest. In fact, you could say I liked it so much, I began the process of becoming a Yeti. The most important thing if you want to live the lifestyle is to get a yeti hat. Check.

Once I had the head, the spirit of the Yeti began to take over my body. It affected my demeanor as I slowly became meaner.

Then I was captured and forced to do a re-enactment of the ride (warning the very end of this video may be unsuitable for children)

Finally I developed the ultimate Yeti power- the ability to breathe fire!

DIE MONORAIL! DIE!

Before

After

Countdown complete!

2008-12-16T11:18:00.017-07:00

Well if you have noticed the countdown on the right side of this page, our Countdown to Disney World is complete. Even more depressing is the trip itself is complete. We spent 8 glorious days in Disney World. We have almost 500 pictures from the trip which I'll have to put on photobucket or something. But it was a good trip.

The first day we all made it to the airport with no problems and flew though security. The flight went well and we were lucky enough to have an empty seat for Joseph's awesome PINK carseat which he proudly rode in the whole way. His motto is "real men have pink carseats". We left the plane and instantly felt the warmth and humidity. While I got the luggage Leigh Anna went to get our car. I arrived just in time to hear Mark the guy working the Alamo counter basically tell my beautiful wife she was an idiot. Seems he did not believe her when she said she wanted to keep the 7 passenger minivan she had reserved and was unwilling to pay an extra $12/day for the eight passenger van. Mark was convinced that there was no way we could fit 7 people and our luggage in the van we reserved. He was insistent to the point of being very rude that we needed to pay for the bigger van. Guess what we all fit with our luggage with room to spare!! Stupid Alamo lost another customer due to idiots that work for them.

We then headed to our hotel to check in. We were a few minutes early and our room wasn't ready yet so we went and got lunch at Steak and Shake and managed to not leave our atlas this time.
We decided to save our energy and skipped the parks and just hung around Downtown Disney. I saw the souvenir I wanted but it was a little too pricey ($15,000 pricey.)

Sunday we went to MGM Studios (or whatever its called now.) My dad was still hunting in Illinois so he did not join us. The crowds weren't bad but it was pretty windy. Joseph loved the Honey I shrunk the kids playground, as evidenced by this photo.

I suppose the cool part was at the Indiana Jones Stunt show, I was selected to be in the show. Unfortunately I had the camera with me so there are no photos, but I was one of the Cairo extras and learned all kinds of fun stuff about the show from behind the scenes. The whip cracking noise is not an effect. Its real! So I'm pretty much an actor now and I'll be pursuing that.

That night my dad came and we picked him up at the airport. Then something bad happened, but I will not mention it further. For now, enjoy these pictures of us...Joseph is getting restless so I'll post part 2 later...

Recital Frock GIVEAWAY!!!!

2008-12-02T13:59:00.001-07:00

Recital Frock GIVEAWAY!!!!

This is super cute and and I'm sure Joseph will love wearing it :)

Scribble It GIVEAWAY!!!!

2008-12-02T13:57:00.000-07:00

Scribble It GIVEAWAY!!!!

We got Elfed!

2008-12-01T13:08:00.001-07:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

The Price is Right

2008-11-25T14:14:00.002-07:00

When I was little my favorite show was "The Price is Right" I would watch it faithfully every morning and truly missed it once I started first grade and couldn't watch it anymore. I wanted desperately to be a contestant and would try to memorize all the prices of things at the store so I could win one day.

I still watch the show sometimes but it's just not the same without Bob. Plus I now understand the taxes that are involved with winning thus making it seems not as great. However I would take this guys winning streak any day.

A Very Lucky Day - Watch more Free Videos

Downtown Holiday Jacket and Pant GIVEAWAY!!!!

2008-11-24T15:10:00.000-07:00

Downtown Holiday Jacket and Pant GIVEAWAY!!!!

Strawberry Puff Costume

2008-11-18T16:31:00.000-07:00

Strawberry Puff Costume

So cute

Massive Photo Update

2008-11-14T00:46:00.016-07:00

I bought this coat for Joseph while I was pregnant at a garage sale for $1.50 (my favorite past time much to Jared chagrin). Joseph loves to go outside and will run out the door anytime anyone opens it. He also hates to wear a coat, hat or gloves. The other day I was going to get the mail when Joseph decided he had to come with me. The mean mom that I am made him wear all three. He was pretty mad but as soon as we stepped outside he was happy again.
I didn't know the coat was reflective until I took this picture. Joseph will be wearing this whenever we go out in the dark and since because of stupid daylight savings that will be anytime after 3:30.

It was free day at the Nature & Science Museum a few weeks ago so I decided to play hooky from work and join Jared and Joseph on their adventure. As always the dinosaur exhibit was our favorite. The special section with the traveling shows happened to be dinosaurs as well. It was awesome and we even got to make our own fossil out of plaster. Sadly no pictures were allowed in that part so these will have to do.

Digging for "fossils" in the rubber "dirt" was Joseph's favorite part. I don't think he realized he was supposed to find the bones. He really liked using the paint brush to make the dirt fly.

The rec center here had a trick or treat street. It cost $1.00 per child and included a pumpkin from the little pumpkin patch at the end. This was what made me most excited as pumpkins were expensive at the store this year.

Waiting in a massive line to get in.

Joseph got his hand stamped as we entered and promptly wiped the blue ink all over his face.
I think Jared had the most fun in the family and asked several times for me to take his picture.

Jared was Marty McFly from Back to the Future (insert trademark sign).

Pictures from Zach's Return from Mexico

Waiting at the fence.

Jared loves wearing multiple hats at once

Finally our first sight of him!!!!

Mom gets the first hug

She's not at all excited or happy to see him. j/k

Mommy let me eat breakfast outside on out deck. It was super nice for being October. I love that the tree turned red behind me. I had a great time eating outside and wish I could do it everyday.

Last year Grandma & Grandpa Buck bought me new church clothes for Christmas. I was super excited to wear my sweater with Mickey on it. But I was too small to fit into the outfit. When I got big enough it was too hot to wear flannel and a sweater. Mommy decided to see if maybe I could at least wear it once before it got packed away for my little brother. Do you think I should feel bad that 3-6 month clothing still almost fits me?

Daddy bought this onsie for me when I was still in mommy's tummy. Every time I wear it all the chicks swarm me. I added one of my favorite toys in this picture. I get the pitcher out almost everyday and carry it all over the house. This frustrates daddy because he can never find it when he wants to make Kool-Aid.

Commissioned Watercolor Portrait GIVEAWAY!!!!

2008-11-13T23:51:00.000-07:00

Commissioned Watercolor Portrait GIVEAWAY!!!!

I would love to have a painting of my dear Joseph. It would look great by out Disneyland Painting.

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

2008-11-11T14:43:00.005-07:00

We had free tickets to see The Boy in the Striped Pajamas a few weeks ago. Having never heard of the movie or the book (which was written for pre-teens) I quickly read the synopsis:

Set during World War II, a story seen through the innocent eyes of Bruno, the eight-year-old son of the commandant at a concentration camp, whose forbidden friendship with a Jewish boy on the other side of the camp fence has startling and unexpected consequences.

http://www.boyinthestripedpajamas.com/#/home

It sounded a little depressing and I thought I knew how it would end but it was free so we decided to give it a try.

Overall I'd say I liked it. The biggest complaint being that for some strange reason everyone has English accents instead of German. The other complaint was there was not enough time spent with the two boys at the fence.
One the positive side the story was very good. A little slow at times but still great. The score was well done. The two boys were cast perfectly. I love the shots of their faces and their expressions were amazing. You could truly see the innocence in their eyes. That these boys could not fathom what was actually going on in the camps also rings true and is the reason why stories like this one must endure. The Holocaust has always been interesting to me. I just can't get my mind around the fact that anyone could be capable of the cruelty that the Germans made on the Jews. The Hitler to could lead so many astray is terrifying. The father did and excellent job of portraying the love and kindness he had for him family while still being able to fulfill his assignment as commandant on a concentration camp. His performance was so layered that you can believe this man is capable of a monstrousness equal to his familial devotion. And yet the great conundrum of the Holocaust is that it was perpetrated by human beings, not monsters.

As for the ending I didn't see it coming but it was still horrifying yet fascinating all at the same time. It will definitely be stuck in my mind for a long time and make me think twice before I think I'm better than someone.

After the film they had a question & answer session with the director, author of the book, writer of the screenplay and the actor who played the father. Someone made the comment that is was one of the most brutal movies they had seen but noted the fact that there is not a single act of violence showed on the screen.

I stole this from a review of the film. I hope we can all keep the child's humanity.
"For far too long we have comforted ourselves with the idea that evil is done by "other people". Or that the evil that was done was done in a different time and a different place and so does not really touch our own. What is important about this story is that it shows two levels of humanity. There is the child, who see another child, and who's reaction is - let's be friends. Then there are the adults, who's natural minds have become warped with an evil ideology and who see the same child as something to be contained and destroyed. It is a lesson that we all need to learn, which is that ordinary people can become willing agents of evil by losing that original natural humanity we all had as children. The mother in the story is in a battle with her own natural humanity while her husband has put it aside to be "an adult". A good examination of what maturity really means."

Nordic Bo Peep and Long Lost Sheep Costume GIVEAWAY!!!!

2008-11-11T14:15:00.000-07:00

Nordic Bo Peep and Long Lost Sheep Costume GIVEAWAY!!!!

Another costume giveaway!! I love them!!

GrosgrainStore.com Grand Opening & Giftcard Giveaway!!!!!!!!

2008-11-11T14:14:00.000-07:00

GrosgrainStore.com Grand Opening & Giftcard Giveaway!!!!!!!!

If you have a little girl you need to check this online store out. GROSGRAINSTORE.COM
The clothes are super cute and I love that everything is reversible. Wish I could get them in my size as Joseph always seems to make me dirty.

GROSGRAINSTORE.COM

Bloody finger

2008-11-11T12:41:00.004-07:00

I have a confession. I'm kind of a medical junkie. It started on my mission when I was stuck in the mission home sick. I would read the Merck Medial Manual for hours. I'm fascinated with all the different tests, and procedures available. I love going to the doctor and am excited when he has to do tests. I'd love to audit medical school on day. I don't really want to do all the work and study all the time but I'd love to be the fly on the wall.

So I was catching up on my aunt's blog when I read the following:

"someone posted a really nasty picture of a broken, stitched finger on their blog"

The junkie in me took over and I had to find the picture. I hope they forgive me for snooping onto their blogs. I hit gold here's the experience from both the mom's and dad's prospective. The pictures are bloody and fascinating all at the same time. If nothing else next time I catch Jared tipping in his chair I'll remind him of the "Bloody Finger"

Mom's
http://jenslifeisasitcom.blogspot.com/2008/10/youll-shoot-your-eye-out.html

Dad's
http://reynoldbblog.blogspot.com/2008/10/jonahs-injury-dads-perspective.html

Tropical Tree Frog Costume GIVEAWAY!!!!

2008-11-04T12:24:00.000-07:00

Tropical Tree Frog Costume GIVEAWAY!!!!

For a family of frog lovers this costume rocks!!! Once again you out did yourself.

Marie-Therese Gown GIVEAWAY !!!!!!!

2008-11-04T12:13:00.000-07:00

Marie-Therese Gown GIVEAWAY !!!!!!!

So I didn't find this in time for the giveaway but wow this lady has talent!!!! This dress is amazing!!!

Halloween Additions

2008-11-04T10:39:00.004-07:00

Jared left out the very best part of Halloween this year. It DID NOT snow and it WAS NOT cold!!!! In fact it was super nice out. So nice in fact that I went trick-or-treating in flip flops!!! In all the years I've lived in CO I've learned that the only two days that the weather can be predicted is Halloween - Snow or bitter cold and Christmas - no snow with brown grass. I can't remember another Halloween that was so nice. If Halloween were like that every year it would probably move up the list of my favorite holidays.
We also went to a Trunk or Treat at our friends the Allred's the night before Halloween. It was fun to see all the kids in their costumes and they have a million donuts which Joseph loved and ate two.

Halloween 2008

2008-11-03T11:27:00.002-07:00

Well the best day of the year has passed and so now we have to wait a long 363 days until the next Halloween :( but that's ok because this year was pretty good. We had our costumes: Mommy was the Magic Feather, Joseph was Dumbo and I was Marty McFly from Back to the Future. We had the party at our house and I went pretty much all out on the decorations. We had really more food then we could handle. Still, a good time was had by all. Highlights included the first annual Halloween Film Festival where the clear winner was Plan 39 From Outer Space. I was scathed by the critics for recutting an existing film rather than creating a new one. I never really had much participation from my cast so it was the best option available. Next year I suppose will be much better. I just want to know how they got Bella Lugosi to be in their movie since he's been dead for so long...
We also went Trick or Treating in the neighborhood, which is how I learned the real reason parents always had to check the candy for Razor Blades- it has nothing to do with safety, its so the parents get the pick of the good candy- always wondered why every Reese's had a Razor Blade in it...
I suppose no synopsis of Halloween would be complete without mentioning the most demeaning part yet a somewhat tradition- Dumpster Diving. Every November 1 we go to a dumpster by our local Spirit and extract "Halloween Treasures." Though it is even more demeaning than garage sales we have gotten some pretty good stuff. For example this year, we got a working fog/bubble machine which is pretty sweet and like a $70 value! We also got some in tact costumes and props. Got some animatronic figures and some hats and props- All because I was willing to get a little stinky and sticky. Fear not though, I took a good long shower afterwards and got all cleaned up and was rewarded accordingly.
Yessiree a pretty good Halloween! I've already started planning for next year!

Welcome Home Zach!!

2008-10-29T12:27:00.002-06:00

On Monday there was a special vibe in my house. I wasn't sure what was happening but I knew it was going to be big. It started by us all taking mommy to work which was strange because we have never done that before. When we got back to the house daddy was acting super happy and a little nervous. I played for a little while until daddy made me get dressed in my "someone in Mexico loves me" shirt. Then daddy took me to Wendy's for lunch and then we picked up mommy early. I usually don't get to see her again until dinner time. This made me super happy because I love my mommy and miss her when she goes to work. Then we drove to the airport and I was wondering where we were going this time. I was thinking its got to be someplace fun because all we packed was sombreros. We went inside and found Grandma and Grandpa Buck and Uncle Andy sitting on some chairs. We sat there forever waiting for something big. Every few minutes someone would get up and go and watch TV for a minute then come back and say the time moved later again. I got bored with this and decided I needed to run around for a while. I found this really fun rope to run under. But mommy was mean and kept telling me I couldn't go under it and run around on the other side because the area was off limits. Finally everyone got up and stood by this fence. Daddy gave everyone a sombrero and we all stood there for a long time watching people come up the escalators. Daddy kept pointing out people saying "there he is....just kidding". Grandma must have bumped her knee or something because she started to cry. Daddy shouted out "hey it's him!!" and Grandma's knee must have really started to hurt because she was really crying now. This strange boy in a cowboy hat came over and gave Grandma a hug to make her knee feel better. Grandpa came over I thought to tell the boy to leave Grandma alone but he gave the boy a hug too. Turns out the boy is my uncle Zach that mommy and daddy always made me pray for. He was serving a mission in Mexico when I was born and that is why I never met him before.
Then we went to Grandma's to take a nap, eat and play with my new uncle. He seems really nice but I think something might be wrong with him because he talks really funny. I'm worried that he might be contagious because Daddy started to talk funny too. Mommy kept laughing at them and grandma and grandpa kept asking what they were saying.

Welcome Home Zach it's good to see you again!!

The Excitement of the Playoffs

2008-10-25T09:29:00.003-06:00

Well last year at this time was around the time Joseph attended his first ever baseball game- Game 1 of the World Series. You may remember that he caught his very first home run ball at that game and there is a classic picture of him trying to hold the ball (his hands didn't quite work yet so Mommy is helping him)

Well a lot has changed in 1 year. Now Joseph's hands work just fine and there are two other boring teams in the World Series. Because the Rockies aren't in it, this gives the players some time off. Though the playoffs are way less exciting this year, there are certain opportunities.

Throughout the year we have had a chance to meet and get autographs from almost all of the Rockies- except one- 2007 NL MVP Matt Holiday, the Rockies Left Fielder and easily the best player in baseball. Matt never comes aout and warms up with the team, he plays all the way on the other side of the diamond from where we sit, and at public appearences he always charges like 50$.

Well I heard on the radio that he was going to be at the RC Willys or Soundtrack or whatever its called now (Ultimate Electronics) signing and it was free- the only catch was he was signing baseball cards, and only baseball cards that he brought with him. We thought it might still be fun to go so we went up to the RC Willy's Megastore and stood in line. Sure enough Matt Holliday came but he's such a nice guy he decided to sign anything! Fortunately I brought my very first ever Home Run ball just in case, which was good because that's what he signed! Joseph got his infamous Rockies coat signed by #5 and Mommy got the baseball card. Here is a picture of us with Matt! Sweet!

But wait there's more!

Speaking of legendary encounters with Rockies players, Did I ever tell you about the time I had lunch with Todd Helton? I know I haven't told William so at least for his sake, here's the story. My Parents had just got back from a road trip which took them through Kansas City. They were at a local baseball shop and they noticed on the clearence rack was a set of Todd Helton jerseys for 10$. So they bought up the lot of them and the guy at the register asked if Todd still played for the Rockies- as if!

Well I went to visit them to see the pictures of the trip and they bestowed the jersey to me which I decided to wear right there. We were hungry so we decided to go to lunch- ah but where should we eat? This ended up being a huge decision as we decided to eat at Quiznos by Target.

So we're eating our sandwhiches when slowly we start to realize something about the guy sitting at the table in front of us- he was massive, a big huge bulky guy with a big goatee and huge, giant arms. He was eating his sandwhich and reading a religious book, possibly the bible. When I first noticed him I thought, "hey that kind of looks like Todd Hel- hey it IS Todd Helton!"

Sure enough it was him, the Rockies 1st baseman who is first among active players in average. We were debating whether we should go talk to him and approach him and have him sign my shirt. In the end we decided to leave him be and let him enjoy his sandwhich.

Eventually he finished his sandwhich and dumped his tray and on the way out he saw us. We said something like, "Hey Todd are you going to win today?" Todd, seeing my new shirt said, "Hey I like your shirt!" "Hey thanks, I guess we'll see you later, though you won't see us."

I still have the receipt from that encounter, and I even asked the Baseball Hall of Fame in Coperstown if they would display it but they declined. Still it's only a matter of time before he is inducted.

To Serve Man

2008-10-16T19:08:00.002-06:00

So check this out…you know how Ward Relief Societies make recipe books for the Ward and get input from the sisters, you know their best recipes and stuff. I have a great idea Sister Hanagarne…

It’s called “To Serve Man.” Here’s the cover-

You see its written in Kanamit. The book has recipes from the ward’s sisters, and its got a forward by Rod Serling. The idea is based on a great Twilight Zone episode which you can watch at http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5752383157717584836

See and the “To Serve Man” angle is a church philosophy- to serve. Serve others, serve man. And if you watched the above link you’ll know the irony. It would be sweet to make a macabre, tongue-in-cheek cookbook where every recipe has man, or arm or some macabre title. Watch the episode and get your submissions is for the “To Serve Man” recipe book.

The Theory of the Ward Weirdo

2008-10-16T18:57:00.002-06:00

Greetings friends. I come to you in my role as educator and academia to expound upon you and enlighten your minds to a phenomenon observed, tested and proven through rigorous application of the Scientific Method. You know of the theory of relativity, and the theory of gravity. Just as pertinent and just as beneficial to society and understanding is the theory of the Ward Weirdo.

Think about it. When you are at church on fast and testimony meeting, look around you. Now I want you to picture yourself there, in the chapel, digesting the bread, zoning out, finding Waldo. The Bishop then opens the time to you, the congregation…then it happens that one guy (or girl) gets up and you cringe. Somehow he gets up every month, and somehow he is A.) Still a member and B.) is still allowed to do so. He’ll get up there and give a southern Baptist testimony, or a testimony of who we should vote for, or some other borderline false doctrine. In fact in South America, it could be argued that the whole church is the Ward Weirdo.

I have found in my studies that WITHOUT EXCEPTION, every Ward, Branch or Congregation has a Ward Weirdo- more shocking is that it is an actual calling carried out in secrecy and endorsed by the Knights Templar as such. The Ward Weirdo can never reveal themselves directly, however the signs of their existence are clear. The reason I know this is because I am a Ward Weirdo Magnet. They always find me. Always.

Case in Point: the place Puerto Panasco Mexico. The time: A few years ago. Went down to Mexico to camp on the beach (ugh) went to church. Was enjoying the meetings, went to Sunday school and of ocurse because I speak Spanish, I was sort of an anomaly. Then it happened- the Ward Weirdo. He was speaking about some incoherent idea, that I didn’t really care to hear about. Sure enough this was the Ward Weirdo.

Another example in the desert of Nevada in 1947 it is believed a “weather balloon” crashed outside of Roswell New Mexico. That’s what the government wants us to think. It wasn’t an alien, it was a Ward Weirdo- probably from the Roswell third Ward. Though there were skeptics an autopsy performed live on Fox revealed the “alien” to be the suspected Ward Weirdo from the Roswell 3rd Ward.

So that brings us to our Ward…the Northridge Ward, Highlands Ranch Stake. We had one, oh we certainly had one- gave the “most Southern Baptist Testimony Ever.” But he moved. So the succession of Ward Weirdness must be preserved, so we began asking who is the Ward Weirdo in our Ward?

The answer shocked me…and rattled me to my core. To be Continued…

2008-10-06T15:51:00.001-06:00

Testing my new idenity

Amen

2008-10-06T12:55:00.002-06:00

This time the Catholics got it right!!

http://www.catholicvote.com/

I'm Leigh Anna and I approve this message.

The Fireside Song

2008-10-04T21:33:00.005-06:00

Jared - "I thought of the idea for this song - a LONG time ago but I lack the musical talent to pull it off."

Leigh Anna - Well this guy beat you to it and the next guy has copied the idea. You could make another version. Especially now that you have tons of extra time. You and Joseph could made a duet."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Pf8t5x6Ikw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBDKS4Bh4lM&feature=related

Leigh Anna - "Besides I'm trying to find Saturday's Warrior clips. I can't remember the words for Jimmy's part and Deseret Book is closed til Monday so I can't go and buy a copy to watch over and over and over......Jimmy oh Jimmy don't listen to them......."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVASLtgUFp4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kaQZDsqYhAM&feature=related

Appreciate your help

2008-10-04T15:52:00.002-06:00

Hi Everybody, Jared here. Got the unfortunate news on Friday that I lost my job. Yep that's right I got laid off! The good news is I will get to spend more time with my boy Joseph but the bad news is well I don't have a job- which totally sucks. I have a Masters degree in Legal/Public Administration and a BA as well. I want to try to minimize the time I am jobless so if you know of anybody who is hiring or know of any vacancies or know a guy who knows this guy who has a friend in HR somewhere, please let me know. Any leads or information you could give would be appreciated. My email is jbuck09@law.du.edu and phone 303-667-9082. Again if you know of anything, even a rumor I would be very interested in hearing it! Thanks.

But You Don't Have to Take My Word For It!

2008-10-03T12:10:00.001-06:00

Greetings colleagues. Perhaps as a way to boast, I’ve decided to blog on my intellectual prowess (mostly just my long commute) and bring to you the books I have read since our trip to New York in July (the one that dominated our blog entries for months). I shall give a list of the books and my review and tips on each. The list is reverse chronological, meaning I’ll start with what I am currently reading…

1. Title: The Twilight Zone Companion
Author Alan Zicree

This book is a classic and I’ve actually read it many times. It reads like short stories synopsing (new word) the various episodes of the Twilight Zone, the best show ever made. The writing is concise and it makes one long for the show, which I conveniently own all 5 seasons. I mostly picked it up to inspire me as Halloween draws near and because the previous book reminded me of a twilight zone episode. Which brings me to… (Stars: 10 out of 10)

2. Title: Make Room! Make Room!
Author: Harry Harrison (seriously)

The foundation for the movie “Soylent Green” I was inspired to read it when brainstorming props for our awesome Halloween party. The book is actually pretty routine and as indicated in the introduction by some guest commentator, the story is pedestrian but the backgrounds are where the story is. This is certainly true. The book takes place in the year 1999 in a post apocalyptic New York. The City is overpopulated and resources are extremely rare. When a murder occurs Andy Rusch of the NYPD investigates. In all honesty, as weird as the movie is, it is better as it capitalizes on the Soylent Green angle. (As a robot) “What…is…the…secret…of…Soylent…Green” Rent the movie, skip the book (Stars: 5 out of 10)

3. Title: Professional Blackjack
Author: Stanford Wong

So after reading the previous book I thought that I too can count cards, it can’t be that hard. So after researching online and finding this book to be the card counter’s bible, I decided how hard can it be? Well I did not finish this book, there is very little text and vast amounts of charts tables and graphs to memorize. Without putting in the requisite work to remember the numbers and armed with the knowledge that I hate casinos and would never actually master the skill well enough to be successful- I quit. (Stars: 1 out of 10)

4. Title: Bringing Down the House
Author: Ben Mezhric

Watched the Movie “21” enjoyed the style and the premise of easy money, decided to read the book. Despite numerous conflicts with facts, I enjoyed the book, and found it infinitely more plausible that the characters were ugly, brilliant Asians rather that hot-to-the-touch Kate Bosworth. Still Mezrich is a gifted writer, despite his Harvard pedigree and makes for a very entertaining story. Makes you believe that you too can count cards! (Stars: 9 out of 10)

5. Title: Ballparks!
Author: I can’t remember

A look at every Major league ballpark and its history as well as several Negro league and Minor league parks. Good for the baseball fan and proves once again that Coors is the best place in the world to watch a game. The book was good and presented great facts- the big problem- the size and shape of the book. Made reading on the light rail nearly impossible as it required an entire bench to open. (Stars: 6 out of 10) (Woulda been hire if not for the awkward shape)

6. Title: DeLorean
Author: John DeLorean

I read the jacket and that was all I needed! Something to the effect of “As my car company was floundering I turned to unconventional means of financing. I had at last outwitted the Mafia and the IRA and they agreed to invest $10 million in my fledgling car company! At last I had succeeded!” What could go wrong!? Not to mention that it is my dream car and every time I mentioned purchasing one everyone would say you know he’s in jail right? (The answer is no he is actually dead, and he was acquitted on all charges) Those of you trying to dissuade me from purchasing the car cannot use this as ammunition in your claims as if convinced me I want one even more. The GM executive finds too much corporate contention then quites to start his own car company…that’s when things went horribly wrong! Great Scott! (Stars: for the DeLorean aficionado 10 out of 10, for mean, overbearing, stick-in-the-mud wives of DeLorean aficionados 2 out of 10, for everyone else 7 out of 10)

7. Title:10 Little Ladybugs
Author: Don’t know
Illustrator: Don’t know

This gem begins with 10 ladybugs and each page something iambic happens to each one until-gulp- there is 0 ladybugs sitting on the branch. The climax of this one felt contrived, as I could tell by the ninth ladybug that no good would come from this, and successfully deduced the ending. The prose seemed shortened, though somehow appropriate for the audience. I admit my disdain and heartbreak when the last ladybug did indeed disappear from the branch. By the way this is Joseph’s book (Stars: 10 out of 10 Joseph, Adults or pretty much anyone that can actually read 4 out of 10)

8. Title: The Book of Mormon (souvenir 1830 edition)
Author: God the Father, Moroni, Joseph Smith.

If you haven’t read this one you need to! No book has more value or importance to your life than this one will. It is truth, it is doctrine. However, reading the 1830 edition was a unique experience. Having no chapter and verse designations provided a unique reading experience and made for a more story approach rather than the usual boring-seminary-assignment. I enjoyed the story and was able to focus more on the characters. Also there were some entertaining typeo’s. At one point the Gadianton NOBLES sieged the Nephite people, and halfway through 3rd Nephite in a section describing the coming Lord’s ministry in the 3rd person, suddenly I was reading the beatitudes in 1st person. Don’t know if the original version was like that but I had 75 pages out of order. (Stars: Can I keep my recommend if I put anything less than 10?)

9. Title: It’s Time for Bed
Author: Don’t Know

The old rigamarole of delaying getting ready for bed…I gotta get my Pjs on, I gotta brush my teeth…I gotta play with the dog. Stalling. Of course theres always some excuse. In the end I got the last laugh as the little tyke fell asleep. (Stars: 5 out of 10)

10. Title: The Disneyland Encyclopedia
Author: Don’t remember

A viable history of everything in the park from 1955 until publication0 however remember that Disneyland is never complete! Great historical information on some old rides and especially the main street shops. The Wizard of Bras…I already knew a great deal of its contents but you can never retreat to that happy place enough! Loved the pictures but wish they were in color- coulda done without the maps. (Stars: 9 out of 10)

Got a good book you’ve read? Comments on these books? Give us a shout! The next book by the way is “Blindness” by Jose Saramango, base for the popular new release from Weinstein films. I’d love to hear your suggestions for the future!

Dumbo Pictures by Jared

2008-10-03T00:39:00.001-06:00

Joseph's Halloween Costume Preview & Please Help

2008-10-02T23:45:00.005-06:00

We tried to have Joseph's picture taken in his Halloween costume a few weeks ago for a local photographer. She took the pictures for free in exchange for letting her use them in her portfolio. Great idea except I'm pretty sure Joseph hates his costume as he was grumpy the whole time. It never fails he is usually so happy and laughing but we try and get his pictures taken and Mr. Grumpy Pants shows up instead.

We are trying to decide if any of them are good enough to order or if we should try to have them retaken. What do you think?
Here's the link to the photos
http://www.vivikasphotography.com/ click on login and enter leigh for the event code.

Also I need costume ideas for me. I wanted to be the magic feather to coordinate with Joseph's Dumbo costume, but I can't figure out how to make the thing. Any ideas? Please help!!!