Heather bedtime story

I noticed that there was not a bedtime story about Heather, so here is my contribution. Crystal

The Good Fairy Heather

Once upon a time there was a good fairy with a magical fairy coat. She loved her beautiful coat and wore it as she did good deeds all across the land. She wore it while she directed other fairies in doing good deeds and she believed that the coat was the key to her success.

Throughout her fairy home she wore her coat as she spread peace and kindness, rising to the high position of designated hugger of fairyland.

At school she used the magical powers of the coat to protect the helpless and downtrodden by taking calculated risks in a great battle with the wicked Magician Peterson. She sustained wounds in this fierce exchange and was unsuccessful at confining the Magician to the dungeon, yet her magical coat protected her from serious injury and she continued onward spreading goodness throughout the land.

Then one day while she was visiting the house of worship and contemplating additional good deeds to do a terrible thing happened. A wicked troll seeking greater magical powers absconded with the good fairy’s precious fairy coat.

The good fairy was thunderstruck. How could her coat be gone, and with it all of her magical powers including the powers to legally operate fairy vehicles and to purchase things in fairyland (though it should be noted that this power was minuscule even before the theft).

The good fairy realizing that wicked trolls lurked nearby moved to Loganland where it was much colder. Luckily the fairy’s mother provided her a new coat, albeit an unmagical one. With her unmagical coat the good fairy was unsure of her abilities to navigate this new land; luckily one of her sister fairies lived in this new land and was able to show her the realm. Soon the good fairy was traveling across Loganland doing good deeds and meeting the many different creatures that lived there. She met princesses, trolls, gnomes and trollusks, but she did not find any of the creatures as interesting as the geeky gremlin Math-thew. Math-thew was trapped in the computer kingdom and was only able to occasionally visit the rest of Loganland.

Without her magical powers the good fairy was unable to completely rescue the gremlin from his geeky fate, however she has helped him to emerge from it at least one full day a week and some evenings.

The good fairy and the gremlin Math-thew continue to reside in Loganland and the good fairy continues to do good deeds including teaching little fairies to say fairy words and helping them to share their toys with other little fairies.
The End

Christmas Form Letter

I decided to do a Christmas form letter in the form of a photo blog this year. You can check it out here.

Eric's Story

Uncle Eric doesn’t say much. Perhaps it is the result of being the youngest of five children, there were always plenty of people to speak for him. Whatever the reason, he has never said much. However, there was one day when he sang, loudly.

At Christmas time when Eric was in elementary school, his class prepared a special choir program. On this particular day, Eric was showering while the rest of the family at dinner. As the bathroom was next to the dinning room, it was not unusual to hear the fan or the water running in the bathroom from the dinning room. But no one expected to hear—loud and clear—Eric’s voice belting out, “Santa needs help in Mexico, Mexico, Mexico.” The song went on and so did Eric. The family was so surprised to hear unobtrusive Eric singing so enthusiastically that we all stopped eating and listened to his performance.

Fruitful Blog Reading

I thought I'd share with you two good finds from Ryan's blog reading this week:

1. Pixelwhimsy—This is a great program for kids. They can bang away on the computer without hurting anything. (Courtesy of Marginal Revolution)
   
2. And a great tip on sleeping from Scott Adams creator of Dilbert. With a bit of editing, here's what he says:

Sleeping Skill

I can take a nap almost anywhere. When I travel, I’m often asleep before the flight takes off. I can even fall asleep in the dentist’s chair waiting for the Novacaine to kick in. At night, I’m asleep in about five minutes.

I wasn’t always that way. Falling asleep is a skill. I’ll tell you my method.

I always start by creating a simple story in my head where something good, and highly unlikely, happens to me. The trick is to focus on something that is more fascinating than your real life. Maybe you are winning a prestigious award, inventing something that changes the world... The images should be more attractive than whatever bothersome thoughts would float into your head if you weren’t so busy fantasizing.

After a minute or two of that, I release all controlled thoughts and simply watch what floats by. When my eyes are closed, the part of my brain that interprets vision is apparently still active, because I can see all sorts of random objects drifting by, as if a mall exploded in space. I try to identify and name them as I see them.

Toaster…car…pencil…couch…snow blower, mitten, etc.

The next thing I know, I wake up.

That’s my method. What do you think about when you are trying to sleep?

Eli in Fairyland

Eli and especially Amelia have had quite the imaginations since we watched the show "Bridge to Tarabithia" I would highly recommend it. We had to explain a lot to them about imagination, but after we did they were not scared by it and really enjoyed using their imaginations.

Well, I tried to upload a picture of Eli in Fairyland, but our connection was too slow or something, so use your imagination.

One pan Tamale Dinner

Hey I invented this and it is one of my favorite meals. It is also very easy. I hope someone else enjoys it.

One Pan Tamale Dinner
½ lb ground beef
½ C chopped onions
1 can beans, rinsed and drained
1 pkg Taco seasoning
¼ C water
1 recipe cornbread prepared but not baked

Brown meat and onions in large skillet, drain. Add beans, seasoning, and water. Pour cornbread mixture over meat and beans. Cover and cook on low heat 20 minutes or until center is firm. Top each serving with sour cream and serve with a green salad. (You can cook this in the crockpot on low for an afternoon).

Cornmeal Mix
2 C cornmeal
2 C flour
2 T. baking powder
2/3 C dry milk
¼ C sugar
1 tsp salt
½ C shortening
To make MIX: Combine dry ingredients; cut in shortening until it looks like fine crumbs. Can store for 3 months. Makes 2 recipes of cornbread.
To use MIX: Combine 1 cup water, 2 ½ C MIX, and 1 egg. Bake in greased 8x8 pan for 25 min or until center is firm.

For Heather

Driving By Food On A Long Afternoon

Where the food is I think I know.
We must get off the freeway though;
We will not find it driving here
Yet one more exit we must go.
My little tummy must think it queer
Not to stop with a restaurant near
Zooming on past exit ninety-three
We've missed all the food I fear.
Perhaps this hunger will kill me.
Plenty of restaurants we could see
Now the only sight's the street
My tummy grumbles from my seat.
Still I have consumed no meat,
And miles to go before I eat,
And miles to go before I eat.

Here's Robert Frost's original. And I will take suggestions, there are a couple of awkward lines.

Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.
He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

Thanksgiving

We had a nice (small) Thanksgiving dinner today. We were very glad to have Alison, Tobin and Hallie join us. We at in the late afternoon and took a nice hike (aka walk in the woods) in the morning. Here is an album of nice photos that Tobin took for us.

Potato Soup

Some one asked Ashley for the potato soup recipe so here it is. I like to add some bacon and cheese when it is served.

Ashley's Potato Soup
1/2 Cup Chopped Onion
2 T butter
4 medium potatoes, cut into chunks
2 cubes chicken bouillon
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cut water
8 oz. cream cheese, soft
1/4 cup flour
3 cups milk

Saute onion in butter in a stock pot until tender. Add potatoes, bouillon, water and salt. Cover and cook 15 min, or until tender. Blend cream cheese with flour until smooth. Stir into potato mix. Add milk and heat to boiling; stirring frequently. Reduce to simmer for at least one hour.

From Ashley with love...

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=9551145007

lacy is a little creepy.

Graduation

So I have been started to be asked what day is graduation. It is May 3. I think it will be at like 10:30 in the morning and my tassel will be drab. Yes I did type drab there.
-Eric

Answer and a new question

So I am shocked that no one got what I saw at my conference. There were some close guesses and an unusual one(april). So it is the original storage for google. Each drive is 4GB and there are 10 drives so the most that this could hold was 40GB of data.




So now onto the next question. Please leave your response in the comments and later this week I will give the answer. Today at church I got a calling. Yes I know, how could i ruin my streak without a calling. I was trying to top my last record but I didn't.
Now you get to guess what it is. Good Luck!
-Eric

Daniel's Turkey

Well you may have heard that we had a pre-thanksgiving thanksgiving dinner with some of our friends from the student ward. There were 11 adults and one baby that Lacy really really wanted to meet but we didn't let her.
Anyways everyone liked the turkey. It was fairly easy to make so I thought I would post the recipe, here. (it is on the family google doc's)

Trip To Monterey

Hey, does anyone have a picture of Jake and/or Dad from the trip to Monterey that we took just before Crystal and Jake got engaged? If so I would really, really appreciate it if you could dig the picture out and scan it and send it to me.

If any regular blog readers have a chance to ask Crystal about it that would be nice. (I'm hoping to call her, but Ian is having a hard time getting to sleep tonight.)

Fall Leaves

We have been enjoying an incredible display of fall color here. Molly and I took some pictures yesterday you can see them in a new photo album.

Wasting too much time.....

You got me started Ryan.....My original plan was to find plates for you, but I got distracted. This is a selection of plates available in NC. Most of them are not eligible for your car, but still funny.....

Vote for Ryan's personalized plates

Please visit my blog for my students and vote.

Thanks!

Ryan

Guess what this is?

So I'm currently at Super Computing 2007 or SC07. I'm manning the booth right now. We are kind of in the corner so not a whole lot of people come by and those that do come by just want to talk to Dr. Hauser. But it is still good.
There are a lot of contests here so I thought I would continue that I do my own. I saw this while I was wandering the floor. What is it? You need to be precise in your description. Yes it is geeky so that should be a hint.


-Eric

And she's sitting

Molly seems to just wake up one morning and do new things. It seems like I remember Ian doing a bit more practicing. So, today she's sitting on her own. Maybe she just needed something interesting to sit for. Ian's drum concert seemed to fit the bill.

Bat Dog

Apparnetly we may have had some excitement on Halloween that we didn't plan on. Lacy now takes on the apperance of a bat from time to time. See what you think.

a note to Ian from Amelia

Dear Ian what are you doing this season? Amelia

Following in his footsteps

Ian loves to do whatever Ryan does and last Saturday was his dream day. He followed Ryan around mowing the grass the whole time Ryan was mowing. It was adorable to see him yank the chain on his "mower" and adjust the wheel—in fact that was so much fun that every time he passed the tree where Ryan adjusted his wheel, Ian had to stop and adjust the wheel on his mower. A few more photos to enjoy.

I figured I should post something....

I haven't posted much. I really don't have much to say, so I'll just post pictures of my kids from the last year or so. They are cuter/more interesting than me anyways.

Halloween

Here's hoping that you had as much fun for Halloween as we did. Since Ryan taught late, we invited ourselves up to trick-or-treat with our favorite friends from the Raleigh 1st ward. We only wish they lived closer. You can see some pictures that they took here.

Blog Hog

So, I'm a blog hog today, sorry. I've been working on my collection of family bedtime stories and I am so much amused by what I have come up with for Daniel running into the wall that I want to share.

Wee Uncle Daniel runs through the house,

Up stairs and down stairs fast as a mouse,

Laughing at the motion, running for the wall

How could the boy again mistake the ending of the hall?

Weary is the mother who has a klutzy child,

A small short little child, who runs into the wall

Who always brings a battle with disbelieving nurses

"Are you sure these cuts and bruises did not come with curses?"

A later verse of Wee Willie Winkie:

Weary is the mother who has a dusty child,

A small short little child, who can't run on his own,

Who always has a battle with sleep before he'll close an eye

But a kiss from his rosy lips gives strength anew to me.

So, please use the comments field to let me know what you think.

Molly's Movin'

Molly figured out this evening how to roll to move across the room. She was very pleased with herself and found all sorts of reasons to roll here and there. She is also really good at crawling backward. Unfortunately she finds that mode of transportation to be a little frustrating. She crawls backward when she wants to go forward and gets further away from whatever it was she wanted.

Imagination

Above is a picture of the piggy pen that Ian set up the other day. Notice that the "baby pig" on the left is awake. The baby pig on the right is sleeping and drinking milk from the mommy pig.

I will be very sad when the public school system squashes his imagination out of him.

My kids

We posted new photos of our kids. I thought you might all like to see them.
Heather

http://picasaweb.google.com/lorimer/ForBeckyAndKeith02

Toes and Mouth

As you can see, Molly has been all about pulling off her socks to get to her toes and sticking her hand (and anything else) into her mouth this week. When she pulls off her sock she giggles a sort of self-satisfied look-what-I-did giggle. It is very adorable.

Stories about Mom and Dad

Sometimes when Ian is really wound up, he likes to hear a story about poppa or grandma. I think that for Christmas he will be giving his cousins a book that he's made of his favorite grandma and poppa bedtime stories. If any of you have some particular favorites, then please bring them to my attention. A comment here will work or email, phone call, etc. whatever you like best. Thanks for your help. I think Ian will really enjoy putting the book together and I hope the cousins will enjoy our stories.

I have started this as a google document you can see it here When I look at it there is a little link in the bottom right hand corner that says Edit (You have permission). If you click that you too may add stories.

Memphis the lab rat

Good news! The NCSU Vet School is doing another wave of their study of Keppra to treat canine epilepsy. Read a write-up of the previous study here (scroll down).

Memphis has been accepted! (It's like getting into grad school. Professors scrutinize your qualifications, conduct tests designed to measure brain activity, and provide training or medication that may or may not be of any use.)

Her first appointment is next Monday. The study lasts (I think) 44 weeks. The study is double blind and is divided into 2 periods. In one, Memphis will get a placebo, in the other she will actually get the drug. We won't know which is which until the study is over.

Updates to follow...

Boys will be Boys

I was unloading the groceries and turned around to find Ian on his potty doing his business, outside. Ya just gotta laugh.
r33

Pictures of Molly

I've added some pictures of Molly to her album. You can use the link on the side to see them.

April's name: For the Dogs?

I had a truly wonderful conversation with a worker at the temple this morning. Imagine old guy with heavy drawl:

worker: Ryan and April Bosworth, 11:00?

Me: That's us.

worker: I have a daughter named April.

Me: It's a nice name.

worker: It is. [Pause] We had to name her April 'cause the dogs got the good names.

Me: Huh. [Thinking: Did he just say that?]

Starwars

I thought this was cool cause it deals with Star Wars, which is cool and has always been better than Star Trek, and money which allows me to buy stuff.

Click Here

gravestones from the cemetery

Pictures from Clackmannan

more picutes of the Tatoo

Pictures of the Tatoo

These are pictures of your mom, myself and Noreen

Sloan forced to praise AK-47

This story made me laugh out loud.

What kind of praise will Sloan come up with to "balance" his criticism?

Future exchange at training camp in Boise:

Sloan: "Quit dragging your feet!"

AK: "I feel unmotivated! Praise me!"

Sloan: "AK-47" is the coolest nickname ever! And you look like that boxer from Rocky IV!"

AK: "That doesn't provide sufficient "balance"! Your criticism still outweighs your praise!"

Sloan: "If there were a world championship for "monkey in the middle" you would win every year!"

AK: "Thanks! I will now perform at peak efficiency!"

Please post suggestions for future praise. I'll forward them to Sloan. He'll carry them on a laminated card like an NFL coach with a play sheet.

Don't Laugh, It's Fast

One of the Mazda club members here in NC replaced the rotary engine in his 1st generation RX-7 with a Ford small-block V8. The caption says it all...

What I want to be when I get big

I have added a list (at the right) of things that we want to be when we get big. I would love to know what y'all would like to be (especially Noah, Eli, and Amelia). Ian was the inspiration for this list. We saw the tail of an airplane glowing in the sunset when we took our walk today. Ryan was explaining why we could see the bright tail and that led to a passing reference to seeding the clouds. Ian declared that he would like to be a cloud seeder when he gets big.

Leave a comment and I'll add your desire to the list. Or corner Matt or Eric who also have admin rights. I'm not sure if there is a way to make a collaborative list. Matt or Eric, if you know more than me, please do your magic and make it happen. (If anybody else really wants admin rights, let me know. Daniel?)

Holy Mole!

I made this today. It was fantastic.

The recipe is from Tyler Cowen (economist, ethnic food expert, and blogger. Check out his homepage.)

I modified the recipe slightly. At April's suggestion I used poblano chilies. The pepitas I used never popped when I cooked them. I just cooked them to a darker color over medium high heat in a little oil. I used my cast iron pan for all the cooking.

Addendum: The sauce needs about 1 tsp salt.

Ian's Antics

Today Ian says: I love my friend Jesus.


If you don't recognize the book in the picture, it is one of Ryan's TinTin collection.

Fender and harrassing Eric

I thought that you all might want to see this.
As you may be able to tell my bumper is a little bent. This is do to being rear ended two weeks ago Monday. I was the front car in a three car pile up because the people in front of me were trying to turn right from the left lane through a semi.

On a different note i have recently found out that Eric has another blog. I know it is shocking. But even more shocking is he won't tell me the address. Therefore I am offering a reward, to be determined later, for anyone who can provide a link to the blog. I realize the address will change immediately but, it is fun for me anyways.

p.s. Chuck Norris can slam a revolving door.

An Update on Ryan's Conditional Life Expectancy

According to the federal government, I have about about 44 years to live. My probability of dying this year is apparently 0.001468. Look up your own if you dare.

I have been reflecting on mortality for 2 reasons. First, I ain't getting any younger, and September always reminds me of that. Second, the first counselor in our Elders Quorum died, and I was called to replace him. I view it as a great opportunity to do work for the dead. (Thank you! Thank you! I'll be here all week!)

Top 10 List

Here is my top 10 list for this week. You disagree? Post your own top 10 list, or just tell me what should be better in the comments....

Top 10 Live action TV Shows:

10. Psych - Guy pretends to be psycic to get a job as a detective
9. A-team - Mr. T. Need I say more?
8. Airwolf - The coolest Helicopter on the planet
7. MythBusters - Making fact or fiction out of urban myth
6. MacGyver - Is there anything this guy can't do?
5. Top Gear - British car show that has their own bit of spunk
4. Joan of Arcadia - High School girl sees & talks with God
3. The IT Crowd - Awesome show about a small IT department
2. Heroes - Save the cheerleader, save the world
1. Doctor Who - Remake of the original

Grace's Tubes

Grace went to the hospital today at 6:30 and got her tubes. The doctor said that it all went really well. Grace was very very sad when she woke up but has been doing well today. Hopefully this will solve her hearing problems and help her catch back up with her development.

Picassa Albums

Eric, I like the links to the Picasa albums. It looks like you have to have public albums to see the photos. How do you decide whether they should be public or not?

Graduation Application

I just thought everyone would be interested but yesterday I applied for graduation for spring semester. Yeah I might actually graduate sometime.
-Eric

Chuck Noris

• Chuck Norris doesn't churn butter. He roundhouse kicks the cows and the butter comes straight out.
• If you spell Chuck Norris in Scrabble, you win. Forever.
• A Handicapped parking sign does not signify that this spot is for handicapped people. It is actually in fact a warning, that the spot belongs to Chuck Norris and that you will be handicapped if you park there.
• Chuck Norris once shot down a German fighter plane with his finger, by yelling, "Bang!"
• Time waits for no man. Unless that man is Chuck Norris.
• Chuck Norris sheds his skin twice a year.
• A Chuck Norris-delivered Roundhouse Kick is the preferred method of execution in 16 states.
• How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could Chuck Norris? ...All of it.
• Chuck Norris can divide by zero.
• When an episode of Walker Texas Ranger was aired in France, the French surrendered to Chuck Norris just to be on the safe side.
• Chuck Norris invented black. In fact, he invented the entire spectrum of visible light. Except pink. Tom Cruise invented pink.
• There are no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, Chuck Norris lives in Oklahoma.
• Chuck Norris played Russian Roulette with a fully loaded gun and won.

Chuck Norris.....

For my laptop and Desktop at work I use a version of Linux called Ubuntu, and they are paying homage to an intergalactic legend this week. I thought I would share the love.


Everybody needs to post their favorite Chuck Norris jokes.... Here are some of ours (feel free to post your own favorites....):

• When Chuck Norris does push-ups, he doesn't push himself up. He pushes the earth down.
• Guns don't kill people. Chuck Norris kills People.
• There is no theory of evolution. Just a list of animals Chuck Norris allows to live.
• Chuck Norris does not sleep. He waits.
• The chief export of Chuck Norris is Pain.
• There is no chin under Chuck Norris' Beard. There is only another fist.
• Chuck Norris has two speeds. Walk, and Kill.
• The leading causes of death in the United States are: 1. Heart Disease 2. Chuck Norris 3. Cancer
• Chuck Norris doesn't read books. He stares them down until he gets the information he wants.
• Chuck Norris is the reason why Waldo is hiding.
• Chuck Norris counted to infinity - twice.
• Remember the Soviet Union? They decided to quit after watching a DeltaForce marathon on Satellite TV.
• Chuck Norris doesn’t wear a watch, HE decides what time it is.

Eric Water

 

Noah and Grace just wanted everybody to know that Kool-Aid has officially changed their name to "Eric Water". While he lived with us, he always wanted Kool-Aid, so in honor of him, we have officially renamed it (notice, they are even drinking purple Eric Water...).

Pot Roast Recipe

Here's a recipe for roast beef in the crockpot that we do all the time. We had some people over tonight and they asked for it, so since I typed it up I thought I would share.

Let me know if the link to the google document doens't work.

Grace's Brithday

Grace just had her first birthday. She is such a big girl now. Matt and I took her to the fun park to play in the soft play there. She loved it (Noah was scared to death). He loved to climb and crawl and slide down the slides.