Sometimes you just have to teach those important lessons of life.

ahhh, nice laugh

just for fun

come on and laugh, cause I did.

Working with one of my favorite pictures.

This is one of my favorite pictures that I have taken in the past few years. This plus some more from that day got me wanting to write again. As always, they are works in progress, always being edited a little more each time I look at them. The only down side, thinking and writing at one in the morning. Not a good thing for me. Waking up in the middle of the night to write something down gets kind of bothersome.

2011 state wrestling tournament

Our oldest son has been participating in wrestling, and seems to really love it. He is a great kid and he tried really hard and competed really well today. Even when the kids were really bigger then him.

Even though I don't quite like the day

I have made my dislike for valentines day quite a public opinion. I get accused of saying things just for the response, and I must admit, I do like the strange looks that often follow when such a statement is made by a beloved day. The truth is, I really don't like Valentines day. I don't like the commercials that have been playing for some time now, making all men look stupid, and basing "love" off of whatever it is we might be able to purchase for a women. Even on the radio, there are stories and ads for men to hurry up and get in before it is too late, or order now, to get it there one time. We hear, "come on men, don't be the only one to forget". I really am not a fan. There are far too many things in our media that are focusing on making men look stupid, like blubbering idiots. Even as I sit here right now writing this, Jay Leno comes on, and his first joke is about guys forgetting Valentines day. I am not a fan of it at all. Yet I know, those funny looks I get, are more for sympathy for my wife. My poor wife whose husband does not like Valentines day, so therefor he must not love his wife. Well, ask her. I am hoping she would be the first to tell you, I love her everyday, not just on Feb. 14th. Then there is the money part. I have been accused of being cheap. Well, Guess what. I am cheap. I have a friend who complains all the time about not having money, saying how little they have in their account, then saw as her husband brings in a dozen roses. Just not practical. So to my wonderful, beautiful wife, whom I do love. I will buy you flowers on any other day, when they are not double the price. That my dear, is how much I love you. So much, that I will try to be a bit more frugal. So on this day, that is supposed to be about love, I will tell you the same thing I tell you every day. I love you. Not just today, but forever. I love you, not just the price of a flower, or a box of chocolates, but I love you so much, that I will refrain from buying you more stuff, that you don't need or want. I love you so much that I will enjoy a night with you, and our great kids just being near you. I even love you so much, that I will wash the dishes, help with homework, put the girl child to sleep, and let you rest just a bit. But most of all, I love you, as much as I hate valentines day, I love you even more. Not just for one day, but yes, forever.

In search of self

Most of us are guilty of it, including myself. This strange desire we have to write, or to read, but in some way partake of this constant gathering of information from whatever form we can get it. We write blogs, we Tweet, we post on facebook. I have been trying to come to an understanding of why. I don't consider myself addicted to this mass influx of information but I am a contributor and a consumer. Everyday we get online and post, and write, and share. We share moments that are personal. We share opinions whether or not they have been asked for. We share family things, friend things and just about everything from our everyday lives. I have done each of these types of posts myself. Well this and I am sure much, much more. I have even written things like what I was having for dinner, or what I wanted to have for dinner. At some point even I have forgotten to ask a very important question. "WHO CARES"? Do we even ask that question anymore? As I have thought about this question, I have narrowed it down to one main idea. We have this desire, this need to be heard. We have this ever growing hunger to be important, to be listened to. To the point that we sometimes don't even care who is doing the listening. We simply want to be heard. We want so desperately for our opinion to matter to someone, somewhere. It might not matter to the person sitting next to us, buy we have this hope that somebody is going to read what we have said, and find some importance, which in turns gives us importance. Or so we hope. I must be honest, this idea has caused me some concern. Why are we striving to hard to find this acceptance for our thoughts and our words from people who might not even know us? The more I think about it, the more I try to understand what this supposedly brings to us. I write, therefore I am, or is it, I write to see if I am? I am starting to think that in a small way what we are actually seeking is that age old idea of self actualization. Maybe we are really just doing that which we have been doing for ages. That is trying to find ourselves within the realms of what it is we write. I know that I try to discover things about myself as I take photographs, and edit them, and then post them. I try to find greater understanding of my talents, my abilities, and my desires. I desire to find peace and self esteem with the projects that I do. When I then write about them, and share those photos, I am seeking acceptance for a part of who I am. Daily I don't feel that acceptance and wallow just slightly, drowned by thoughts of not being good enough, or not being capable of bringing joy into someones life. So I post, and I write, and I make comments. All in the hope of making someone laugh, or making someone respond, thereby giving me a small sense that what I have done has brought a smile on your face or has made them think. Are we finding ourselves in what we write? Are we helping others do the same? Why else are we so over occupied with this idea of continually writing? My biggest question is where did we go before we had this forum? Where did we seek this acceptance? Are we getting it more now? I have concerns that I am seeking this sense of fulfillment from a source that can never provide that to me. I seek mans' approval for who I am and in truth not finding it. Yet I continue to write, and post, and comment. I continue to seek something from the words that I write, and the photos that I take. Yet really, even within all of this, I still am hiding. We truly get to pick and choose what other get to see of us. We get to let them sample, and we get to hide. I get to share only what I want and get to keep the rest to myself. So as I am in the midst of finding acceptance, I hide, and just continue on writing.

Fun with food

Who would have thought that Ritz crackers would be so fun to cook with. Mandy and I are going to try to enter a cooking contest, and the catch is, it is a Ritz cracker contest, so the all the food has to include those dang crackers. the funny thing is, I never knew how versatile and good those crackers are. These are just the first few ideas that we have had. We had a little tasting party the other night. Everybody has their favorites.What do you think?

The last one is a Breaded Pork sandwich.
We made the bread crumbs from ground Ritz crackers.
Fried, and put in a sandwich, with a pickle, a cabbage leaf, and a honey mustard spread.

The third is my favorite. Falafel bites.
Cracker, with hummus, then the falafel, more hummus, a slice of cucumber and a yogurt tahini sauce on top. they were pretty dang good.

The second is one of my sisters most loved items. Originally they are sausage cups. we did the same recipe, just added the Cracker instead of the won ton cup. Everyone that tried them loved them of course.

The first one was a great hit. It is a the dessert. It is ground Ritz cracker on the bottom with a creamy middle, and raspberries and jello on top. The butteriness of the cracker makes it fantastic.

Overall we were pretty happy with how they all turned out. we are still tampering with the recipes to see what we can do to make them even better. Let us know what you think. Glad to hear comments.

happy time

First time sledding, a success. Nobody got hurt, and everybody had fun. Our little girl had a rough time off and on, but for the most part, had a blast with her brothers.

Temple Square

The LDS church does a spectacular job setting up lights in Salt Lake during the holiday season. It is something that is visited by so many people, all who leave, I believe just a bit more enriched then when they got there. I was able to take my kids there this year for the first time. It was a bit cold, but beautiful.