It's true what they say, nostrils really are the gateway to the soul. I wanted to put a sunny/summer type picture on today, as I am soon leaving the winter weather for the bright sunny south! That's right, next week I'm heading for Alabama to show those boys how to light the woods on fire. Don't know what day I'm leaving, all the details are supposed to get worked out this weekend. I don't know how long I'll be gone, either. I told my boss I had to be home on the 10th or 11th, as Faith is leaving for Old Mexico on the 12th.While she's gone I'm buying a Nintendo Wii and a new gun, but don't please don't tell her, I'd hate for her to go to Mexico with a black eye she got because she argued with me. That's about it, we're going snowshoeing and sledding tomorrow. Chances are I'll forget the camera, but I swear that right now I fully intend to take some awesome pictures, and lets be Frank, it's the thought that counts. That's what Faith told me when I said I was going to buy her flowers but the store was out. And let's be ourselves now, I can ride that horse for a long time. Hope everybody's doing well.

Here's Simon making his cake and blowing out candles on his birthday. The morning of his birthday I went to his room at 530 in the morning and said "Wake up! It's time for birthday spankings!" Simon hid under his blankets, so I grabbed his foot and drug him out squealing like a pig. I told him "You get five spankings 'cause you're 5 years old." As I bent him over my knee to deliver the blows, he said "Wait, Dad, wait! Hold on!" I said "What?" and Simon said "You can't give me spankings because I don't turn 5 till after my birthday is over." Unable to argue with that logic, I let him go. Oh well, there's always next year. I had some video of him in his Clone Trooper costume, and of him making his cake, but it keeps saying failure to contact blog whenever I try to load it. Nothing much else is going on, Faith's getting excited about her Mexico trip which is coming up in a month, and I'm getting excited about taking a week off work. Have fun.

Hope everybody's doing well.

Here are Simon and Dylan with their Toy Story toys they got for birthdays/Christmas this year. And here are the boys making cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve.


We had a pretty good Christmas, it was all laid back and quiet until Simon opened up a Nerf gun. That makes noise. And doesn't take batteries. So there's no hope of it running out of batteries and not making noise anymore. Thanks Amanda. New Years Eve was pretty mellow as well, we let the kids stay up late watching movies, Faith and I stayed up late enough to watch the ball drop then went to bed.
We got up and decided to go sledding this morning, so I made some lunch for us, grabbed my back pack and headed out the door. Found a nice little hill, sledded for awhile. Simon and I were about to go for a walk when Faith said she was hungry and wanted her lunch. So I walked down to the pathfinder and grabbed my back pack and walked back up to Faith and the boys. Read this paragraph down to here again, I'll wait. Notice anything? Like how I never said that the lunch ever made it into my backpack? So we got to come back home. Luckily it's only about a 10-15 minute drive, but then we got home and the kids came in and stripped all their snow stuff off, ate their lunch, and started playing Red Light Green Light. Oh well. We're going to try again this weekend. Hope everybody's doing well.

Well, we're home from the 3600 mile dinner drive, and it was awesome! What was my favorite part you may ask? Was it the two days at the hotel with a waterslide? Was it all the messages Jeremy and I left on Mom and Dad's home phone? Was it seeing Jeremy get drug down the road by a vehicle whose driver's throat was firmly in Jeremy's grasp? Was it Ethan hiding in the bathroom while the above happened? Or was it the cops showing up on Thanksgiving? Good times, good times. I've got some pictures I'll post soon, as soon as I get a chance to get them off my camera. We're going to cut a Christmas tree this weekend, it should be fun. Two other families are going with us and we cook lunch in dutch ovens and let all the kids play in the snow, all though there isn't much snow this year yet. Hope everybody's doing well.

I just found this video of the boys dancing and thought some people may enjoy it. Other than that, nothing much new is happening. I went duck hunting last weekend with some friends from Bend that come up to north eastern Washington to hunt every year. I only shot one duck, and some people say it had already been shot by the guy next me and was falling out of the sky, but I say it was the only duck that came within shooting range that day, so what the hell. The guys I hunted with are pretty famous for wanting to shoot things, then give the meat away because they don't like it, or don't know how to cook it, or whatever, but I brought home 17 ducks, so that's not bad. Simon even ate it, which is good, because for awhile there I was worried he would turn out to be a vegetarian, and I ain't raisin' no hippies. We're getting ready for our 3500 mile road trip to have dinner, which is pretty exciting. Hope everybody's doing well.

And one more thing, that awesome Jedi cloak that Simon is wearing, Faith made it. I tried to get her to make me one, but she wouldn't. I tried to tell her she was contractually obligated to do what I tell her, but after a careful review of our wedding vows it seems I was mistaken. I haven't totally given up on the idea of divorcing her and marrying her again to make sure that gets in the vows, but I need to think of a clever way to make her buy into it. Any ideas let me know. The cloak I'm refering to is in the video and pictures below, by the way. For those keeping score at home that's three posts today. I rock.