Picasa 3.0 for Linux - way cool.

I gave up on Windows along time ago. For the most part, there are comparable applications on Linux. One that I've been missing is Picasa. But just recently found a beta for Picasa 3.0 for Linux - way cool.

From Our Kids

Make all you can......

Life is good. I'm up 4.3% in my 401k in the last month.

01/01/2008 to 10/09/2008 is -39.2%.

01/01/2008 to 11/04/2008 is -34.9%

I'm sure President Obama will take credit for it, so I better give credit where credit is due. Thank you President Obama.(grin)

Fishing at Maple Lake

This morning, both the kids wanted to play with someone, so I let them go out and play with their friends. Sydney couldn't find anyone home. Ryan played for a while, but then came home. They wanted to do something outside as it was a beautiful day outside, so I suggested that we go fishing at Maple Lake, up Payson Canyon. Deni was at a Boy Scout Training up Payson Canyon and we had to pick her up, so it was good timing, although we went fishing before we picked up Deni. Although Deni would have loved to be there fishing with us (just as long as I put the worms on for her.)

We fished for about 2 hours. We didn't have any luck for the first 1.5 hours.

Sydney fishing at Maple Lake



Ryan fishing at Maple Lake



Although it was a beautiful day outside, it was a little chilli in the shade. We moved places but still no luck.



I decided to try changing the lure on one of the poles after 1.5 hrs of no luck. First cast, I caught a fish. I released it. I thought, I wonder if I can do that again. I cast out in the same place and on my 2nd cast, I caught a second fish. This time once I knew it was hooked, I let the line go and let the fish take the line out then allowed Sydney to reel it in. I had hooked the fish through the mouth and in the eye. I tried to get the hook out without hurting it but one of it's eyes came out with the hook. We kept it, but offered it to a Hispanic family that appeared to be fishing for dinner, not just for fun.

After our fishing, we headed down the canyon to Camp Maple Dell to pick up Deni. We were about an hour early, so sat in the car. Ryan was finishing up the second book of Fablehaven and would giggle every few minutes, which was fun to hear.

Pumpkins

Like last year we grew pumpkins in our garden again. We got 6 small ones this year.

We enjoyed carving the pumpkins tonight as a family. The kids have been looking forward to doing this since we picked them a few weeks ago.

I'm not into technical pumpkin carving, although it looks really cool when it is finished. I'm into carving what the kids draw on the front. Although one of these is mine and one is Deni's.

I think I had more fun taking these pictures than carving the pumpkins.

I'm not sure Sydney changed her face in these 8 pictures.

Primary Police

Being married to the Primary President has it pros and cons.

I was asked to go sit with a Primary class during "singing time" today so that the Primary teachers could attend a "Teacher Development" class for one of the 2 hours of Primary.

I was asked to sit with the 3 yr olds. There were 5 or 6 kids. Not so bad. Then a little boy came and sat next to me. First of all, he didn't appear to have the capacity to control his body nor his outbursts. I tried and tried to keep him quiet and sitting reverently but couldn't. Deni knowing the situation better, had the little boy go sit by her and color. Even though they were doing their best to control his behavior, they still ended up getting his mom/grandmother to come sit with him.

After failing at keeping the 3 yr old under control, Deni asked me to sit with the 3 yr olds older brother that is about 5 yrs old.

I didn't do much better with the older boy either. However, I could at least understand the names he was calling me as I attempted to keep him quiet. At one point, as the 5 yr old was digging his fingernails into my arm, he looked at me as said- "You're fat, ugly, and stupid." Biting my tongue, I looked at him and told him - " I love you even though you are saying naughty things to me." Then I got he stuck out his tongue at me. After many attempts to keep the 5 yr old under control, I resigned to just keep him facing forward and somewhat quiet. Well at least until he started elbowing me in the side. I took his arm, got Deni's attention and she took him out. I stayed with the rest of the class.

While Deni had the 5 yr old out in the hall, he stuck his tongue out and then spit in her face.

I'm glad I wasn't out there in the hall.

So what did I learn today. I learned 2 things.

First, I'm thankful for my family. I have a wonderful wife who patiently puts up with other peoples lack of parenting every Sunday for 2 hours - she's an angel. I have a great son, Ryan and wonderful daughter, Sydney who are for the most part polite and well behaved kids. No matter how bad my kids act at home, they have NEVER been as disrespectful to anyone as these two brothers today.

Second, I'm grateful for my own calling of working with the 14 and 15 year old boys (and I'm sure glad I wasn't called to be the Primary teacher of either of these unruly kids.) If given the choice, I would choose to stay in the Young Men's for years and years, well at least until these 3 and 5 yr old brothers turn 14.

HSM3 - Opening Night

For the last few weeks, Sydney has been counting down the days until the release of High School Musical 3 (in theaters). And today was the day.

I bought tickets online about 2 weeks ago. Originally, this was going to be a Daddy/Daughter date, but after talking to Deni, we decided to do it as a family. I'm not a big "opening day" movie attender, but opening day happened to fall on a Friday and what better excuse to leave early than to take my daughter to a movie.

We got to the movie theater about 45 minutes early, however they had changed the time on our tickets, so we had just over an hour to wait. So we got in line.





Deni saw that another showing had been added and there were good seats still available, so we jumped out of line and went into the earlier showing. Saved us about 45 minutes.

HSM3 was a cute movie. Sydney sat next to me (and on my lap for part of it) but she loved the singing and dancing. She had a great time. I enjoyed seeing her so happy. I won't give the movie away, but I looked over during a kissing scene to see Ryan squinting his eyes closed. It was classic.

Kids pics

I took the kids up the canyon to take some pictures. I love the progress of these 3 pictures. It shows the real Sydney I know and love.

Hottest new game show

There's a new game that is taking America by storm called, How much can I lose in my 401k?

Seeing the Dow Jones Industrial Average go below 9,000 yesterday (and continue to fall today) to over a 5 year low made me look to see where I was in this hottest new game show.

I'm not sure if I'm winning or losing, but my Personal Rate of Return from 01/01/2008 to 10/09/2008 is -39.2%.

One of my co-workers tells me to look on the bright side of things. I guess the bright side is I still have 60.8% of my 401k still left.

I'm not sure there is much I can do at this point but ride out the storm and hope it bottoms out soon.

High School Musical 3, here we come

Sydney loves High School Musical (HSM) and has been looking forward to HSM3 (Coming to theater near you on Friday, Oct 24, 2008.)

Originally I had planned on taking Sydney out for a Daddy/daughter date to see High School Musical 3 opening night, however we've decided to take the whole family instead. So tonight I bought movie tickets for opening day through Fandango. Sydney is going to be excited when she finds out we already have tickets.

No matter how bad a day is going (for Sydney) I can always ask her if she wants to watch HSM with me and she will immediately perk up. The movies are fun to watch...and YES - Sydney and I have fun singing along. We pick up the TV and DVD remotes and sing at the top of our lungs. I'm sure some will mock me for learning and singing songs from HSM, but mock away. Watching and singing the movies with Sydney makes her extremely happy, plus I'm spending time with my baby. What more could I ask for.

Priesthood Session

For at least the last 2 years, Ryan has always wanted to go with me to the Priesthood Session. Some think I'm mean for "making" him go, but the truth is, he wants to come with me. I've never made him come with me, he always expects to go.

We were running a little behind on Saturday and Deni suggested that maybe Ryan should just stay home this time and not go to Priesthood Session with me. You would have thought that Deni just broke Ryan's favorite toy. He was pretty upset.

It makes me pretty happy to see him get upset about not being able to go to the Priesthood session.

So we hurried things along and I waited for him to get ready to go. Truth be told, he is usually pretty good about taking notes and listening. Matter of fact, in the past, he has remembered stories better than I have.

Ryan is a good little man. I hope he continues making great decisions like wanting to go to the Priesthood Session of Conference.